The Sidney Center Methodist Church, which was destroyed in an arson spree in 2009, can't get permission from church officials to rebuild despite having enough money to do so, according to a report in the Daily Star.
The article reports that the Upper New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church sent the Sidney Center congregation a letter last month with the bad news:
[The letter] quoted the conference in saying, "We will not consider another proposal for your current site." It also stated that although the church had the money to rebuild, the conference said, "the cost was too high."
The letter also stated another reason to refuse re-building the church: A "serious concern about the potential growth and development" in Sidney Center. This is pretty disheartening, considering that the hamlet just celebrated the opening of a new community center this past weekend.
