St. Joseph Catholic Church takes a plan to Webster Township

St. Joseph Catholic Church is hoping to grow its “country campus” on Mast Road.

In order to do so, it will need some approvals from Webster Township.

A special meeting of the Webster Township Planning Commission was held on April 5, to consider the plan.

The agenda item stated:

“ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH PHASE 2 SPECIAL USE REQUEST 23-SP-0001: Public hearing and consideration of applicant's request for special use amendment, Preliminary Site Plan and Final Site Plan for St. Joseph Catholic church. The subject property is located at 6805 Mast Road, southwest corner of North Territorial Road and Mast Road. A special use is required to construct a Phase 2 building addition to their existing facility. The proposed addition and site improvements will occur in the southwest part of the site behind the existing building. The addition will house administrative offices, classrooms, meeting rooms, a multipurpose reception/recreation space and a kitchen.”

This phase is proposed for the church’s Country Campus, which is at 6805 Mast Road. It currently consists of the Country Church, Disciple House and Festival Grounds.

For some brief history, the church’s website said of the campuses: “For 143 years, Catholics of the Dexter community worshiped in the “village church” at the corner of Dover and Fourth Streets. In 2008, the “country church,” located three miles north of Dexter at the corner of Mast and North Territorial Roads, was dedicated on March 15.”

The village campus is at 3430 Dover Street in the city of Dexter and it consists of the Village Church, Parish Office and Parish Center.

The Sun Times News (STN) followed up with Webster Township to see how the planning commission meeting went.

STN connected with Webster Township Planner and Zoning Administrator, Sri Ravali Komaragiri, who said by email: “The applicant requested three approvals last night: Special land use amendment, preliminary site plan and final site plan. All three items were tabled for another time. Planning Commission requested additional information to be able to make an informed special land use determination. The site plan approval is tabled due to pending ZBA (Zoning Board of Appeals) meeting and incomplete drawings. Next meeting date is yet to be determined based on when we would receive the revised plans. The applicant also requires two ZBA approvals. They are scheduled for May 2 meeting.”