Many Fredericksburg churches are landlocked and face big challenges meeting space needs.

Date published: 5/21/2005

By JESSICA ALLEN

Historic downtown churches whose congregations are growing are either adding on, moving out or running into problems.

Fredericksburg United Methodist Church on Hanover Street recently received approval to start building its family life center off Charlotte Street and meditation garden on the open lot facing Princess Anne Street.

The 2,000-member church still needs to provide details on windows, doors and sides to the city’s Architectural Review Board, but plans to start construction this year.

“This is a tremendous win–win situation,” said the Rev. Larry Lenow, the church’s senior pastor. “This space is critical for our continued ministry, and it’s an asset for downtown.”

The Methodist church owns 50 percent of the block. It plans to sell the former St. Mary Catholic Church building and its rectory—both are currently used as office space—and construct the family life center behind those buildings, which face Princess Anne Street.

The church’s meditation garden will include an arch and a vault containing 360 niches for urns holding cremated remains.

Everything should be completed by winter of 2007.

To avoid opposition to the church’s expansion, Lenow invited neighbors, local preservationists and business owners to review the church’s expansion plans, he said.

The Methodists’ expansion plans fared well compared with those of Fredericksburg Baptist Church, which is still waiting to build a new parking lot at the corner of Princess Anne and Amelia streets.

The Baptists faced serious opposition last year when they purchased the former First Virginia Bank’s drive-through across the street. The Rev. Larry Haun planned to build a 73-space parking lot, said Erik Nelson, the city’s senior planner.

A group of local preservationists, however, complained and submitted a 13-page appeal to the Architectural Review Board. It argued that the brick bank building constructed in the 1960s is “architecturally significant.”

The review board approved the parking plan, but the preservationists appealed to the Board of Zoning Appeals. The zoning administrator told them they don’t have standing—none of them lives near the site, Nelson said.

The parking-lot opponents are going to court next month to determine if they have standing, he said.

Meanwhile, the 1,200 church members are using existing spaces at the former bank on Sundays, Haun said.

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Date published: 5/21/2005