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Leaders for a Montgomery County church who hope to build a large sanctuary in southern Frederick County have appealed the project's denial, and are scheduled to have a hearing on Dec. 17.

But Frederick County planners are asking for a delay so the Board of Zoning Appeals can set a date for a hearing that focuses solely on the project, according to Rick Brace, a planner with the county's Zoning Administration.

Brace said board members would decide if they want to set a special hearing date, possibly in January or February, at their meeting on Thursday.

The Frederick County Planning Commission on Oct. 14 denied the proposal by Silver Spring-based Global Mission Church, a primarily Korean parish affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, to build an 85-foot-tall,138,027-square-foot church in southern Frederick County.

The land upon which the church would be built borders Montgomery County's Agricultural Reserve, a 93,000-acre area where development is restricted. Residents of both counties complained that the church did not belong in the Agricultural Reserve and its height and size would obstruct the view from historic sites, such as Sugarloaf Mountain.

The proposed church would have included 67 meeting rooms, a 500-seat dining room and an 18,000-square-foot open room. The project includes a parking lot with 397 spaces and a 1,160-seat sanctuary. The church has about 1,600 members, but no more than 900 would be there at one time, according to church officials. There was a public outcry against the church's plan for the new sanctuary, which focused on concerns about water availability and the potential damage to the agriculture reserve and the view of nearby Sugarloaf Mountain.

David Severn of Severn, O'Connor and Kresslein in Frederick, the attorney representing the church, said in October that the church did not get a fair chance to make its case before the Frederick County Planning Commission.

The church's case was delayed to give staff more time to consider the matter after a meeting in July. The Planning Commission voted Oct. 14 to deny the request, citing concerns raised in staff reports that single-lane access from Route 109 in Montgomery County would be a hazard in an emergency, and that the 4,999 gallons per day of septic capacity would not be enough for the church.

Severn said that had church leaders and designers had more time to meet with county staff between the July and October meetings, that they could have addressed these concerns and come up with a plan that would have been approved.

Severn did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

Janice Wiles, the executive director of the Friends of Frederick County, said she supported moving the church's appeal to a special hearing because the December agenda is full. "Friends of Frederick County thinks that's totally appropriate," Wiles said.

Caroline Taylor, the executive director of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance, said moving the church's appeal to a special hearing is prudent because it would give both opponents and church officials a chance to make their case.

Citing previous meetings between Frederick County officials and the church, she said the hearing is likely to be several hours long, and if it had to compete with other agenda items, it might not have the full consideration it deserves.

Taylor said her group continues to oppose the proposal on the grounds that a nearly 140,000-square-foot church does not belong in the "pristine" setting, which includes the Agriculture Reserve, the Little Bennett Creek watershed and Sugarloaf Mountain. "Whatever date they set, we'll be there," she said.

E-mail Christian Brown at chbrown@gazette.net.