Mormon church Pakenham: $1.5m place of worship plan proposed for Cardinia
A Mormon church could be coming to a block of Pakenham land opposite a primary school, with the proposed $1.5 million place of worship capable of hosting about 170 worshippers. Here’s what is planned.
South East
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Plans to build a Mormon church in Melbourne’s southeast is being considered by Cardinia Council.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is proposing to build a $1.5 million place of worship on the corner of Army and Murphy roads in Pakenham, which is nearby Pakenham Hills Primary School.
Planning documents reveal the development will include a meeting house, which includes a main multipurpose room with a seating capacity of 208.
Each congregation will host about 170 people on site, with activities including seminary and church leadership council meetings between 6 and 8am and 6 and 9pm on weekdays.
The documents state irregular ward activity could also occur on Friday, Saturday evenings until midnight and on Sunday between 9am and 4pm.
The site will also include 64 car spaces with entry to the site to be located along Murphy Rd via two driveway crossovers.
The documents also reveal the church identified a need in purchasing the land many years ago.
“The community is currently meeting in a leased facility and now has the demand and capacity to build its own purpose specific centre,” the documents stated.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Victoria and Tasmania communications director Chris Stuart said the church would have a positive impact on the wider community.
“The growth of a church and movement to the outer suburbs has caused the requirement for these additional buildings,” Mr Stuart said.
He said traffic into the facility would be most frequent on Sunday.
“All of the members of the ward will typically attend, with about 170 people. That will be the biggest impact.
“But the seminary in the mornings, those classes are usually before school with about 10 students – this will have minimal impact on traffic.”
Mr Stuart said the church would be a great meeting place and would hold events for the wider community to attend.
Submissions to the project will close on Friday, September 25 2020.
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