A 'fresh new start' for St. Paul's by-the-sea
St. Paul's by-the-sea Episcopal Church is one step closer to becoming whole again.
The Ocean City Planning and Zoning Commission recently approved the church's construction plans, town Communications Manager Jessica Waters confirmed this week. The approval was for a 3,000-square-foot addition.
This reconstruction is a chance to move forward after a deep, gruesome scar in St. Paul's by-the-sea's past.
November 2013 brought tragedy to the church on North Baltimore Avenue in Ocean City.
On Nov. 26, 2013, St. Paul’s food pantry client John Raymond Sterner, 56, set himself on fire with gasoline. He walked into the rectory, instantly setting the building ablaze, and killing the church's pastor, David Dingwall.
Dingwall died that night at Atlantic General Hospital after being overcome with smoke inhalation, while another food pantry volunteer was severely burned.
Sterner died at the scene.
Following this recent approval, Waters said, the church will move forward with getting the proper permits in place. From there, construction can begin.
This progress is a "fresh new start for their congregation," Waters said. It's an end to a darker chapter, and the start of something new.
"(The design is) beautiful," she added.
They did a really nice job of complementing the portion of the church that remains with the design plans, Waters said.
"I think it’s going to be very exciting for the whole church,” she said.
This past summer, the church vestry authorized a contract for site plan and construction and architectural drawings.
OC church starts to rebuild after 2013 fire
A reconstruction team was created following the fire, tasked with working on the remediation of the damage in the existing structures and coming up with a plan.
With this plan came the decision to demolish the rectory and close that part of the church.
Six months after fire, St. Paul's rectory demolished
Work also went into recovering portions of the church that were smoke damaged, which included the sanctuary. Fire suppression systems — sprinklers — were also installed.
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