By Scott Unger, of the News-Register
Published Feb. 24, 2026

A last-second agreement between opposing sides of a rural Newberg church application made Thursday’s Board of Commissioners appeal hearing somewhat unnecessary, but a verdict was delayed to allow the parties to finalize details.

Neighbors on Northeast Chehalem Drive in rural Newberg appealed the county’s approval of a conditional use permit for a church on AF-10 (agriculture and forestry with a 10-acre minimum) zoning, arguing proposed twice-a-week services would disrupt the neighborhood.

Chehalem Christian Fellowship has been operating without a permanent location for more than 20 years, starting at a senior center before moving to Joan Austin Elementary School until COVID, according to head Pastor Micah Routon. During COVID, the congregation assembled first on a member’s baseball field, before moving into a two-sided hay barn for two years.

“When it was cold, we were the chosen frozen,” Routon said.

The land at 16580 N.E. Chehalem Dr. would provide a fixed campus for the approximately 220-member congregation. Routon stressed the church is centered on teaching the ministry and doesn’t plan to expand beyond its current Sunday service and Wednesday night Bible study.

“We don’t call a lot of attention to ourselves,” he said. “We don’t have lights in the streets; we don’t have big events. We’re a simple church.”

The plan is to connect an existing barn and shop building on the site with a “unifying lobby,” according to architect Tom Lorris. The barn-style church will have no fixed seating. Plans include an option to widen the facility in the next decade to accommodate 100 more seats.

Aside from the potential long-term growth, the church has no plans to add services or programming and wants to fit into the neighborhood, according to Routon.

“We want to be good neighbors,” he said. “We don’t want to come in and impose what we want to do. We want to be a blessing. We want to have good relationships with the neighborhood, even though it may start in a courthouse in McMinnville.”

Neighbors cited potential growth, the church providing shelter to the homeless, noise, stormwater runoff, and issues with an access road as concerns with the application.

Neighbor Margaret Reed submitted an opposition petition signed by 47 neighbors and argued that the paved parking lot and church activities are irrevocably changing the area.

“We are surrounded by farmland and trees. Once paved, these acres can never again be farmed or used as a pasture,” she said. “A successful church has daily, varied, and numerous comings and goings. A church being built in the middle of the countryside will greatly alter the character of our area.”

In “courthouse steps” negotiations, the two sides agreed the church would eventually widen and pave a gravel access road that would be used as an entrance. In the meantime, the church will provide maintenance to limit dust from cars, according to CCF attorney Andrew Stamp.

Additionally, CCF agreed to reshape a culvert to handle stormwater runoff from a proposed paved parking lot and will install landscaping around the lot, Stamp said.

The two sides discussed additional conditions regarding operating hours before the board determined it was better procedurally to keep the record open and delay a decision until its March 19 meeting.

“If you guys were already in agreement before we came, I feel like you guys can just take another two weeks and get this really ironed out, and I think everybody will be amicable in the end,” Board Chair Kit Johnston said.

Read: Neighbors Appear Rural Newberg Church (By Scott Unger, of the News-Register, Feb. 17, 2026)

This story first appeared in Yamhill County’s News-Register and is republished with permission. Learn more at the News-Register’s website.