City council allows use of parking lots for church


The Pipestone City Council approved a request from a local church to hold Sunday services at the Hiawatha Lodge parking lot due to the church’s usual meeting place at the high school being unavailable due to the COVID-19 pandemic and also being under construction. A second church also requested to use the space, so the council approved allowing organizations to use the space for limited time increments to allow for multiple users. K. Kuphal

Pipestone City Council members voted during their June 1 meeting to allow organizations to rent the parking lot at the Hiawatha Lodge and Harmon Park in two-hour increments for a fee of $100.

The action followed a request from Cornerstone Free Church to use the parking lot at Hiawatha Lodge and Harmon Park to conduct church services on Sunday mornings. The church also requested permission to use an outlet to operate a minimal amount of electronics.

Cornerstone typically meets in the high school and due to the ongoing construction there and the closure of school buildings to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that has not been possible and is not likely to be possible for most of the summer.

“We are currently making arrangements to meet outdoors this summer,” wrote Pastor Steve Stahl in a letter to the city. “This will allow us to meet our congregation via three different options. Congregants can stay in their vehicle, they can bring lawn chairs and practice social distancing between family groups or they can participate online.”

Stahl wrote that the church would prefer to use the parking lot at the Hiawatha Lodge and was interested in Harmon Park if there was another party renting the Lodge on a Sunday.

Pipestone City Administrator Jeff Jones told the city council that another church had also asked city staff if it could use the Lodge parking lot. City Clerk Deb Nelson said the Lodge is also booked some Sundays during the summer.

The rental rate for the Lodge is $400 and the fee for use of the shelter at Harmon Park is $25. The city has no set fee for use of parking lots.

Councilor Rodger Smidt proposed a lesser fee for use of the Lodge parking lot for the short period needed for a church service.

“The rate is $400, but that’s if you use it for an evening or an afternoon,” Smidt said. “They’re only going to be using it probably for an hour, so I don’t know why we’d have to charge the $400 rate, but we should have something because we’re going to incur some expenses as far as cleaning up and so forth.”

Mayor Myron Koets said Hiawatha Pageant Park Committee members suggested a $100 fee for the parking lot.

Councilor Dan Delaney suggested renting out the Hiawatha Lodge parking lot in two-hour increments so multiple organizations could use it as long as they follow state and federal guidelines pertaining to health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The state guidelines, for example, limit attendance at outdoor church services to 250 people. Delaney said use should be allowed on a first come, first served basis and that the same conditions should apply to any organization.

“I think we have to look at it as organizations,” Delaney said. “We shouldn’t be looking at it as a church service to keep state and church separate. Any organization then that wanted to come forward and use that facility for a gathering as long as they’re within the CDC and the governor’s directive, we should allow that.”

Council members also suggested the use of other spaces such as the upper parking lot at the Hiawatha Pageant Park, which is owned by the city, and the Pipestone County Fair Grounds, which is owned by the county, if other churches were interested in holding outdoor services.