A church in southwest Ocala is looking to build a new, 6,000-square-foot expansion to accommodate its congregation’s growing needs.
Berean Baptist Church introduced plans to build a new recreation and gymnasium facility to the Marion County Development Review Committee during its regular meeting on Monday, June 29.
Located at 4820 SW 20th Street, the church is requesting a waiver from the county’s Major Site Plan requirement to move forward with construction of the new building at its 3.95-acre site in Ocala.
Berean Baptist Church is led by Pastor Mike Patton and was formerly known as Airport Baptist Church and College Park Baptist Church before changing its name.
According to the project documents submitted to the county by Michael W. Radcliffe Engineering, Inc., the proposed building addition will serve as an accessory recreation and gymnasium facility for existing members of the church. Because the new building is intended strictly for current members, no additional parking is required or proposed for the site.
The project also includes associated grading, stormwater controls, and erosion control measures. Specifically, a new shallow drainage retention area will be constructed to capture and retain runoff from the building addition.
The nearly 4-acre property is currently developed with an existing church facility and an asphalt parking area. As a condition of the waiver request, the church’s engineering team provided signed and sealed stormwater calculations demonstrating that the proposed improvements will meet applicable stormwater control requirements and will not discharge runoff offsite.
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