St. Mark’s Orthodox Church in Wrightstown is moving forward with plans to expand.
Representatives for the pan-Orthodox church on Durham Road appeared at the Wrightstown Board of Supervisors meeting on Jan. 9 to discuss the project.
The particular focus was on variances — exceptions to local zoning law — that the church will be requesting from the zoning hearing board in order to proceed with the planned expansion.
Supervisors noted that the church, founded in 1988, has been a good neighbor to the community for 35 years and authorized the township solicitor to notify the zoning hearing board that supervisors do not oppose the granting of the variances.
The zoning hearing board is not bound to take direction from supervisors on the matter, but will consider the input as it evaluates the church’s variance application at a hearing later this month.
As for the expansion, St. Mark’s wants to increase seating in its sanctuary from 50 to 150 seats. A total of 60 parking spaces will be needed to accommodate the church expansion. A sanctuary building and fellowship building will also be connected, rather than being two free-standing buildings.
Wrightstown Supervisor Chairman Chester Pogonowski shared that the church was built before now-common rules to regulate stormwater runoff from properties were in place. Water runs from the church’s land in times of rain. As part of its proposed project, St. Mark’s will be taking care of that with stormwater controls that meet current standards, Pogonowski said.
“The design will address stormwater for all new and old impervious surfaces as part of the land development,” said Pogonowski.
On the variances: Due to changes in zoning that occurred after St. Mark’s was built, the church lies in a zoning area in which church uses are not currently permitted. St. Mark’s thus needs a variance to expand its footprint.
Among other relief, the church also needs variances to: permit a place of worship on less than 10 acres (property is 5.25 acres); expand a non-conforming use by 135 percent where the current limit on expansion is 25 percent; and increase impervious surface to 19 percent where 15 percent is permitted.
If the church receives the needed variances, representatives will then have to submit a fully engineered land development application for review by supervisors. Ultimately, supervisors would have to grant land development approval before any work could commence.
St. Mark’s Church was founded on Nov. 15, 1972 by a small group of people who aimed to open a parish to Orthodox Christian believers of all national backgrounds. The first meetings and services were held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Doylestown. The parish moved into its own home in Wrightstown in 1988.
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