Architectural board approves Church of the Resurrection prayer garden with material and detailing conditions

The New Albany Architectural Review Board on Sept. 8 approved a certificate of appropriateness for a prayer garden at the Church of the Resurrection, subject to conditions that revise several material and detailing choices.

The board’s approval requires the applicant to show the arch and wall material as brick (not limestone), change the three lower wall cutouts to brick, narrow the large piers to proportions used in the New Albany Country Club community or add a minimum 4‑inch exterior corner bump‑out to simulate a pier, and match brick, roof and mortar colors to the existing church. If lighting is added, fixtures must be cut‑off and downcast to limit light spill; the board also expressed a strong preference for a copper pavilion roof or a copper color match. Final drawings are subject to staff and city architect approval.

Staff had described the 17.1‑acre site as active construction tied to changes approved last year and presented a prayer garden plan with brick walls capped in limestone, crushed‑limestone paths and a small pavilion. Board members questioned the shape and scale of openings in the walls and whether long, 6‑foot brick walls required piers for structural integrity and appropriate New Albany proportions.

Sue Larson, business manager for the Church of the Resurrection, told the board the garden is intended to create quiet, private prayer spaces with plantings and benches and that the donor group had resisted a fortress‑like wall. “We really want the wall to almost disappear,” Larson said, adding the landscape plan includes vegetation chosen to provide year‑round interest and sight lines for safety.

An applicant who identified himself as Scott Hartburn said the arch and walls were intended to be brick and that a church subcommittee had worked on wall heights and corner treatments to balance privacy and visibility.

Board members approved the motion with a second and recorded a 6–0 vote in favor. The motion and conditions were moved by a board member (speaker 6) and seconded by the chair (speaker 1). The board noted staff’s existing recommendation to modify the cutouts and required that the applicant return final details for staff/city architect sign‑off.

The garden project will return to staff and the city architect in revised form for final approval of the details specified by the board at the Sept. 8 meeting.