Could vacant Miller Lane church become a commercial pickleball facility? Officials to hear plan

The redevelopment proposal pertains to the building at 6213 Miller Lane, which is situated west of I-75 and south of Miller Lane’s intersection with Benchwood Road.

The structure previously housed a church known as Empowerment Temple, which closed its doors in 2020. The property has remained vacant since then.

South of the site is Stop 8 Road and Hopeland Church, which is operational.

Owners of the church now wish to sell the building, and the 4.5-acre site it sits on, to the Dayton Metro Pickleball (DMP) organization.

Upon purchase and pending approval of the rezoning of the parcel from residential single-family to highway business, the DMP intends to renovate the site and construct an indoor/outdoor pickleball facility.

Application documents show plans to first expand the building’s current gym, which is located at the rear of the site, to accommodate 13 total pickleball courts. Future plans would also include the addition of 8 outdoor lighted courts at the northwest end of the site.

The front of the building would be used for offices and other support functions, according to documents, which also mention the potential use of the chapel as a wedding venue.

The Miller Lane business district located to the north of the site has been undergoing street and landscape changes, spearheaded by Butler Twp.

The project to rebrand the area “Benchwood Station” was first announced by the township in fall of 2021. The district encompasses the stretch of Miller Lane from Benchwood Road north to Little York Road.

Construction began last month on a roundabout at the Miller Lane/Maxton Road intersection, and additional streetscape changes are planned for the Benchwood Road area this year.

The majority of Vandalia’s municipality is situated north of I-70, though a section of the city’s land stretches south, past I-70 as far as Stop 8 Road, and east of I-75 to the edge of Huber Heights.

The city also encompasses a smaller section of land, within which the proposed pickleball facility falls, south of Benchwood Road as far as Stop 8 Road, and west of I-75, to the Dayton city limits and the western edge of Art Van Atta Park.