The trustee board of the First Baptist Church has sought in-principle planning permission for 75 extra seats in case it decides to expand in the future.

It also sought permission to add potentially second and third floors to house extra seating, a music room, storage, a new bell room and mechanical room at No. 134, Middle Road, Devonshire.

?The church is in a period of growth,? Rev. Charles Franks said on Tuesday. ?It can seat 200 comfortably.?

Rev. Franks also said other options for the future could include home Sunday schooling, or installing an on-site generator for hurricane relief. In a letter in the Planning file dated March 27 to Alan Oatley, chairperson of the church?s building extension committee, Rev. Franks said it was possible at present to park approximately 65 cars at the sanctuary.

?I do not anticipate the proposed extension of the church?s facilities to diminish this capacity significantly,? Rev. Franks said. ?In addition it is estimated that the initial expansion of the sanctuary by changing the entrance and adding the balcony will increase our seating capacity by 50.

?This is a conservative number to allow for the relocation of the sound booth to the upper level,? Rev. Franks said in his letter at Planning. ?In actual fact we may be able to accommodate perhaps 25 more people depending on how we utilise the created space. This would set our seating capacity at 250 to 275 people.?

The Development Applications Board (DAB) had yet to decide on this application on land zoned Residential One.