{"id":3631,"date":"2012-05-17T16:45:08","date_gmt":"2012-05-17T20:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=3631"},"modified":"2012-05-17T16:45:08","modified_gmt":"2012-05-17T20:45:08","slug":"six-year-spat-over-church-expansion-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=3631","title":{"rendered":"Six-year spat over church expansion ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Architect’s plans for historic building wins over\u00a0most critics<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong>, Managing Editor, KennettTimes.com<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

An architect's rendering of the revised entrance to The First Presbyterian Church of West Chester.<\/p><\/div>\n

WEST CHESTER \u2014 For nearly six years, a controversy over a historic West Chester church\u2019s expansion generated rhetoric that could politely be termed un-Christian.<\/p>\n

But reconciliation finally prevailed last night at West Chester Borough Council, where a settlement closing the door on protracted litigation passed by a 6-1 vote \u2013 after a brief, threatened derailment over a door.<\/p>\n

Although the church is in the borough, a number of congregants of the church come from the Kennett and southern Chester County area.<\/p>\n

Bill Scott, a preservation activist, urged the First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, designed in 1834 by the renowned Greek Revival architect Thomas U. Walter, to incorporate the entrance of a 19th-century rowhome slated for demolition into the new fa\u00e7ade. He was joined in his plea by Councilman Jordan Norley, who cast the dissenting vote.\"\"<\/p>\n

Bob Adams, the church\u2019s attorney, explained that after careful analysis, the project\u2019s architect, John Milner, well-known for championing period authenticity, concluded that the door and its architrave represented a hodge-podge of three architectural styles. It would \u201ctrivialize the overall design,\u201d Adams said, adding that he was confident the door could be used elsewhere in the addition.<\/p>\n

Despite the detour, everyone agreed that the church deserved to be commended for its efforts to resolve the conflict, which began in 2006 after the church bought two contiguous mid-19th-century rowhouses on West Miner Street for a planned addition and promised not to destroy them. \u201cThe church came 100 miles in our direction,\u201d Scott acknowledged.<\/p>\n

The church\u2019s expansion plan initially ran afoul of borough ordinances, particularly over parking. The church threatened to sue if the borough did not change the ordinances, which it eventually did. But by 2010, the controversy reignited when the church introduced a plan to add 18,000 square feet to the church’s 44,000 that included the demolition of both historic rowhomes, producing what many viewed as a white stucco behemoth on the block.<\/p>\n

Neighbors of the church, which occupies a corner of Darlington and Miner Streets in a dense, residential area, accused the church of reneging on its promise to save the rowhomes. They suggested that many of the congregants had no compunctions about ruining the streetscape of a block frequently showcased on walking tours because they returned to homes in townships such as East Bradford, Kennett and Birmingham.<\/p>\n

Not true, the church responded. Some members publicly sided with the opponents of the expansion and vowed to come up with a more harmonious solution. In December 2010, West Chester Borough Council rejected the church\u2019s land-development plan, a decision the church appealed. But less than a year later, Milner had plans on the drawing board designed for rapprochement.<\/p>\n

Although the new design saves only one of the rowhomes, it reduces the scale of the addition by creating three brick townhouses consistent with the style of the block \u201cthat will conceal the rest of the large addition behind them,\u201d Milner wrote.<\/p>\n

Despite a substantially higher cost, Adams said the church much prefers the new configuration. \u201cWe\u2019re just thrilled with the way this is going to come out,\u201d he said, adding that the timetable for construction is not set and will depend on the church\u2019s fund-raising.<\/p>\n

The church\u2019s paster, the Rev. Greg Stovell, expressed gratitude and relief after the vote. He started at the church in the middle of the fray and immediately espoused peace-making.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very grateful,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m pleased the Council appreciated all the church has done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Architect’s plans for historic building wins over\u00a0most critics By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, KennettTimes.com WEST CHESTER \u2014 For nearly six years, a controversy over a historic West Chester church\u2019s expansion generated rhetoric that could politely be termed un-Christian. But reconciliation finally prevailed last night at West Chester Borough Council, where a settlement closing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[657,441,656,655],"class_list":["post-3631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-historic-rowhomes","tag-litigation","tag-west-chester-borough-council","tag-west-chester-presbyterian-church"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}