Catholic church includes house for its bats in expansion plans

St. Vincent Catholic Church in Basalt doesn’t have bats in its belfry, but it does have them in its rectory.

Church officials have vowed to accommodate the bat colony when it demolishes the rectory to create space for a 2,400square-foot expansion of its main parish hall. The church will install one-way bat doors prior to the demolition and set up a bat house elsewhere on the property, according to Pat McMahon, a parish member who is representing the church in its land use application with the town of Basalt.

“When they cannot get back in the (rectory), they have somewhere to go,” Mcmahon told the Basalt Planning and Zoning Commission during a teleconference Tuesday night.

The parish wants to expand its main building, constructed in 1988, to better accommodate existing operations. Mcmahon said religious education classes are being held in the basement, which doesn’t have adequate egress in case of fire. The new space also will be used as overflow seating for masses at the busiest time.the parish doesn’t anticipate adding new services so it is exempt from affordable housing mitigation. Not so with bat housing mitigation.

The planning commiss raised the issue of the bats during a visit to the site earlier in the process.

“Thank you for taking care of the bat issues,” planning commission member Tracy Bennett said at Tuesday’s meeting. “I appreciate you guys going above and beyond.”