Controversial Church In Bridgeville Draws Ire Of Neighbors

BRIDGEVILLE (KDKA) -- Lakeview Christian Life Church in Bridgeville draws congregants from all over, but many live in the housing plan abutting the church and its school.

The few non-church members who live there say they've been ostracized.

KDKA's Andy Sheehan: "What is your relationship with this church? These church members?

Cheryl Buck: "None. None at all."

The neighbors say when they bought their homes, they unwittingly bought into a closed society. Church members, they say, rarely, if ever, speak with them, and church kids are not allowed to play with theirs.

Buck, one of those neighbors, says her son once tried to play with the church kids, but one of the church mothers sent him home.

"He come home upset. I went out to find out why he had to come home, and she lied. She come out and said, 'I never told him to go home,'" said Buck. "But her son said, 'Yeah, Mom, you told us not to play with him cause he don't go to the church."

The divisions now seem to be headed for court over an earthen dam said to be failing. These homeowners say the dam is not theirs, but they've been socked with bills of thousands of dollars to fix it by the homeowners association, which is controlled by church members.

Neighbor Jacqueline Beaumont fears she may lose her home.

"I live on $950 a month - social security," she says. "Would I have known any of the expenses were going to be accrued to me down the road, I would have never moved in here. I would have found a house somewhere else."

The church says even though many of its members live in the community, it is separate and distinct from the homeowner's association, but when the dam was constructed they agreed to split the maintenance costs equally.

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In a statement the church said:

"The church has no involvement in any dispute between the homeowner's association and its members and we do not intend to involve the church in that dispute. All of our dealings on this matter are with the association board and not individual homeowners."

But the non-church homeowners say they the church and the board are one and the same.

"Whatever the church wants is what the board does," said Janine Pratt, another neighbor.

No one could tell KDKA what exactly is wrong with the dam that requires a repair, and so far, no liens have been filed against the homeowners who don't want to pay. But if it comes to that, some of them say they'll take the dispute to court.