A controversial megachurch’s request for a permit to conduct services will be the subject of a public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, before the Moon Township Board of Supervisors.
Revival Today Inc., which had been holding services in an 18,000-square-foot tent off Coraopolis Heights Road despite not having the proper permits from the township, is seeking a conditional use permit to move forward with its activities as a place of worship.
The meeting will take place in the township Municipal Building, 1000 Beaver Grade Road.
The township has required Revival Today and the landowner, Moses Land LLC, to complete engineering, traffic, noise, lighting and other studies needed to obtain the permit.
According to a letter from Garvin Boward Beitko Engineering Inc., Revival Today has addressed concerns that surfaced in previous geotechnical engineering reviews and – at least from a geotechnical engineering standpoint – sees no reason why the township should not approve the project.
But other documentation that is part of the nearly 2,900-page agenda item indicates the proponents have not met all the conditions required for the permit, and that likely will be the crux of the discussion that takes place Monday evening.
For example, in a letter to the township, LSSE Civil Engineers and Surveyors writes that Revival Today’s revised preliminary and final major land development plan “does not conform to the township’s zoning ordinance, subdivision and land development ordinance, grading ordinance and stormwater management ordinance.”
According to a letter from Scott Brilhart, the township’s planning director and assistant manager, to the township Planning Commission dated Aug. 15, Revival Today’s application is still missing confirmation as to the maximum number of seats that the largest meeting room would hold. That number would be used to determine minimum parking space requirements for various uses.
Brilhart wrote that Revival Today submitted a parking needs analysis indicating that it plans to utilize 200 off-site parking spaces at 1187 Thorn Run Road Extension but did not provide any documentation stating whether those spaces are or aren’t already being used there. Revival Today indicates it currently has on-site parking for 68 vehicles.
Brilhart’s letter indicates that Revival Today stated that the new structure would have 800 seats. Documents associated with Monday night’s meeting agenda indicate that Revival Today is proposing to construct a new 15,680-square-foot “tent canopy structure” on the site, but it’s not clear what would happen with the existing tent structure on the site.
According to documents that are part of the agenda, the state Department of Transportation is not requiring Revival Today to install a left-turn lane off Coraopolis Heights Road into the property until a permanent structure would be built on that property.
Church officials have maintained in earlier documents submitted to the township that utilizing the former Baywood Country Club property as a place of worship would not alter the neighborhood’s character, noting that it’s close to an existing church and within one mile of four other churches, and would not impact the use or development of adjacent properties.
But some neighbors have complained to the township before about noise and traffic issues related to services that have been held at the property dating back to the middle of 2024.
The issue has been percolating for months; last December, Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Chelsa Wagner granted the township a preliminary injunction prohibiting Revival Today and Moses Land from using the existing tent until they obtained “the mandatory governmental approvals, reviews, inspections and permits enumerated in the Moon Township Code of Ordinances.”
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