Reality Church to purchase a historic building on 4th Avenue

The Olympia Site Plan Review Committee held a presubmission conference of a proposal from Reality Church to purchase a building at 1522 4th Avenue E.

Reality Church Pastor Paul Jones said the building would be their permanent church office and Sunday worship services venue.

He said the church has been around in Olympia for 16 years, but it never had a permanent location. They used Madison Elementary School for meetings but were forced to vacate when COVID-19 hit.

"We've bounced around to various locations and have been looking to find a space for our congregation to purchase for our own and move into,” shared Jones.

Jones added that they have entered into a purchase and sales agreement with the property, which is currently owned by Abigail Mondau.

The building was originally Westminster Presbyterian Church. Later it became the local Salvation Army headquarters. Currently, it is being rented by New Beginnings Church of Christ.

 "The historical use has gone unchanged. We want further confirmation that Reality Church would be able to use the space as a church without any further change of occupancy," stated the narrative plan submitted to the review committee.

Jones said no changes to the exterior of the building would be made, other than paint, carpeting, and minor layout adjustments regarding current doors.

He added they plan to use the interior of the building both upstairs and downstairs as it currently is.

"We want to make sure that we were buying a building that we could use and operate as a church. We're not planning on a lot of changes to the structure. We want to ensure that we fully understand how we can use the building as we purchase it," the pastor said.

Parking

According to city assistant planner Casey Schaufler, the building was constructed in 1930.

Citing the History Registry, Schauffler said, "There is a fairly long history of it as a church. There was an exchange between Westminster and the Salvation Army. There was a Baptist church there for a time as well.”

A commercial kitchen - Adam's Bagel - was set up between 2001 to 2007. The kitchen It had been certified by the County Health Department.

However, Schaufler said he did not see any record of the occupancy change for commercial use. "As far as the city is concerned, it remains a church use on occupancy."

He said parking would be one of the concerns because there is limited parking space on site.

"But our parking chapter does state that if you're not enlarging the envelope on an existing, legally constructed site, in which this is the case, you're not required to provide the parking," Schaufler noted.

He recommended that Jones coordinate with the Salvation Army across the street to utilize their parking lot for services.

If Reality Church decides to expand the building at some point in the future, Schaufler said it would trigger some parking requirements.

Sunday school

Olympia building official Erik Jensen noted the most significant change in the building is the plan to put classrooms in the basement.

Schaufler asked Jones if the classrooms were for school or daycare services.

Jones clarified that it is not a formal school. The classrooms would be for Sunday school classes for children. "[These are] kids' spaces to be [used] during our worship services."

Jensen asked Jones to provide him with the dimension of the two classrooms and the setup of tables and chairs. "I need to match that with square footage to determine the number of occupancy of each room."

Jensen said that each room is required to have two exits if the occupancy level is over 49.

Caption:

On August 31, 2022, the Olympia Site Plan Review Committee held a presubmission conference on a proposal to purchase an old 1522 4th Avenue E building.