The Board of Adjustment approved plans for the new home of Holy Trinity Parish, which will be located on what is now a football field on the St. Edmond Catholic School campus.

Monsignor Kevin McCoy, pastor of Holy Trinity Parish, said that the construction documents and designs may be done by the end of this year and bids from contractors interested in building the church may be sought early next year.

He said the parish’s Building Committee will meet next week to try to set a more definite timeline for the project.

“It’s an exciting time,” McCoy said following the board meeting.

The proposed 26,000-square-foot church would be located on the north end of the football field and track that’s just east of the school. The site is bordered by Sixth Avenue North, Martin Luther King Drive, Fourth Avenue North and the school building.

It would be reached via one driveway from Martin Luther King Drive and a couple of entrances from Sixth Avenue North.

The new church, estimated to cost $10 million, would seat 1,000 people.

It would replace Corpus Christi Church, 402 N. Eighth St.; and Sacred Heart Church, 211 N. 13th St.; which are the last two Catholic churches in Webster County that offer regular masses. Three other churches — St. Matthew in Clare, Our Lady of Good Counsel in Moorland, and Christ the King in Dayton — are available for weddings and funerals, but are not the site of masses.

The concept of a single church to serve all of Webster County’s Catholics has been discussed since 2005. A single church was formally recommended in about 2007 in response to a declining number of priests.

Two separate issues were addressed by the Board of Adjustment Tuesday.

The board first approved a special exception to allow the church to be built in an area zoned for single-family homes.

Then the board approved a variance allowing the church to be taller than what is allowed in a single-family residential zone. The maximum building height in that zone is 35 feet. The main roof of the church will be 50 feet high, and the steeples will be taller than that.

Board member Troy Anderson was absent from the pair of otherwise unanimous votes.