Developer backs off charging churchgoers to park on lots

They won't have to pay for parking.

The decision, announced Thursday, squelched fears that developer Stanley Whitman would begin charging hourly rates to churchgoers parking next door in the lots of his Bal Harbour Shops, 9700 Collins Ave., where they've been parking for free every Sunday for nearly 15 years.

Church officials said Whitman threatened to begin charging $2 an hour for parking in July and $4 an hour starting next year.

Whitman has since rescinded.

``Parking is no longer an issue,'' said David Pearson, spokesman for the shops. ``It was one of the many points that were being discussed between the church and the shops in this continuing dialogue about the future of the church. There will be no parking charge.''

It will take a lot more to assuage Rita Tuck of Bay Harbor Islands, an on-and-off member of the congregation for the past 26 years.

``Mr. Whitman wants the property, that's the bottom line,'' she said, ``and he's going to do anything to get it.''

Nestled between the parking lot and Saks Fifth Avenue department store, the United Church of Christ church has nearly 600 parishioners from Northeast Dade and Miami Beach. Church-by-the-Sea was built in 1945, one year before the city incorporated and 20 years before the shops opened.

A ``gentleman's agreement'' was struck when the shops opened, according to church officials, to allow parishioners to park for free in its lots.

Five years ago, Whitman voiced an interest in raising a world-class hotel on the church's 27,000-square-foot lot, and discussions between the church and shops began.

However, the church and Whitman have not agreed on terms, particularly on the price to buy out the church.

In an April sermon, the Rev. David Rees, the church's senior minister, told his parishioners the church did not want to sell the property to the developer for $875,000. He hinted that the proposed parking levies were Whitman's way of telling the congregation that he's ``tired of waiting any longer.''

County records show the land and church is appraised at $1.2 million.

``[Whitman's] proposed action has both financial and programmatic implications for our church and for the many community groups that use our church during the week,'' Rees said in his sermon. ``Obviously, we are the church in the way of a five-star hotel.''

Pearson, the shops' spokesman, said the parking fees were not a retaliation, just an ``item in discussions between the church and the shops.''

Talks will continue this week between the church's board of directors and mall representatives over Whitman's offer.

Pearson said Whitman is still interested in developing a hotel on the property. Rees said he would like to see his congregation remain in Bal Harbour.

``We're pleased that Mr. Whitman has lifted parking restrictions and we'll continue conversations with him,'' Rees said. ``We're looking for the best thing for the present and future of the church.''