JOHN JANTAK
The 1019 Report

Work to rebuild Côte St. Charles United Church in St. Lazare is expected to resume now that the town has issued a new reconstruction permit.

But the timeline on exactly when work will resume is still not known.

“The permit has been issued,” said St. Lazare spokesperson Christelle Paré in an email to The 1019 Report on Monday.

“As of today, all the steps leading to the issuance and delivery of the reconstitution permit have been completed,” Paré added.

Reverend Kent Chown, minister of the church, confirmed the permit was received but he would not  confirm a date when construction will begin.

“We don’t have a lot of significant news yet on when the reconstruction will begin,” Chown said. “But we have the building permit from the town.” He would not discuss any other details.

The original church building, which dated back to the early 1900s, was torn down last November, after a number of issues were discovered while trying to renovate the old building.

At that time, the plan was to rebuild it, expanding its footprint to better accommodate the congregation of the former Wyman Memorial United Church in Hudson which was sold in the fall of 2020.

But as Chown explained earlier this year, after the city halted work as it was not expecting as much of the building to be demolished.

The stone facade of the front entrance of the building, which was not demolished, will be incorporated into the design of the new church, as well as the stained glass windows that were removed from the old structure and stored before the church was torn down.

The Côte St. Charles United Church was originally a Methodist church that was built about 150 years ago. That structure was destroyed by fire in 1905, and was rebuilt shortly the same year.

Cutline:

Plans to rebuild Côte St. Charles United Church is set to move forward now that the town has issued the congregation a new construction permit.

Credit:

The 1019 Report