Turnout at Bethany Beach Town Hall on Friday, June 13, somewhat resembled a church meeting, with a capacity crowd of members of St. Martha’s Episcopal Church that pushed the meeting from an upstairs meeting room to the main town hall meeting room. But, instead of a sermon and singing, those at the meeting got a presentation about the planned expansion of the 68-year-old church and some questions from members of the town’s Commercial Architecture Design Review Committee.
The project’s architect, who specializes in the design of churches, noted that the historic sanctuary — built in 1940 to accommodate summer services for vacationing Episcopalians — had long since proven inadequate for even the small congregation at the church, which is located at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Maplewood Street, just about two blocks from the beach.
While expansions to the then-50-year-old church were made in 1990 and 1995, tight quarters had forced them to move worship services to the church’s parish hall, which he said had proven inconvenient, as it meant anyone moving from the rectory to the church office during services needed to go through the parish hall while it was in use for worship. The church has had year-round worship since 1975.
Aiming to expand worship space and make the overall layout of the church more convenient and useful, the revamped St. Martha’s will feature a large new sanctuary located to the rear and east of the existing one. That historic structure will be preserved in the remodel.
“We want to preserve the history and the character of the church,” the architect noted. “We will maintain the integrity of the entrance,” he said of the main entrance to the 1940 sanctuary, noting plans to cover it with an expanded roofline to help keep the cedar-shingled original structure more out of the weather.
Adjacent to and west of the revamped entrance, in front of the parish hall, will be a new windowed hallway, leading to the existing rectory and kitchen facilities — which will get their own makeover, into a new kitchen, meeting room, library, storage and restrooms — as well as an additional, corner-set entrance.
At the east end of that hallway will be the historic chapel and then another hallway leading to the new sanctuary, rectory, sacristy, music room, handicapped-accessible restroom facilities, an office and the church nursery.
At the east side of the building, leading from the parking lot, will be a new handicapped ramp leading to an east-side entrance to that hallway, with plans for two designated handicapped parking spots to be located there.
The church will add a vehicular entrance to the parking lot on Maplewood Street, aiming to reduce use of the alleyway between Maplewood and Hollywood Street as a way to access parking.
Again looking to “maintain the character and integrity of the church,” plans call for the relocation of the existing steeple to the top of the revamped sanctuary entrance.
The church’s western side is to remain unchanged, offering continuity for those driving past on Atlantic Avenue. There are also no plans to change the church’s existing signage — a simple sign at the corner of the lot.
On the east side, major changes will be apparent. The large new sanctuary will even feature a stained glass window on the east side, above the altar.
Plan meets with approval from DRC
Members of the DRC, who must approve all exterior changes to all non-residential buildings in the town’s C-1 commercial district, had a number of questions about the project, verifying that it will remain within town code by not invading existing setbacks and height restrictions. The church will remain at 31 feet in height at its tallest point, with the steeple extending 5 feet from the roof.
The roof pitch will range between 5/12 and 6/12 — meeting minimums noted by DRC member and Planning Commission Chairman Lew Killmer.
Though there are no parking requirements for the church, it will offer 24 spots in its parking lot to the east of the new sanctuary. The parking lot surface will remain gravel, while the two handicapped spots will be paved for ease of access.
Plans call for wood shingles as the roofing material, though a similar material might be substituted. Cedar shingles are also to cover the exterior walls. Suggestions of staining the new shingles gray to match the existing, time-weathered ones was frowned upon by DRC members, who recommended the shingles be allowed to age naturally.
The church’s existing white trim, unique architectural details and black shutters will also remain and be repeated in new sections of the building. Windows on the new sections will be upgraded to meet a more demanding code in terms of wind resistance, thanks to the church’s near-beach location. The windows will also have to be set back 2 inches in the walls to meet the new code.
A landscape plan was not submitted last week but will be submitted before construction begins.
Drainage improvements are also part of the plan for the expanded church, which sits on a very flat lot that already has flooding problems. A perforated drainage pipe and catch basin are planned to help move water away from the property and into the town’s existing stormwater swale on Maplewood Street and Atlantic, respectively.
The system is designed to be a slow-flow one, taking an estimated nine minutes for water to run from the far end to the swale — allowing time for the water to seep into the ground and thus creating cleaner water at the system’s outflow. The church will maintain the system on its property.
Neighboring property owner Phil Boesch expressed some concerns about the project on June 13, noting existing problems with noise from late-night meetings by outside groups using the church and from the building’s mechanical elements, which border on the northern alley between his home and the church.
But the reduced use of the alley was anticipated to reduce problems with noise, especially because of the reduced vehicular traffic, and those presenting the plan said they would do their best to screen mechanical systems to reduce their impact as well.
Plans for the expansion also call for some “green” elements — particularly focusing on energy efficiency, with lighting planned to be of an energy-efficient variety and for automatic exterior lighting controls.
The project is something to which members of St. Martha’s congregation are looking forward.
Junior Warden George Jones, appearing on behalf of a vacationing Rector Bill Wickham, explained to DRC members, “We’ve virtually outgrown the church. We have a lot of activities, and we need the extra area. I hope this plan will encompass everything we need and everything you need.”
“They really do require that much space for the activities they have,” the architect emphasized.
DRC members voted unanimously on June 13 to approve the plan for St. Martha’s expansion, as presented. The church will need to return for approval for its landscaping plan, as well as for any changes to the plan as it was approved.
In closing out their meeting, Killmer noted that he would like in the future for multiple applications before the DRC on a given day to be listed as separate items under a single meeting, rather than as separate meetings for the DRC in back-to-back time slots, as happened at the DRC’s previous meeting. Other committee members agreed to that fine-tuning of the DRC’s operation.
Killmer said he also had some additional items to add to a new list of items required when applicants file documentation for the DRC.
Near-future meetings of the DRC are expected to address signage for two new businesses in the town. Building Inspector John Eckrich also noted on June 13 that he had been told a timeline for construction to start on the Blue Surf retail and condominium project — approved last year by the DRC — was now being estimated as September or October of this year.