Plans to build a new Presbyterian church on Route 40 in Ellicott City are “in flux” after residents complained that the proposed building is too big for the site and could cause traffic and environmental problems.

Great Multitude Presbyterian Church, now located in Silver Spring, has proposed buying 3.2 acres of residential land along Route 40 to build a new church facility. The church, to be located at 9891 Baltimore National Pike, would be two stories high and 22,478 square feet in size, according to plans filed with the county. It would have an 86-space parking lot.

Church officials canceled a community meeting to discuss the plans set for June 9, but are still scheduled to go before the county hearing examiner July 15.

The church is seeking a conditional use and variance to allow the facility to be built on property zoned as residential.

Attorney Sang Oh, who represents the church, said they will not go forward with the July hearing unless they have first met with the community to address concerns. No date for a new community meeting has been set, he said.

“Things are in flux right now,” he said.

The church plans call for evening services on Wednesday and Friday and two services on Sunday, which would attract about 500 people total. Church officials said in their application they would install a landscaping buffer and would direct outdoor lights in a way to minimize the impact on neighbors.

Oh declined to comment on whether the church was rethinking its plans or considering pulling out of the site altogether.

The Rev. Il Young Hahm, who leads the church, also declined to comment.

‘Further erosion of buffer’

John Lederer, president of the nearby neighborhood association Friends of Font Hill, said residents are still preparing their case against the project.

He said residents are worried that the church is too large for the property and also have concerns about traffic problems on Route 40, how stormwater management will be addressed, the size of retaining walls and environmental problems that could be caused by building on steep slopes near the Patuxent River.

“It’s a further erosion of the buffer between commercial and residential,” said Lederer, whose home is next to the proposed site. “We just feel that this buffer should be maintained.”

Although the community meeting was canceled, about 25 to 30 people showed up and held an impromptu discussion on the project, Lederer said.

Although Friends of Font Hill have fought other previous projects in the area and won — including a 30-unit senior townhouse project and another development pursued by the county’s Department of Housing and Community Development — the organization is not anti-development, he said.

“We’re not against everything. We just want to make sure it’s planned properly and makes sense,” he said.

Oh said the church had not anticipated opposition to the proposal, but is willing to meet with neighbors who have concerns.

“Obviously the church is interested in the views of the community,” he said.

County Council member Courtney Watson, who represents the area where the church would be located, agreed with some of the residents’ concerns. She said the plans are too intensive a use for the site.

The size of the proposed church is fairly large for a small site within a residential neighborhood, Watson said, and there would be no room for expansion.

She said she hopes the church will still relocate to Ellicott City, just on another parcel of land.

“I think it’s a good sign that the church has said they’re going to at least delay coming up with the submission,” she said. “I’m hoping they consider another piece of land that might be more appropriate.”

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