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January 10, 2014

Plympton Wyoming councilors are trying to determine exactly what to do with the old Presbyterian church in Wyoming.

About seven months ago, town council bought the Main Street church which is behind the municipal office and the local grocery store.

Mayor Lonny Napper says when the church came up for sale earlier this year, council felt it was an important asset and scooped it up.

The land connected with the church stretches into the parking lot which Foodland customers and municipal staff use. There had been a friendly agreement allowing the grocery store, the church and the municipality to jointly use the lot with the municipality plowing the snow in the winter.  Napper says council was concerned what would happen to that agreement had the church been sold to an outside party.

But Napper says the building may be of use to Plympton-Wyoming, too. “We looked at what our needs would be down the road …whether we could use that building whether it could be a council chambers or offices,” says Napper. “We’re getting staff reports on what it would cost to renovate the building.”

Napper says it wouldn’t be cheap. While there are no official estimates yet, he says when the municipality looked at putting an elevator in the former Camlachie United Church the estimates ranged from $60,000 to $80,000.

Napper adds some council members have expressed the opinion that if the renovations would be too costly, the parking lot could be severed from the church property and the church building re-sold.

“Everybody’s got their own ideas but the feasibility of the ideas will be the bottom line,” says Napper.

Council plans to discuss the issue again in January.

 

 

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