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Members of the Global Mission Church of Greater Washington will have to wait until October to learn if they can build an 85-foot-tall church in southern Frederick County.

The Frederick County Planning Commission on July 15 delayed for 90 days its decision on the Southern Baptist parish's request to build a 138,027-square-foot church near the Frederick-Montgomery border.

After four hours of testimony from church officials and irate residents, commission members decided that too many questions remain for them to make a decision.

For example, the church would have no access to public water and sewer, so the 1,160-member congregation would have to use well and septic. Commission members want to know how that would affect nearby residents' well and septic systems.

The church parking lot would exit onto Md. Route 109 in Montgomery County, and residents fear that parishioners would drive through their small towns of Barnesville and Comus to drive to services.

And given that the majority of the residents who spoke at the meeting live in Montgomery County, Planning Commission members said they would like to hear what Montgomery leaders have to say.

"It's important that we get these issues ironed out with the Health Department and with officials from Montgomery County," commission member Catherine Forrence said.

Montgomery County residents filled Winchester Hall, the seat of Frederick County's government, to ask the commission not to approve the church.

"The footprint of this proposed mega-church will be in Frederick, but its effects will be seen and felt among Montgomery residents living in the Sugarloaf Mountain view shed," said Steve Dryden, of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance.

Wendelyn Duke of Ijamsville said she is concerned that the trend of congregations building mega-churches is detrimental to the rural landscape.

"Building these big churches results in more of an industrial-park feeling," Duke said. "Not an improvement or something that complements Frederick County's rural agricultural beauty. And the sad thing is that we can't even rationalize these mega-churches' construction by saying that their construction is bringing a large influx of jobs to Frederick County."

The church, which is based in Silver Spring, bought the property on the west side of Interstate 270 in 2004.

The plan calls for 232 parking spaces and a 500-seat dining hall and kitchen. Church leaders propose using the building for bible study, mission training, prayer, sports, bazaars, weddings, funerals, dinners and services.

The church plans to hold five worship services in English and Korean between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. each Sunday.

David A. Severn, the Frederick attorney representing Global Mission, repeatedly took exception with the description of the proposal as a "mega church."

"The term ‘mega church' is totally inappropriate," he said. "I don't want this characterized as some beehive of activity. This is a church with Sunday worship. These folks want to be part of this community, and they're willing to work with this community."

But Forrence wasn't buying it. "The facility is as large as a Target and Nordstrom's," she said.

E-mail Sherry Greenfield at sgreenfield@gazette.net.