Why would the people living nearby object?
Anyhow. The zoning bit for churches ....
These things are decided by local government bureaucrats.
Now ... all else being equal, local governments love to have churches move in. Churches maintain the property. They use few services. They promote the general welfare. They lend respectability to rough neighborhoods. They do not go bankrupt and leave buildings sitting vacant for years.
Church people are most often pleasant folk and easy to work with and the local government people do not get annoyed at them.
And when local governments are mean to churches all the religious people band together and vote the rascals out.
Local governments generally bend over backwards to make variances and exceptions to the benefit of churches.
So you may want to have a good logical reason why the local government is 'agin'.
Loss of city income when the property goes non-profit could be a factor, but it's usually not a huge factor. If somebody else wanted the property ... if the church is many black faces in a white neighborhood ... if they plan to sponsor a halfway house for drug addicts ... if they, like, worship Satan ...
OK. Once the local government is 'against the church, they will find some way to prevent it operating in any particular building.
Parking is a good excuse. Handicapped bathrooms is a good excuse. Sprinklers, fire exits, handicapped parking, ramps in compliance with Federal law, asbestos, sanitary disposal of garbage ... the list is endless.
There is always something.