MARSHALL — A former church building north of Marshall could have a new life as an event center. This week, Lyon County Commissioners approved a conditional use permit for an event center at the former Church of St. Clotilde in Green Valley.

Lyon County Planning and Zoning Administrator John Biren said SWMN Properties, LLC, owned by Jordan Handeland, had applied for the conditional use permit. In April, Handeland confirmed that his company had bought the church property.

The former Catholic church went up for sale in January. By that point, Mass had not been held there for a few years.

“We held a public hearing here last Tuesday,” on the requested permit, Biren said. Biren said the Lyon County Planning Commission considered the conditions placed on the permit well, and tried “to come up with all the hypotheticals that may come with this type of land use.”

The conditions in the permit included that the property owners had to control potential nuisances like weeds, garbage and loud noises.

“We didn’t have a lot of public comment. But there was some public comment regarding parking, and making sure that we’re not parking on the road,” Biren said.

“Was there going to be a certain size?” Commissioner Paul Graupmann asked about the parking lot at the proposed event center.

“That would be based on the capacity of the building,” Biren said. There was also plenty of space available outside the church building that could be used for off-street parking, he said.

Biren said conditions in the permit required the owners to have parking at the property, in accordance with Lyon County zoning ordinances..

The 2015 Lyon County zoning ordinance available on the county’s website did not specifically list event centers in its parking requirements. However, there were requirements for assembly or exhibition halls, and for restaurants, nightclubs or bars. An exhibition hall was required to have one parking space for each four seats based on the building’s design capacity, while a restaurant or bar was required to have one parking space for each 75 square feet of customer floor area.

Commissioners voted to approve the conditional use permit for the property.

“It looks like a good use for this facility. At least it’s not going to be sitting empty,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley.