BRUNSWICK — More than 50 parishioners rejoiced at the news Thursday night: The former rectory next to St. John the Baptist Church can be demolished.

Church officials have sought an official go-ahead to flatten the building since October, when they made their first application for a demolition permit to the Village Review Board ( VRB), which put a decision on hold for 90 days.

In January, that board cast a 3-3 vote — ruled to be a denial — on a demolition permit for the structure designed by Brunswick architect Samuel B. Dunning.

Board member Elizabeth Marr was absent from that meeting.

On Thursday night, the town’s five-member Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously voted to allow demolition of the building on the basis that the economic hardship of maintaining the building places an undue burden on the parish.

“The bottom line is that it’s tough for the church to maintain this building,” said Zoning Board of Appeals member Sande Updegraph, who is also executive director of the Freeport Economic Development Corp. “A church has to run like a business — you can’t lose money forever and continue to be a viable entity.”

Charles Wiercinski, an engineer advising the parish, said Thursday that maintaining the building has cost the congregation an average of $11,000 a year, with about $6,000 of that in property taxes, on a building for which church officials say they have no use.

Estimates to repair the building ranged from $200,000 to $400,000. The building is appraised at around $150,000.

For the convent that has been vacant for almost 10 years, formerly housing an order of Ursuline nuns, Donald Leaver, business manager of All Saints Parish, said the Mid-coast parish has no need.

“We have 18 separate buildings as a parish,” said Leaver. “ Right now, we don’t have enough funds to maintain all of those buildings.”

As a part of a plan to revamp facilities at the Pleasant Street church, parish officials hope to build a parking lot where the rectory now sits — to provide parking for people with disabilities in a lot closer to the more accessible east side of the 129-year-old church.

Parishioner Virginia Caruso, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease, made a plea Thursday that such access is sorely needed.

About a week ago, Caruso said, she was faced with the decision of attempting to climb the stairs or circling to the elevator on the east side of the building. She tried the stairs.

“Luckily, the Lord was with me and I fell forward and not backward,” Caruso said.

A January finding of fact from the VRB, drafted by the three members voting against the demolition permit, stated an opinion that the church had not sufficiently explored all of the options for the building, which the church has offered for free since October to anyone willing to pay moving costs.

Members of the appeals board disagreed.

“I applaud the thorough job … to consider every possible option short of demolishing this building,” Updegraph said.

Parishioner and resident Chris Ledwick spoke against the board’s decision Thursday night, expressing concern also about the process to overturn the VRB decision.

“Is this the way around the Village Review Board for every future application?” Ledwick said.

Zoning Board of Appeals chairman William Lamb indicated that there would be a 30- day period for an appeal of Thursday’s decision.

“We’ll wait the 30 days,” Wiercinski said.

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