By Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DEERFIELD TWP. - Township trustees are expected to decide tonight whether to overrule their zoning commission and let a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses move into a Deerfield business park.

The Kenwood/Blue Ash Kingdom Hall wants to build a 185-seat church at Governor's Pointe North, on Duke Boulevard just south of Socialville-Fosters Road. It's needed, church elder Robert Blum said, because membership is growing, and there's not another congregation north of Kenwood until Lebanon.

The trustees meet at 7:30 p.mat 3292 Montgomery Road.

In July, the Deerfield Zoning Commission recommended against allowing the church in the light manufacturing district, although township planners and the Warren County Regional Planning Commission recommended approval. The trustees have the final say unless someone appeals their ruling in court.

But even if the trustees approve the Kingdom Hall plan, the township and the Jehovah's Witnesses could remain at odds over payments that are required of Governor's Pointe businesses.

The business park is under a tax-increment financing plan - a complicated arrangement in which the township makes some infrastructure improvements up front that companies moving into the park must pay back for a number of years.

The payments are based on the value of the new buildings and are made in lieu of property taxes.

Churches are exempt from property taxes, but according to township attorney Doug Miller, they are not exempt from tax-increment financing payments.

"It is a concern, because it would put an additional burden on the congregation," Mr. Blum said. "Even though it's called TIF payments it's really nothing other than a property tax. We feel as a nonprofit, religious organization we should be exempted."

The group tried unsuccessfully to find a more suitable location, Mr. Blum said. "There's plenty of land, but it's at a very exorbitant price."

The plan is for a one-story, 5,160-square-foot building on 1.85 acres. If the trustees approve it tonight, the new Kingdom Hall could be completed by late 2003, Mr. Blum said.

The Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian denomination known for their door-to-door proselytizing. They have 6.3 million members worldwide and more than 1 million in the United States.

E-mail candrews@enquirer.com