By Laurie Cipriano
l.cipriano@krdo.com

COLORADO SPRINGS - Ted Haggard’s Thursday night prayer meeting took place at his home, which stands on five acres.  The property is located just outside of Colorado Springs, so it falls under El Paso County’s jurisdiction.  County officials weren’t really sure just how large of a crowd to expect.

  “Regarding a prayer meeting in the home El Paso County zoning regulations do not regulate, restrict or prohibit the individual prayer meeting in a person's home,” said Mark Gerhart, El Paso County’s Land Development Code Administrator. 

  But if there was a large turnout requiring more parking spaces, would zoning regulations present a problem for the former pastor?

  “We do have zoning standards for required parking spaces for religious institutions,” said Gebhart.  “But this, as I understand it, will be a prayer meeting in a home which is a common practice in Colorado Springs.”

  Ted Haggard told NEWSCHANNEL 13 that when he was the pastor of New Life Church, he often held gatherings at his home of up to 300 people.  But he didn’t expect Thursday night’s crowd to be quite that large. 

  If the prayer meetings continue and if the crowds get larger, Gebhart explained that the problem would be easily alleviated:  “There would be plenty of people who would complain if the services got so big,” said Gebhart.  “Zoning regulation would not automatically prohibit it from happening.  Frankly the best avenue for neighbors is often to contact the person that owns the property where the activity is occurring.”