Expansion of an eastern Salisbury Township church has been approved.

The Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners voted unanimously 5-0 for a resolution to approve the land development plan for Crossroads Baptist Church, 1860 E. Emmaus Ave.

Board of commissioners Vice President Rodney Conn made the motion, seconded by Commissioner Alok Patnaik, to bring the resolution to a vote at the Jan. 13 township meeting.

After the approval, Crossroads Pastor Gary Becker told a reporter for The Press the date for groundbreaking of the project is undecided. Becker said he didn’t have a project cost estimate.

The church addition is to include a stage and seating for 123, up from 90, in the sanctuary.

Sheds on the church property utilized by Bolete restaurant held up approval of Crossroads Church to construct the 2,023-square-foot addition to its sanctuary and raze three existing accessory structures. The 2.1-acre property is in the township C2, Neighborhood Commercial Zoning District.

Bolete and its sheds, which the church allowed on its property and which were removed, were not mentioned at the Jan. 13 meeting.

“Unfortunately, they [Bolete] have the sheds on your property. It’s a multiple-use,” Salisbury Township Consulting Engineer David J. Tettemer told Becker July 13, 2021, when the church plan was approved but tabled by planners.

The church preliminary site plan for the land development was tabled by a 5-0 vote, with the absence of one planner and also one vacancy on the board, July 13, 2021.

By a separate vote of 5-0 at the July 13 2021, planners’ meeting, waivers and deferrals for the plan were approved. There were no objectors to the plan at the approximate one-hour portion of the meeting.

At the Sept. 14, 2021, planners’ meeting, a 5-0 vote allowed extending the church plan until Jan. 31.

Approximately nine sheds in the “bungalow village” were on the church property on the southern berm of Seidersville Road at the Gauff’s Hill intersection of East Emmaus Avenue, East Susquehanna Street, Broadway and Seidersville Road.

Approximately 10 similar sheds are in the Bolete parking lot on the north side of Seidersville Road.

The sheds set up by Bolete were a leftover from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 pandemic shutdown mandate. The sheds, under an amendment to the Salisbury Township Zoning Ordinance, enacted Aug. 13, 2020, were allowed after Wolf’s statewide COVID-19 emergency declaration.

Bolete, a nationally-renowned gourmet restaurant, was allowed to retain dining sheds on its parking lot by a unanimous 5-0 vote of the Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board Oct. 12, 2021.

In a separate 5-0 unanimous vote, zoners found the restaurant and its owners, to not be in violation of a township zoning enforcement notice.

As part of the approval of retaining 10 sheds in which diners are served on the parking lot of Bolete, 1740 Seidersville Road, the restaurant owners had 30 days to remove nine sheds on the property of Crossroads Baptist Church.

Zoners approved a special exception appeal to permit the sheds on the Bolete parking lot to be in use until June 15 and to be removed by Sept. 1.

According to the Bolete website, as of Jan. 23: “The restaurant is currently closed to finish kitchen and dining room renovations. While the completion is very close, we do not have a reopening date as of yet.”

A Jan. 21 post on the social media page stated: “Stay tuned for big news this weekend re [an] opening date.”

A Jan. 7 post on Bolete’s social media page stated: “We anxiously await the reopening (end of the month if all goes as planned).”

The Salisbury Township planning commission meets 7 p.m. Jan. 26 in the meeting room of the municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave.

The Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners meets 7 p.m. Jan. 27 in the municipal building.