Chris Shearer
Contributing Writer
BERLIN — In a unanimous vote, the Berlin Town Council gave its blessing for SonRise Church to purchase its new home, the 22-acre Merial Select property in Berlin.
On Monday, the planning commission advised the approval of the ordinance and Mayor and Council voted 3-0 to rezone the Merial property as a shopping district, which would allow buildings primarily used as churches to be located in these areas.
“We enthusiastically support this concept because we think it’s the way churches are not only going to survive but expand in this century.” said Berlin Mayor Gee Williams, “Hopefully this will create a precedent not just for this community but for others.”
Since its beginning, SonRise Church has been growing at a steady pace, which sparked a search for a new home in 2012. For the past 12 years, SonRise has conducted services for more than 12 years at Stephen Decatur High School and has made regular, generous contributions to the community.
“We are a church that believes in being a vital part of the community.” said Pastor Jerry Wade. “We believe that that’s what God calls us to do as his people.”
Despite having office space at its current location on Worcester Highway, the church can no longer contain its growing congregation. Sundays at SDHS alone regularly see over 650 worshipers attend over three different services.
“We haul two large trailers of equipment in and out every Sunday and we’re tired.” joked Wade.
SonRise also holds worship services in Salisbury in addition to Berlin and hopes to expand its ministry to Somerset County later this year.
SonRise intends to renovate two of the existing buildings on the property immediately upon closing the deal with Merial. Due to their new potential property providing much more space than the church currently needs, church leaders were considering building a community center on the land eventually, which as Wade described would create safe spaces for the community to come together for activities such as rock climbing, bowling, laser tag and baseball.
“What we want to do with this property is set up a permanent home so we can have our home church in the town we love and want to serve,” said Wade.
In order to help finance its construction projects, the church plans to sell the current space it occupies on Worcester Highway (formerly Route 113), while also making plans to subdivide the Merial property once it’s acquired. The church intends to create six lots, with the intention of making the six acres of the property closest to the intersection of Routes 113 and 50 available to commercial interests.
Wade discussed plans he says are “in the works” for a potential hotel and two restaurants on the site bringing in new tax revenue and jobs to Berlin.
The 22-acre property was previously home to a pharmaceutical plant and has been on the market for more than two years.
Yet, due to the specificity of the current building lay out and the zoning designation the property had, options for the Merial lot were extremely limited. The purchase of the lot by SonRise has been negotiated over the last year, with the church awaiting the planning commission and the Town Council’s approval of their request to rezone the lot to allow for the construction of their church and the businesses that it plans to have located there.
The approval of these ordinances clears the way for SonRise to move forward with its plans to acquire the site.