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Paducah pastor tells commission he is interested in renovating boarded church at 1801 Guthrie
Summary
Johnny Draplin, pastor of Do Life Apostolic, told Paducah commissioners on March 11 he is interested in acquiring and restoring a boarded church at 1801 Guthrie if the city does not demolish the building.
During the public‑comment period of the March 11 meeting, Johnny Draplin, pastor of Do Life Apostolic, told the City of Paducah Board of Commissioners he is interested in acquiring and restoring a boarded church building at 1801 Guthrie if the city decides not to demolish it.
Draplin said he is not a current Paducah resident (he lives in Mayfield) but works in Paducah and that his congregation has roughly doubled in size during his three years as pastor. He said he has been in contact with Nancy in the planning department and that the city is waiting for paperwork before deciding what to do with the building. “We are interested in that building, if the city does not wanna tear that down. We would like to put the money and the time in it to get it back up to code,” Draplin said.
Draplin said local roofers who know the building estimated the roof has been leaking for about three years and described the roof cost estimate in the meeting record as "about $60"; the transcript did not specify units for that figure.
City response and context: The mayor (and commissioners) said some officials toured the building and found it in very poor condition. The mayor said the commission has been focusing on housing in that area and will discuss next steps; one commissioner noted the city could not select a single church to receive the property and would need to make any disposal process available to others subject to restrictions.
Why it matters: The comment signals community interest in reusing a boarded historic religious building and raises questions about city disposition policy for vacant structures, code compliance and potential historic or housing priorities. Planning staff indicated paperwork and property‑disposition steps remain pending.
Proponents and city staff made no commitments during public comment; the planning department contact named in the record is Nancy and the record shows staff will discuss options in light of housing priorities for the area.
