Development under a listed Bailey?s Bay church has forced supportive steel columns to be erected underneath it ? before it falls into Harrington Sound.

A planning application to build a new sanctuary/fellowship hall at Crawl Gospel Hall on No. 167, North Shore Road, Hamilton Parish was refused by the Development Applications Board on March 13, 2002.

However, through an appeal to the Environment Minister, planning permission was granted to Melvin Somner on March 12, 2003.

Former Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson is a member of Crawl Gospel Hall and said the church was expanding to serve the community better.

Mr. Hodgson said he was Environment Minister from 1998 to 2000.

Most recently, on July 6, 2005, the Department of Planning approved a revision to the approved plans for Crawl Gospel Hall.

?The elements coupled with the movement of heavy machinery are causing erosion to the existing rock cut beneath the building,? Stephen Young of architects Entech Ltd. told the Planning Department on June 1, 2005.

?Therefore we are revising the structural plans to reflect additional steel columns beneath the perimeter of the structure?s bearing walls.?

The Department of Planning?s most recent approval includes a new kitchen, additional toilets and vestibule in the newly excavated space.

A plan for an elevator shaft was also approved.

A building permit for the site was issued by Planning on July 17, 2003.

Mr. Hodgson admitted yesterday ten to 15 feet of the property were woodland reserve.

He also said ?not a lot of trees? had been removed during the development, adding the church wanted to remove two or three of the ?eight to ten feet tall? cedar trees that had been planted by the church around ten years ago.

When the Minister overruled the decision by the DAB, it said protective fencing no less than four feet high had to be wrapped around every tree.

?In order to protect all lands with a conservation zoning, protective chain link fence no less than six feet in height shall be erected,? then-Permanent Secretary of the Environment Brian Rowlinson wrote on July 30, 2002.

?In order to protect the visual amenity of the site, there shall be no deposition or storage of excavated material on site.?

Mr. Hodgson said the church was built before 1912.

?The community has grown since 1912 and the needs of the community have changed,? he said.

?We need a larger facility to cope with increased demand.?

He said Crawl Gospel Hall can comfortably seat 50 people but the new structure could seat around 300 people.

?We were supposed to have a funeral there this past week,? Mr. Hodgson said. ?But needed to move to a larger location.?

The planning application also calls for the conversion of the listed church into offices and class rooms.

On August 5, 2003, Planning received an anonymous complaint that ?Francis Furbert was moving fill and rubble from No. 173 North Shore Road to the Church yard, extending the parking area of the church by dumping over the cliff into the conservation area.?