OCEAN CITY — Perhaps symbolic of the continued recovery, literally and spiritually, from a fatal fire that claimed the lives of two individuals and critically injured a third, the historic St. Paul’s by the Sea Episcopal Church gained site plan approval for a significant addition to replace the old rectory destroyed in the blaze.
The Ocean City Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday approved the site plan for a 3,000-square-foot addition on the north side of St. Paul’s by the Sea on Baltimore Ave. at 3rd Street. The site used to house the church’s rectory, administrative offices and Shepherd’s Crook food pantry, but has long since been a parking lot for the downtown church, which is the only building in Ocean City listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In November 2013, a fire severely damaged the St. Paul’s by the Sea rectory, forcing church leaders to make hard decisions about the future of the accessory buildings and the original old church itself. In May 2014, roughly six months after the fatal fire that claimed the lives of two individuals, including the beloved pastor, Rev. David Dingwall, and severely injured a church staffer, the old rectory section on the north end of the church campus was demolished and has been used as a parking lot since while other major renovations have taken place.
Now, St. Paul’s by the Sea is ready to move forward with a 3,000-square foot expansion on the site of the long-since demolished rectory and needed approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission to advance the project. In the years since, the St. Paul’s by the Sea community has been slowly recovering from the tragedy, spiritually and physically, and the new addition, which will include administrative areas, office space for the pastor, meeting space and other amenities for the church, is symbolic of that literal rise from the ashes.
Zoning Administrator Blaine Smith outlined the details of the expansion for city planners on Wednesday. The addition blends perfectly with the architecture of the existing older church, the origins of which date back to the 1880s. The addition includes a two-story building with a high-pitched roof with eaves and windows similar to those on the historic attached church.
Beyond the aesthetically pleasing architecture mimicking the historic church, the new addition includes many practical features. For example, it includes a right turn-in single curb cut on Baltimore Avenue that will provide access to additional parking areas and improve circulation around the historic church.
“One of the things we really liked about the design is the connecting driveway that will allow parishioners to come and go and park and circulate around the church and other improvements as they utilize this part of the building,” said Smith.
Smith said there were opportunities to widen the sidewalk along Baltimore Avenue in the area of the church property, but there were details to work out on that aspect of the project.
“If they make the sidewalk wider, it would have to be in our right-of-way,” he said. “It’s been the policy of this board to request wider sidewalks where possible with redevelopment projects.”
All in all, the proposed addition was warmly received by Smith and his staff, the Ocean City Development Corporation and ultimately the Planning and Zoning Commission, which unanimously approved the site plan on Wednesday.
“Putting an addition back on the church doesn’t have any impact on the neighborhood,” said Smith. “I think they have done well with keeping like materials and maintaining the architecture of that era.”
Planning Commissioner Lauren Taylor agreed the proposed addition was in keeping with the historic nature of the old St. Paul’s by the Sea.
“I think it’s a beautiful project,” she said. “That old church is such an important part of the downtown area and I think they’ve preserved that with this project.”
St. Paul’s by the Sea’s history closely parallels the history of Ocean City. In 1878, just three years after the first hotel was built in the fledgling resort, Episcopal services were held at Congress Hall on the site of the present-day Inlet. By 1881, a small mission church was built near the same site and services were held in the summer to accommodate the growing number of visitors to Ocean City.
Eighteen years later in 1898, two lots were donated “up the beach” at Baltimore Ave. and 3rd Street for the construction of the new church. The cornerstone for the new St. Paul’s by the Sea was laid in June 1900 and the first services were held about a year later. The original church rectory was built on 3rd Street in 1913 but was town down in 1973 to create space for a new parish hall named in honor of Rev. William Dewees. During the restoration efforts after the November 2013 fire, church services were held in Dewees Hall.
The new church rectory was built on the north side of the church on Baltimore Ave. in 1923 and housed the parish offices until the fateful fire in 2013.