SENECA — The old Seneca Baptist Church at 201 S. Fairplay St. is up for rezoning again.

The rezoning request is on the agenda for a Seneca City Council meeting on Tuesday night.

“Ray and Donnine Billingsley purchased the property in 2007 from Seneca Baptist Church,” said Ed Halbig, Seneca planning and development director. “Their intent was to try to do something with the old church building, and they sought and received a rezoning from R-10 to neighborhood commercial so that they would have some more opportunities to put the building to different uses. The Billingsleys have since sold the building to the Light of the World Church, and one of the conditions of the sale was that they would be able to seek the rezoning of that property back to its original R-10 zoning.”

When the property was rezoned in November 2007, several area residents complained that the change would negatively impact the quiet neighborhood, which is in the heart of the city’s historic district.

George Rambo, a property owner on South Fairplay Street, told City Council that he was concerned the rezoning would affect property values in his neighborhood.

“Property values in the neighborhood have been increasing over the years with people rebuilding homes and putting a lot of money into the neighborhood,” Rambo said. “My concern is there have been no questions asked except by realtors, who have said prospective buyers have dropped out of the sales.”

The neighborhood commercial zoning allows for many uses, such as public utilities, veterinary offices, coin operated laundries, medical facilities, fast food restaurants, cell phone towers and government uses.

Permitted uses for R-10 zones are single-family residential structures as well as conditional uses such as churches or educational facilities.

The initial rezoning passed by a 6-2 vote with one abstention.

Council member Warren Bright voted against the rezoning, saying, “We took an oath to protect the citizens’ interests. This will be the only historic area we ever have, and I think the people have expressed their fears about how this could affect their quality of life in the neighborhood. I voted no because of the potential uses that this zoning could allow in the future.”

If the city council grants first reading of the rezoning request, Halbig feels that will ease homeowners’ fears in the neighborhood, he said.

“Essentially what the Billingsleys are looking to do is grant some assurances back to the community that what they feared at the first rezoning will not be able to come to fruition,” Halbig said.

The council will also discuss the second phase of the water plant project in the city, and council members will be asked to appropriate some money.

City Council will conduct a work session starting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Immediately following the work session, the council will begin its regular monthly meeting.