Date: Fri 17-May-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Congregational-Church-house

Full Text:

Vote Due On Future Of Congregational Church House

Members of the Newtown Congregational Church may vote Sunday on a proposal to

sell the church house property on Main Street as part of a long-term plan to

reduce debt and consolidate all activities on West Street.

Church members are scheduled to meet after Sunday service to discuss and vote

on an offer by the Newtown Savings Bank to purchase the property at 41 and

41-A Main Street for $550,000 and lease part of it back to the church. The

offer is contingent, however, on a plan by NSB to renovate the old parsonage

to use as office space for banking operations.

The 5.38-acre property includes the old parsonage, a 2«story Federal-style

wood-frame house built about 1815 and modernized later. Used as a parsonage

for nearly 200 years, it has been rented since the 1970s as a residential

property to various tenants.

The church house, in the middle of the property, is a wood-frame three-story

structure built in the colonial revival style in 1958. It houses the Newtown

Congregational Co-Op Nursery School and is used for a variety of church

activities. Behind the church house is a tiny house that originally was used

for the church ministry but now is rented to tenants.

In a letter sent to members of the congregation, Lester R. Burroughs, chairman

of the church's board of trustees and member of the strategic planning

committee, said the trustees, the committee and the Church Council all have

voted unanimously to recommend accepting the offer which was made by the bank

on April 8.

Under terms of the proposal, the church would lease the church house from the

bank for five years at a cost of $12,000 annually. The church also would have

an option to lease the building for another five years but the bank may

require some space in the building, Mr Burroughs said.

He said the trustees recommend using $300,000 of the proceeds from the sale to

pay down the current $900,000 mortgage on the church on West Street. The

$900,000 mortgage is a variable mortgage at 8.8 percent interest.

Mr Burroughs said NSB has offered a 10-year $600,000 fixed-rate mortgage at

7.5 percent "which will result in a savings of nearly $2,500 a month."

The trustees recommended that the remaining $250,000 from the sale should be

invested in a certificate of deposit. "NSB has offered us an insured five-year

CD paying 6.75 percent," Mr Burroughs said in the letter.

The long-term goal of the church is to consolidate all of its operations on

the 10.3-acre property on West Street where the new sanctuary was built eight

years ago. An artist's rendering done at that time shows a new church house

attached to the sanctuary.

The bank's offer gives the congregation 10 years in which to plan and build

the new church house on West Street while still using the Main Street

property.

"While we will be paying the bank $1,000 per month rent, they will allow us to

retain the income from all of the organizations that use the building," Mr

Burroughs said.

Preliminary plans are to build a new 8,000- to 12,000-square foot church house

immediately behind the sanctuary. The building would be connected by an

enclosed hallway to the lower floor of the sanctuary.

Mr Burroughs said the new church house could be built sometime in the next

seven to 10 years at an estimated cost of $700,000 to $900,000.

"At that time our sanctuary mortage would be nearly (or totally) paid off and

our CD investment will have grown to $400,000 plus," he said.

The congregation would have several options for raising the additional funds

needed to build the church house, he said.

"We could (ask) the congregation to support a new building fund pledge, to

purchase building fund bonds or, if absolutely necessary, obtain a new mortage

on the church house from the Newtown Savings Bank," he said.

If church members approve the plan at Sunday's annual meeting and the sale

takes place, a planning committee and a building committee will be appointed.

A major contingency, however, involves the NSB's plan to renovate the old

parsonage and use it as a banking institution. "I believe they will be able to

obtain the necessary approvals," Mr Burroughs said, explaining in the letter

that the bank planned to maintain the building's colonial character.

The Main Street property is zoned residential and would require a change of

zoning or a variance to use the old parsonage as office space. Requests to

change zoning of two properties on Main Street for professional or business

use failed in 1977 and 1985.

Two weeks ago a historic district was formed on Main Street in an attempt to

preserve the mostly residential character of the street. The Congregational

Church was among about three dozen property owners who opted not to be

included in the district.