LAND O’ LAKES — When the Florida Department of Transportation (DOT) announced plans nearly a year ago to improve U.S. Highway 41, members at First United Methodist Church here didn’t think the proposal was an improvement. Six months later, the church and DOT are close to an agreement that may prove good for the church and the community.

The disagreement began about a year ago when the DOT decided to widen U.S. 41, adding two more lanes in 2001 to the existing two and building a median where many of the 230 people who attend the church’s three worship services now exit the church, according to a Feb. 5 article in the Tampa Tribune.

"When they showed us the drawings, there was not a cut in the new median in front of the church," said the Rev. Kent Crow, pastor of the church.

The problem, says Bob Swan, chairman of the church’s board of trustees, is that people who drive to church on north U.S. 41 would have to drive to the next intersection and make a U-turn to get to church. Those wanting to go north after church would have to drive south to make a U-turn to get home. Crow said having 50 to 60 cars trying to make U-turns at those intersections at one time would pose an additional safety problem on an already dangerous road.

Early attempts to convince the DOT to change its plans and move the church’s driveway north 15 feet to line up with an existing road failed, Crow said.

Although the DOT will not move the church’s driveway, the church has worked with its neighbor, the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce, to help solve the problem.

Although the agreement is not final, Swan said the DOT has agreed to build a driveway through the chamber’s parking lot to the church’s. Since the chamber will have a break in the median, church members would be able to enter its property directly from both sides of the highway.

"It seems to be good for us, good for the chamber of commerce and good for the community," Swan said.

The DOT said it would pay for construction of the new driveway, and the church will be responsible for its upkeep.

Crow said having a safe entrance to the church is a "huge benefit" because the church and its surrounding community are both growing. New housing developments in the area have convinced the church to consider expanding its existing facilities.

"I think it’s all going to work out," he said. "When it does, it will be so beneficial for the church."