The Pinehurst Village Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a major special-use permit requested by The Village Chapel to construct a new learning center.

The council determined that it meets 10 findings of fact necessary for approval and added three conditions.

Under the conditions, the church must obtain approval from the Historic Preservation Commission before the start of construction, the village must approve a minor site plan, and the project must meet fire flow approval before issuance of a certificate of occupancy.

The council's vote was met with applause by the largely pro-Village Chapel crowd.

"That moved along much quicker than I anticipated," Mayor Ginsey Fallon said after the vote. "I thought we'd be here all afternoon."

The major special-use permit will allow the nondenominational Village Chapel to build a 16,500-square-foot learning center that will accommodate the congregation and serve other community organizations.

Opponents of the expansion argued that it will cause traffic and parking problems, disturb the historical nature of the area and harm property values.

"I am hopeful people will step back, take a deep breath and say, 'Maybe it is time for this to happen for our community,'" Village Chapel Pastor Larry Ellis said after the meeting.

During deliberations, the council could consider only factual evidence in whether or not to issue the permit.

Contact Tom Embrey at tembrey@thepilot.com.