HERMISTON – Oasis of Hope Church will move ahead with plans to erect a tent-like modular building as a permanent facility despite the City Council’s move to block any more such structures in the future.

At the request of the council, the city Planning Department presented a change to city ordinances during a meeting Wednesday.

The change would ban tents or tent-like structures over 400 square feet from being used for more than 30 days consecutively.

Despite mixed comments from the public, the proposal will move ahead to the City Council for its June 27 meeting.

Oasis of Hope already holds a building permit for their Sprung Instant Structure, a dome-shaped building of aluminum struts covered by a durable plastic skin. Workers are already pouring a concrete foundation on church property near the water tower on South Highway 395.

“This is a way for us to get up and running, to start developing the 6-acre site,” senior pastor James Lafolette said. “The cost was a factor – it’s substantially less, about 70 percent of the cost of a wood-frame building. Another factor is the speed and ease of construction. The structure is being delivered next week, and it should be up by the start of July.”

Once completed, the oval structure will measure 70 by 130 feet. The church plans to use it on a permanent basis as an assembly hall and gymnasium. With 7,000 square feet of interior space, the structure is large enough to hold a regulation basketball or volleyball court.

“We really are looking to make this a multi-purpose facility,” Lafolette said. “Ultimately, we want this to be a recreation facility that serves not just the church, but the entire community.”

The Sprung structure takes its name, not from the building’s construction, but from the Sprung family, Canadian tentmakers who expanded the family company into modular buildings in the 1970’s.

According to the Sprung Instant Structures, Inc. company Web site, the buildings are used for a variety of purposes including warehouses and manufacturing space, recreational facilities and Army mess halls.

Sprung designs have also become popular among new or rapidly growing churches, with over 100 sales to church groups as of 2001, according to company figures.

The structures are designed to be compliant with U.S. building codes, certified flame-retardant and guaranteed for 20 years. The structures can also incorporate windows, skylights, fiberglass insulation and standard heat ducts.

According to Lafolette, the word “tent” hardly does justice to the church’s new structure.

“It’s an innovative new approach to building,” he said. “When something new gets introduced, you don’t really have a category for it, and I think that’s been part of the problem.”

As for opponents who worry the structure will be an eyesore, Lafolette adds:

“We think it’s great – I love the way it looks. I’ve lived in Hermiston for 10 years, and I’ve been impressed by Hermiston’s ability to welcome new things.”

Lafolette believes the council should hold off on their ban, and consider a Sprung structure of its own.

“They could make the Aquatic Center a year-round facility with one of these,” he said.