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By Lucy Chumbley
Washington Window
Vol. 75, No. 5, April 2006

Real estate matters topped the bill at the March 14 Diocesan Council meeting, where members approved the sale of land in Landover and a transfer of title to a parish in Darnestown.

Council members also went into closed session to discuss three offers for another property the diocese owns in Germantown - a 4.8-acre tract originally acquired for the Holy Spirit congregation, which closed in 2004 - with a view to a possible sale.

The Landover property - a 4.5-acre lot on Brightseat Road - is now under contract for $1.4 million to K Hovnanian Homes of Maryland, a New-Jersey-based developer. The company plans to build 16 single-family homes on the tract, and the diocese is expected to close on the deal late this year, canon to the ordinary Paul Cooney said.

"The property was acquired for a mission, Holy Redeemer," that failed more than five years ago, said diocesan property manager Robert Tomlinson.

Tomlinson said the property in its present state is "a tremendous liability" for the diocese, pointing out that the diocese still pays property tax on two vacant houses on the lot.

"It's a good time to sell," he said.

Council members also voted to transfer the title of land the diocese owns in Darnestown to the parish of St. Nicholas'.

The move comes in response to a written request from the parish's vestry and senior and junior wardens. The congregation, which is the only parish in the diocese without a building, plans to construct a church on the property.

Traditionally, the diocese has held title until construction is complete; but last September, the council turned down a proposal from St. Nicholas' to build a $2.8 million facility financed largely by diocesan grants and loans on the land.

St. Nicholas' has since developed a pared-down plan to erect a $1.2 million, 4,000 square-foot structure on the site.

There are no particular legal or financial ramifications to transferring the title to St. Nicholas', Cooney said, explaining that all parish property is held in trust for the diocese. The only real difference will be that the parish will have to present its new funding plan to the Standing Committee for approval, not the Diocesan Council, he said.

"If they can get the bank to lend them $1.2 million and Standing Committee will approve it, they don't need to come back to us," explained council moderator Karla Woggon. "If they needed help from the diocese, they would still have to come back to us."

When it turned down St. Nicholas' original proposal, the council expressed concern about the parish's ability to support the debt load a new building would incur, and the parish agreed to work with the diocese to develop a plan for congregational growth.

Lori Perine, who heads a four-member panel of council members working with St. Nicholas', said the parish wanted to know specifically what kind of progress the diocese was looking for.

Bishop John B. Chane said the diocese would like to know, for example, when the parish plans to hold its second capital campaign and what its plans are to draw new membership to the church.
In other matters the council:

Learned that the Working Group on Congregational Development has now decided to focus its efforts on providing resources to existing congregations.

The group, which is chaired by council member Atron Rowe, met for the first time in November and has been asked to report to the diocese's 2007 convention. But the group has struggled to decide if it should concentrate on finding new locations for churches, seeking ways to strengthen existing congregations or working to help troubled parishes.

Rowe said the group plans to invite a panel of congregational development experts from various institutions to the diocese to help it determine the next steps that should be taken to determine a formal plan for helping the diocese's existing congregations flourish.
Heard a report from Linda Freeman, chairwoman of the Human Resources Committee, who said her group was asking that the diocese make no changes to its healthcare plan in 2007 to give it time to study the issue.

The group also is gathering data from parochial reports and intends to do some reorganizing of the diocese's personnel guidelines, Freeman said.
Heard a report from council member Rose Longmire on the Taskforce on Marriage, which will hold its third "Conversation on Marriage" at St. Alban's, D.C. on May 20.
Appointed the Rev. Hannah Atkins and the Rev. Joseph Clark as co-chairs of the Latino Ministry Committee.

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