Plumstead officials may have run out of time in their attempt to preserve a 19th century chapel on Point Pleasant Pike.

The township hasn't been able to secure funding for improvements to the Gardenville Chapel. It has until the end of this year to make the 1890s structure suitable for municipal use as part of a five-year lease with the Plumstead Quarry on whose property the building is situated.

Tuesday night township solicitor Jonathan J. Reiss told the board that the lawyer for the quarry wrote a letter complaining that the structure, which has been boarded up since the lease was signed, has been broken into and vandalized on several occasions.

"The letter is written as if he is saying that it looks like you (the township) aren't going to do anything so terminate the lease early," said Reiss.

Luis Fineberg, Plumstead's land use director, said that the structure "needs lots of work." He estimated that it would cost at least $300,000 to make the improvements.

Fineberg said that chapel had been used as a residence in recent years before it was sold to the quarry. The structure sits off Point Pleasant Pike west of Route 413.

Fineberg said that attempts to get grant money for the project have been unsuccessful.

Township Supervisor Stacey Mulholland asked Fineberg to write a press release to solicit support from the public and private sector in a last-ditch effort to save the chapel.

Bill Devlin can be reached at 215-345-3179 or wdevlin@phillyburbs.com.

July 22, 2009