By SHARON KILPATRICK

By SHARON KILPATRICK

Rappahannock New* Staff Writer

For several years Trinity Episcopal Church has been struggling with how to accommodate growth.

At a meeting last November the vestry recommended to the congregation that the church move from its location at the comer of Middle and Gay streets to a larger lot in town, replacing first the parish hall and moving the church building itself, with the idea of building another church later for most worship services, using the current church building in its new location for special smaller services.

That meeting resulted in strong opposition from within the congregation and the demand that the vestry get help in finding ways to instead expand on site.

That help has come in the form of Eason Cross Jr., an architect with Cross Associates in Alexandria. Mr. Cross has been working with the vestry and an ad hoc committee to explore alternative plans. Last month he made a preliminary report to the vestry. 1

This week the vestry expects to meet to narrow the number of alternatives and ask Mr. Cross to make a final report on the alternatives remaining, including moving to a site on the edge of town.

The vestry and ad hoc committee selected Mr. Cross because he has been involved in helping other churches find solutions to space problems and because he is familiar with and sympathetic to the workings of Episcopal churches. His father was an Episcopal priest, Ed Barton, chairmah of the ad hoc committee said.

Mr. Cross recently received the Noland Medal, the highest honor of the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects for “his service to his community and his profession.” He studied at Harvard University under Walter Gropius and trained under Charles Goodman and Arthur Keyes.

In 1993 he won a competition sponsored by the Virginia chapter of Architects, Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility for his design for a 1,100 square foot house to be built in Richmond by Habitat for Humanity. The competition called for a house that size that could be built for less than $35,000 in materials, incorporating environmentally friendly features. Mr. Cross esti- ' mated that it could be heated for $10 per month. He said he expects the house to be built some time during 1995.

Work for Trinity Church presents different problems, but expense and energy efficiency are certainly considerations. However, before the church can consider a design, it first has to decide what is to be built.

The immediate problem, according to Mr. Barton, is Sunday School space. The basement level of the parish hall is divided into several small rooms used for Sunday School. One class is meeting upstairs in the most recent addition, and the adult