Bethany United Methodist Church has persevered in a leafy neighborhood near the Astrodome for 65 years, though its membership today would fill less than a third of its 1,000-seat sanctuary if everybody showed up.

Pastor Dan Jones, a Wharton-educated MBA, speaks of a "transitioning model" as church attendance continues to decline nationally. It is imperative to expand beyond the traditional "one hour a week" to remain relevant, he says.

But Jones' most ambitious step in that direction - a proposal to build a four-story apartment building for seniors on site - has unleashed yet another contentious homeowner uprising in a city that has seen several in recent years. The target of ire this time, rather than developers or the government, is a religious organization that enjoys tax advantages and other preferences not otherwise available in the free market.

Longtime residents accuse Bethany of "betraying their neighborhood" with a plan to abruptly change the nature of development there, increasing traffic and parking problems, threatening public safety and endangering property values. Yard signs reminiscent of the high-profile Ashby high-rise fight have arisen in testament to the growing feud.

A letter to homeowners posted on a website set up by the opposition accuses Bethany United of trying to fix its "membership and income problem" by becoming a landlord.

"It just boggles my mind that somebody would take a church parking lot and turn it into apartments," says Harold Kidder, who bought his house across the street from the church 40 years ago and assumed it would always be a good, and quiet, neighbor.

Disrupting the peace

The word "quiet" is invoked a lot these days in the Woodside, Linkwood, Knollwood Village and Westridge neighborhoods, a cluster of modestly sized, postwar ranch-style houses located comfortably inside the Loop, just south of Brays Bayou, where home prices have soared along with demand for homes closer to the city's core.

The interest in preserving the peace, as well as the property values, is often cited among the 670 people who have signed written and online petitions opposing Bethany United's plans to build a 101-unit complex for residents age 62 or older, with half of the units offering below-market rents reserved for people on fixed incomes.

The church already runs a day school on its six-acre campus. For several years, it has sought to add an active senior housing component. Church leaders see it as another way to serve the community.

"I think this is all part of the transitioning model," says Jones, Bethany's pastor for the last decade.

Several years ago, the church joined forces with a developer to seek tax credits to build the project. To qualify for the competitive housing tax credit program, applicants must meet certain requirements and achieve a high enough "score" from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

After receiving a lower score than anticipated on its application, the church abandoned the effort.

"Part of the reason the scoring didn't come out well was a difference of opinion what the city and state were calling supportive housing," said Christopher Johns-Krull, a resident and church member who chairs the project's planning committee.

The church then decided to pursue more conventional financing and enlisted commercial real estate firm Stream Realty Partners to develop the complex. In its current plan, the church would own it through a nonprofit, which would likely pay the church rent to lease the land. Tax implications are unclear.

Many homeowners in the nearby neighborhoods were against the original plan. Its revival could spark a public fight rivaling that waged over a proposed mixed-income apartment project in the upscale Briargrove area near the Galleria and, before that, the protracted battle against the so-called Ashby high-rise near Rice University.

Briargrove residents successfully pushed back against that project and, although the Ashby neighbors ultimately failed in a high-profile court case, the property set aside for the 21-story building remains vacant.

In the current dispute, signs protesting the church project carry the battle cry of "Stop Bethany Apartments." They are notable for the graphic representation of an anthropomorphized apartment building with sharp teeth and a menacing grimace - modeled after the Ashby signs and bumper stickers.

Some residents who support the church's project have fashioned their own signs in reaction. But many, like Kidder, a retired engineer who lives across from Bethany at the corner of Linkwood and Bevlyn, are fiercely opposed.

"I basically moved here because the area was very quiet," he says. "Even though there was a church across the street and an elementary school nearby, my assumption has always been that's a good thing because the area would never be developed."

Kevin Antill, a 15-year resident of Knollwood Village who went door-to-door passing out fliers voicing concerns over the project, said the homeowners are not against the church, or seniors, just the apartment project. He cites other potential problems, including flooding, lighting and an overall loss of "peace and tranquility."

"We bought our house here for it not to be disrupted," he says.

Vocal opponents argue their part of town is already too densely populated and the new building would not fit in with the character of the existing neighborhoods. Commenters on the protest website express fear for the safety of children who go to school in the area. Others mention the increased traffic, the size of the project and the loss of mature trees on the property should the building be developed.

"Original zoning was for a church, not a multifamily apartment complex," one comment reads. "Shame on BUMC for betraying their neighborhood!"

Expanding its missions

Pastor Jones denies charges that the church's motivation is financial. Membership, he says, has been "up and down a little bit" but relatively stable over the last 10 years. He estimates there are close to 300 members today.

Yet he acknowledges that Bethany has been focusing on expanding its external missions and commissioned a market study to identify the most pressing needs in the community.

That research found a dearth of housing for active seniors. Jones says the Bethany project would allow residents to stay in the neighborhood where they go to church, where they bank and where their friends live - without worry of being priced out by rising property costs.

"That was the ministry impetus," he says.

Jones also says the church held "communication events" with neighborhood groups for nearly a year after it began considering the development. There would be no religious test for residents and the project would not be "low income" housing or qualify for federal Section 8 housing programs, according to an FAQ on the church's website.

Rather, the site contends that units offering below-market rents would be made available for "retired professionals such as teachers, public administrators, nurses and firefighters."

"We thought we were doing what we needed to do to communicate with the neighborhood," he says.

Jones would like to see construction begin within a year, although many details are unclear, including construction costs, rents and property tax implications. The church also has not detailed how it plans to finance the project.

"We're still researching a number of possibilities," says Jones.

Aging in place

When church groups expand beyond their traditional work, tax consequences can be ambiguous. Of the other faith-based organizations with similar housing projects in Houston, some qualify for a property tax exemption and some don't.

The Harris County Appraisal District estimates that 95 properties owned by faith-based groups are exempt under tax code that classifies them as either "charitable" organizations or "community housing development" organizations.

"It all depends on how they are organized and, especially, operated," HCAD said in an emailed statement to the Chronicle. "The issues can vary from organization to organization or property to property."

Bethany United holds its land in trust for the larger Methodist church organization.

Johns-Krull, says the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church is supportive of the current apartment plans. He also says Bethany is working with Stream to try to secure grant funding to offset some of construction costs and keep rents down.

"The goal is to provide affordable housing for seniors with fixed incomes," he says. "So there's definitely a charitable aspect that we're trying to do."

In a emailed statement, Iggy Grillo, vice president of multifamily development for Stream Realty, notes that longtime residents of the area are being displaced "in substantial numbers due to the skyrocketing cost of living." Bethany's proposal, he says, would provide an opportunity for residents to "age in place."

He also applauds the church leadership for "working diligently with area neighborhood organizations to find the best way to provide desperately needed senior housing within this community in the city of Houston, for the benefit of its residents and the neighborhoods that it serves."

Religious or charitable motivations aside, Bethany's critics question whether the church should be prevented from building apartments based on the property deed, a portion of which reads: "...premises shall be used, kept, and maintained as a place of divine worship of the Methodist ministry and members of The Methodist Church."

Longtime resident Anita Woods thinks the potential good outweighs other concerns. Woods, who is not a member of Bethany but whose children attended preschool at the church, cites research showing most people do not want to move out of their communities as they get older.

She sees the Bethany plan as a way to perhaps provide that opportunity. Otherwise, she fears, "a lot of older people living in this neighborhood can't afford it."