AUGUSTA — City officials met in private with local church and social services providers Monday night to discuss the future of the St. Mark’s Church property and, presumably, how and where to best provide services to people in need in Augusta.
Meeting attendees included Mayor David Rollins and Ward 1 City Councilor Linda Conti; city staff; Joseph Riddick, senior warden of St. Mark’s, and Rev. Rebecca Grant, deacon of St. Mark’s; other local church leaders; and John Richardson, executive director of Bread of Life Ministries.
The meeting was prompted by concerns regarding the future of the St. Mark’s Church property, which is between Summer and Pleasant streets and tucked between a large west side residential neighborhood and Lithgow Public Library.
St. Mark’s is looking to sell the church, adjacent rectory, and its parish hall, which is currently home to the Augusta Food Bank and church-organized operations providing those in need with free clothing and other essential items. It is seeking proposals from organizations to which it could give the former St. Mark’s Home with an endowment of about $340,000 to continue its mission of helping area people in need.
Rollins and Conti have expressed concern about how the property could be used, saying they heard Bread of Life Ministries has submitted a proposal for the property, and if it acquires some or all of the St. Mark’s site, could move its homeless shelter from Hospital Street, its soup kitchen from Water Street, or both, to the site.
Richardson has previously declined to confirm whether Bread of Life submitted a proposal for the St. Mark’s site and said it was too early to make any comment.
Rollins has said he’d heard that both Bread of Life and the Augusta Housing Authority had made proposals for the St. Mark’s property.
Rollins said previously he thinks a homeless shelter and soup kitchen would not be allowed there under the current zoning nor be compatible with the largely residential neighborhood or Lithgow Public Library, both of which the church property abuts. He said neighborhood residents have approached him with concern about the unconfirmed possibility of Bread of Life moving to the St. Mark’s site.
Rollins said at a previous council meeting he wanted to hold a meeting between stakeholders to discuss the future of the property and how best to provide services to those in need in the city.
Ward 3 City Councilor Patrick Paradis, who did not attend the meeting, said he had not heard it was taking place. He said Monday night he had no problem with it being held in private. He said he was neither invited to the meeting, nor informed it was taking place.
“If they’re trying to have a meeting and they thought it would be more productive to keep the numbers down (at the meeting), I don’t have a problem with that,” Paradis said.
Last month city councilors approved a moratorium temporarily banning consideration of any new group, boarding or rooming houses for 180 days in two major zoning districts in the city, including the district encompassing the St. Mark’s property.
City leaders said the moratorium was needed to give the city time to clarify zoning rules, but St. Mark’s leaders said the moratorium would interfere with their efforts to sell the property and prolong the financial burden of the approximately $4,500 monthly cost of maintaining the property, money they said would be better spent on the church’s mission of helping people in need.
Councilors also directed the Augusta Planning Board to study the zoning language regarding those types of properties and make a recommendation back to councilors on how the language might be clarified. The Planning Board is still discussing the issue with a second public hearing on it scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 27 in council chambers at Augusta City Center.
Monday night’s private meeting was held at Penney Memorial United Baptist Church.
An invitation to the meeting was sent by email to a Kennebec Journal reporter. However, the sender of the email, Pastor Justin Frank, of Penney Memorial, said at the church Monday evening that the invitation was sent in error, and the meeting was meant to be a private meeting so officials from the various groups there could discuss things privately in an effort to break an impasse on the issue.
Frank’s invitation noted the church agreed to host the meeting at Penney Memorial after discussing it with Rollins and City Manager William Bridgeo.
“This is a meeting of key leaders from city government, from the faith community and from the broader community of Augusta, with the hope of advancing this important discussion and moving forward together toward a solution that benefits all involved,” the invitation stated.
Keith Edwards — 621-5647
Twitter: @kedwardskj
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