A Milton resident told City Council on Monday, Aug. 17, that Restoration Church is designing a 1,248-seat, 100,000-plus-square-foot facility for roughly 40 acres of agricultural land along Arnold Mill and New Providence roads, even though the church has filed no development application with the city.
Sarah Moen, who lives on New Providence Road, read from the church's own announcements dated Aug. 2 and Aug. 9 during public comment at the Aug. 17 council meeting, the Roundabout reported. She told council the facility's design is approximately 70% complete.
The church paid $7.5 million in December 2025 for two parcels totaling 29 acres. The 40-acre footprint Moen cited would require roughly 11 additional acres the church does not yet own.
Her Change.org petition, titled "No Mega Churches in Rural Milton, GA," had 1,002 verified signatures as of Tuesday, Aug. 18. Moen launched the petition June 9.
"Nobody is anti-church," Moen told council. "The opposition is to any large, high intensity development on AG-1 land, and it stays a land use issue."
Nine residents spoke during public comment at the meeting; most addressed the church project.
Why it matters for the corridor
The church's parcels sit on the Arnold Mill corridor, a two-lane state highway zoned AG-1 with a one-acre minimum lot size and no municipal sewer. Milton City Council adopted the Arnold Mill Small Area Plan in May 2025 specifically to preserve the corridor's rural character.
Under Milton's zoning code, churches are not permitted by right on AG-1 land. Any proposal would require a use permit, triggering a public review before the Planning Commission and City Council.
Moen first raised concerns about the project at the Aug. 3 council meeting, when she told council, "Let us be completely unambiguous about our zoning laws — churches are not permitted by right on AG-1 land."
Land use map rewrite underway
Milton is actively rewriting its land use map as part of a 2026 comprehensive plan update. That map is the benchmark against which any future rezoning argument for the site would be measured. The redlined draft is public at miltonga.gov/2026CompPlanUpdate.
Moen told council that a brokerage agent for the church first contacted the city on July 24, 2025, and that the church itself has never contacted the city directly.
The Roundabout reported it reached Restoration Church for comment on Aug. 10 and had not received a response as of publication on Aug. 18.
What's next
No church-related item is confirmed on the Milton Planning Commission's next agenda, scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Until the church files a rezoning or use permit application, no formal public hearing is required.
