ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601280023
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
A Roanoke company has signed a contract to move and preserve two houses in Old Southwest, making way for the expansion of the headquarters of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, Bishop A. Heath Light said Saturday.
Light made the announcement during the second day of the 77th Annual Council of the diocese, which concludes today on the Virginia Tech campus.
The diocese will deed the two First Street Southwest houses to Parsell & Zeigler and pay the company up to $36,000 - the estimated amount it would have cost to demolish the structures - to help offset the expense of moving them.
Light said the plan is for the company to move the houses to lots "in or near the historic district" and rehabilitate them.
Light said he believes the plan is in accord with the requirements of the Architectural Review Board and the city's goals to preserve housing in the historic district. It also will open up two lots for expansion of the Evans House diocesan offices and parking.
Old Southwest Inc., an association of neighborhood residents, opposed the diocese's initial plans to tear down the houses. A recent public hearing on the diocese's expansion plans was postponed at the last minute to await the result of negotiations for moving the structures.
Light said he hopes the diocese now can move forward quickly with plans to raise $3 million to pay for the Evans House expansion. The addition will provide office and meeting space.
In other action, delegates took a second look at the proposed budget for the current year and offered amendments to it. A final vote is scheduled today.
In an interview Saturday, the Rev. Quigg Lawrence said a newspaper report on financial pledges from his congregation - Roanoke's Church of the Holy Spirit - was misleading. The church pledged only $1 to the diocese this year, down from $4,500 last year.
The story, written by this reporter, attributed the cut to the parish's dissatisfaction with the bishop's participation in a group that promotes gay rights. The diocesan newspaper has carried letters and stories on that disagreement.
Lawrence said the pledge cut was unrelated to the issue of homosexuality.
"Last year, we had a bunch of parishioners holding back their tithes and offerings from the local church because they disagree with some policies of the national church and the diocese," Lawrence said.
At the heart of that disagreement, he said, is what the congregation sees as a diminishment of the authority of Scripture in the denomination.
As a result of the decline in donations, the congregation decided this year not to budget money for the diocese but to take up separate, quarterly offerings specifically for the regional and national church.
The pledge cut was not mean-spirited, Lawrence said, but an attempt to be honest with the diocese about the uncertainty of the total amount of donations to expect.
The Annual Council concludes today with votes on: the $774,000 budget; an assortment of resolutions; and a set of rules for the election of a bishop to replace Light, who is retiring this year.
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