Plans to triple the size of a church in downtown McCall were aired on Tuesday to the McCall Area Planning and Zoning Commission.
If approved, the plans would see the Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Parish expand from about 5,000 square feet to about 15,000 square feet, enabling nearly 400 people to attend services in the building.
“The desire of the group is to expand the church for more parishioners,” said Matthew Sanchi, an architect with Cushing Terrell, a Boise-based firm. “As McCall has grown, they’ve seen growth in their congregation.”
The project would involve merging five lots owned by the church into one 1.4-acre lot at 501 Cross Rd., which is near St. Luke’s McCall. Much of the site would be occupied by an expanded parking lot containing 88 spaces.
A two-story expansion would be built onto the existing church building to add more congregation space, offices for church staffers, a conference room, a choir room, and a multi-purpose room, according to plans.
Existing aesthetic to remain
The expansion would be designed to resemble the aesthetic of the current church with wood siding, metal roofing, and stone features.
“They love what they have, and they want to expand on that,” Sanchi said. “We would be also reintegrating the existing Jerusalem cross and bell that are on the facility.”
Sanchi said a multi-purpose building currently on the site would be removed, along with an A-frame residence used as living quarters for the Father of the Diocese. The residence could be donated and relocated to another site for continued use as housing, he said.
Tuesday’s meeting was a pre-application meeting, which is required before formal plans can be submitted to the city. P&Z Chairman Robert Lyons told Sanchi the preliminary plans “seem to fit within the property.”
“I would say keep working with city staff and we’ll see you at a future meeting,” Lyons said.
