St. Edna in Arlington Heights brings back parish center addition
St. Edna Catholic Church in Arlington Heights is planning to build a 13,700-square-foot parish center for social functions, theater performances, athletics and other parish programming.
The 29-foot-tall building addition would be constructed on the east side of the church property at 2525 N. Arlington Heights Road. It's almost 3,000 square feet larger than what was proposed and approved by the village in December 2013, but that project never moved forward due to a lack of funding.
Charles Witherington-Perkins, the village's director of planning and community development, said after the initial approval, the church had two years to begin construction. But after that period expired and the church altered building plans, the project had to come back to the village for a new review, he said.
The plan and design commissions have already evaluated the project and gave it favorable votes. The village board, which will have final say, is expected to consider it in late November or early December, Witherington-Perkins said.
The proposed parish center would contain a 6,540-square-foot multipurpose room, a 1,475-square-foot performing arts stage, a kitchen, bathrooms and storage space. It would connect through a vestibule to the church's existing Hurley Center.
At an Oct. 17 neighborhood meeting, JNKA Architects, representing the church, told neighbors the size of the proposed building increased to better accommodate multipurpose functions including athletic activities, like basketball, volleyball and badminton. The church also hosts an annual play that is performed over two weekends.
As part of the project, the church is proposing to increase the number of parking lot spaces from 356 to 377, though it would need a variation because village code requires 627.
Staff members from the village's community development department are supportive of the variation, citing a church traffic and parking study that shows the peak demand is for 309 spaces. Church leaders say they won't have two large-scale programs at the same time, like a Mass and a parish breakfast.
They also said they won't rent out the parish center to those not affiliated with St. Edna, and they don't plan to change their programming or hire more staff.
The size of the congregation has dipped slightly since the last time the project was up for approval. In 2013, 3,077 families were registered parishioners, compared to 2,928 today.
Village officials have proposed a parking mitigation plan be developed if parking is deemed to be insufficient.
The project would also include a reconfiguration of a stormwater detention basin on the northeast corner of the property and new capacity added at the southwest corner.
Additional upgrades - including construction of a youth room and rearranging multipurpose rooms in the existing church building - would be done when more funding is available, according to the church.
If approved, construction is targeted to begin in April 2018 and be complete by January 2019.