Members of a Rotterdam church are pushing against a zoning change on property that houses the town’s community center.

The facility provides free meals to hundreds of people living in town and has a food pantry inside. The pastor of a local church thinks it’s a critical resource and said the town board should rethink the zoning change.

Messiah Lutheran Church and Trinity Reformed Church merged in 2000. They purchased the former Trinity site to open a community center in the existing building. The plan later down the road was to redevelop the site with a new community center and affordable housing.

The zoning permits three-story buildings.

Now four years later, the Rotterdam Community Center welcomes 350 people every week for food pantry programs, mental health and wellness activities and different events.

Dustin Longmire, pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church, said that two weeks ago, church members learned the town board had approved a zoning change to limit buildings to two stories in that zone – effectively eliminating the possibility of building affordable housing on the site.

Church members are holding a vigil at 5:30 p.m. Thursday and then headed to the Rotterdam Town Board meeting at 7 p.m.