Pinelake Jumps Through First Hurdles for New Church Campus

Plans are underway to build a new home for the Pinelake Church in Oxford.

Pinelake Church is the largest evangelical Christian Southern Baptist church in Mississippi, with six campuses around the state.

The church arrived in Oxford in 2015 and has been holding Sunday services at the Oxford Conference Center.

In 2018, the church purchased about 12 acres off the Pat Patterson Parkway, across from the entrance into mTrade Park.

On Monday, the Oxford Planning Commission approved several variance requests; however, the overall site plan is still currently being reviewed by city planning department staff.

The first special exception will allow for the use of a large, religious assembly building. The proposed church will have seating for about 900 people.

The ground floor of the partial, two-story building will include the main worship hall, adult study space and preschool/nursery space. It will be about 45,663-square feet. The second floor will consist of educational space and provide additional 14,000-square feet of space. Another special exception was needed since the second floor will only provide 31% of the total square footage. City code requires a second floor to be 51% of the total square footage; however, the Planning Commission granted both variances to the church.

A third variance, also approved, allows the church to build further back on the site.

The church stated it would hire local police officers to direct traffic at peak hours on Sundays and city planning staff said no additional traffic studies were needed at this time.