Emmaus begins to answer prayers to use churches for more

Thou shalt place no other uses before me.That was the order from the Emmaus Zoning Hearing Board to Kirsten Almeida, president/founder of theater group Star of The Day Productions, who wanted to use St. John’s United Church of Christ, 139 N. Fourth St., for weekend productions.The township’s zoning code doesn’t give places of worship any wiggle room for atypical commercial uses, and only permits those that would be “clearly customary and incidental to the place of worship,” as well as school, and as a children’s or adults’ day care.But borough officials heard pleas from Almeida and Rev. Paul Knappenberger, the senior pastor at the church, and now are poised to answer their prayers.The show must go on … somewhere else: Emmaus zoners reject Star of the Day Production’s request to perform at churchOn Monday, they reviewed a change to the zoning code that would allow officials to give churches and other places of worship their blessing to host other events and activities. A variety of non-commercial uses would be automatically allowed. Commercial uses would have to be approved by borough officials through the conditional use process.Churches would be able to rent space like basketball courts and auditoriums.Borough Manager Shane Pepe said the borough’s existing zoning laws are stringent.“We had to figure out a way to at least give them an opportunity to be considered,” he said.The issue came to officials’ attention after Star of the Day Productions, which had been using the church fellowship hall since 2015, scheduled its production of “Scrooge! The Musical” at the church in December.Someone alerted the borough to the activity, prompting the March appeal to the Zoning Hearing Board.Emmaus church seeks to be allowed to host plays Knappenberger appealed to council members in April, and has been working with the borough over the last couple of months.“We’ve always prided ourselves on being welcoming to various groups in the community to use our facility,” he said. “We have this great facility here and we want to share it with other groups.”Almeida said the group already rehearses at the church and would have performed there. Instead, they’ve been roving around the Lehigh Valley, performing a previous show in Quakertown, one show at Salisbury High School on Friday and a few will be at the Macungie Institute.She hopes performances at Emmaus churches could help bring business to the area.It would also be less confusing for people who wonder why her company rehearses in one place and performs somewhere else.Venues also charge overhead, which can get expensive for a small group like Star of the Day. But she sees the relationship between groups and churches as symbiotic.“By allowing churches to basically rent out their space …. they’re also bringing revenue in to churches so they can keep up with their mortgage and make sure maintenance is done and the plumbing is taken care of,” she said.Council members are expected to review the zoning change again at their Aug. 19 hearing.Morning Call reporter Michelle Merlin can be reached at 610-820-6533 or at mmerlin@mcall.com.
Source: Morningcall