NEWS

OC church starts to rebuild after 2013 fire

EMILY CHAPPELL
STAFF WRITER
In June 2014, a demolition crew takes down the St. Paul’s By The Sea rectory destroyed by arson.

St. Paul’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church is looking toward the future.

Reconstruction Team Member Joy Connor said despite a 2013 fire that devastated not only the building, but the church community as well, the parish isn’t focusing on the past. They’re moving forward.

“As devastating as the tragedy was, the ministry and the work that we do is important,” Connor said.

Following an arson fire in November 2013, St. Paul’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church is on its way to being whole again.

As of Thursday, the church vestry authorized a contract for site plan and construction and architectural drawings, said Tom Shuster, chairman of Finance Committee and member of the Church Reconstruction Team.

The church vestry created a reconstruction team following the tragedy. The group set to work on the remediation of the fire damage in the existing structures, Shuster said, as well as came up for with a plan. With the planning came the decision to demolish the rectory, he said, and close that part of the church.

Reconstruction would begin on the north side of the building, across from City Hall, he added.

The new construction will be in the form of a two-story addition. It will be about 600 square feet on the ground level, Shuster said, and 800 square feet on the second level, which will be the same finish elevation as the sanctuary.

This new construction will bring light to a darker time for the church.

On Nov. 26, 2013, John Raymond Sterner, 56, who was a St. Paul’s food pantry client, set himself on fire with gasoline. Sterner walked into the rectory, instantly setting the building in flames.

Ocean City firefighters work to extinguish a blaze in the rectory of St. Paul’s by the Sea in November 2013.

Pastor David Dingwall died that night at Atlantic General Hospital after being overcome with smoke inhalation. Another food pantry volunteer was severely burned.

Sterner died on scene.

“After having experienced a traumatic setback that involved the loss of life and important church structures, the church members themselves were in a low place,” Shuster said.

Since then, the congregation has really come together to look forward to the future, he said. The church has had a “swell of hope” and effort following the first few months of shock after losing Dingwall and part of their church.

Ocean City Communications Manager Jessica Waters said as soon as the incident occurred, the congregation, neighboring congregations and the town as a whole pulled together.

“What happened ... was certainly a tragedy I don’t think any of us will forget,” Waters said.

But following the tragedy, the town pulled together in manner she describes as “extraordinary,” which showed Ocean City’s “beautiful sense of community,” she said.

This reconstruction will allow St. Paul’s by-the-Sea to rebuild “not only physically, but also spiritually,” Waters said.

The church began working with Becker Morgan on conceptual plans for the rebuild last November, and preliminary plans for a building structure were presented and approved in February.

But in months after that, Shuster said, the church felt financial constraints and worked with Becker Morgan to revise the original plan.

Pictured is a rendering of the conceptual plans by the Becker Morgan Group for the next phase of construction at St. Paul’s By-the Sea.

The church is set to meet with Becker Morgan on July 30 to begin a more specific concept plan, Shuster said.

In the existing structure, initial work and “great effort” went into remediation and recovery of portions of the church that were smoke damaged, which included the sanctuary, Shuster said. Fire suppression systems, in the form of sprinklers, were also installed.

Next came the planning for the new construction, which Shuster said there has been a lot of excitement over. A “key element” of the new northside structure will be a ground-level lobby with an elevator.

The new construction will allow for better accessibility and comfort for parish members and visitors alike, he added.

“I think people are hopeful for the future of the church,” Shuster said.

Also with this reconstruction comes the need to find a permanent rector, something the church is just in the beginning stages of, Connor said, adding there is no timeframe for this search.

And as time moves forward, Connor said, St. Paul’s by-the-Sea will continue to serve the town of Ocean City the best it can.

“We’ve had quite a bit of time over 18 months that we’ve done a lot of work as a congregation — a lot of reflection on who we are as a parish and what our role is in the community,” Connor said.

Light comes through the stained glass windows inside the rebuilt sanctuary at St. Paul’s by-the-Sea in Ocean City and reflects off the wet hardwood floors. Contractors had just completed the second coat of polyurethane coating a year after the fire.

SIGNS OF PROGRESS

The church vestry has authorized a contract for site plan and construction and architectural drawings. Following the tragic fire in 2013, the church vestry created a reconstruction team. Reconstruction would begin on the north side of the building, across from City Hall, and the new construction will be in the form of a two-story addition. It will be about 600 square feet on the ground level and 800 square feet on the second level, which will be the same finish elevation as the sanctuary.