Varick Church, to stay at 242 Dixwell. A historic Black church won’t be leaving Dixwell Avenue after all — now that congregants have voted against moving forward with a plan to sell the building and relocate.Varick Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church members took that vote Saturday morning during a membership meeting held at the 242 Dixwell Ave. church.According to one attendee at that meeting, congregants voted 69 to 22 against seeking permission from the church’s parent organization to dispose of their church’s historic Dixwell Avenue building.Varick Pastor Kelcy Steele confirmed the outcome of that vote in a Saturday press release and in a Monday interview with the Independent.Steele wrote that the outcome of Saturday’s vote ​“clearly reflects the majority’s desire to remain at our current location. This decision now guides us towards seeking alternative resources to maintain and improve our existing properties, with a particular focus on making them handicap accessible.”The pastor also thanked the church’s ​“Relocation Committee” for its ​“diligent work in researching the possibility of selling our property and relocating Varick Church.”“As we embark on this new chapter, I invite everyone to join us in our 21-day prayer and fasting journey, centered around this month’s theme of ​‘Limitless Living,’ ” Steele continued. ​“Let us come together in faith and fellowship as we seek God’s guidance for our future.”Saturday’s vote comes nearly two months after the Independent first reported that Varick was considering selling and leaving its longtime home at 242 Dixwell Ave.The Methodist congregation was founded in 1818 by a racial segregation-defying minister alongside 35 enslaved New Haven African Americans. Since 1908, Varick has been based out of a church at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Charles Street. It’s long been a citywide anchor for everything from local labor politics to racial justice organizing to social services for the homeless. Varick’s 242 Dixwell Ave. home is a recognized site on the Connecticut Freedom Trail and in the Winchester Repeating Arms National Register Historic District. Booker T. Washington gave his last public speech there, in 1915. One of the church members in attendance on Saturday told the Independent that the conversation that preceded the ​“no” vote focused on the church’s finances, history, and need for capital repairs. “It wasn’t so much financial,” Steele said about what was driving the potential church building sale. ​“We don’t have a high debt ratio. The only debt that we have is a mortgage” from TD Bank that dates back to 2012.“The decision wasn’t really based on financials,” he repeated. ​“It was based on accessibility, and bringing the building up to code.” He said that some members of the church’s aging congregation have trouble navigating the steps that lead up to the church’s main Dixwell Avenue entrance. He also said that church members ​“have been trying for 20 years to get an elevator put in,” but to no avail. That push for an elevator may now resume now that the church has decided to stay in its current building. The church member in attendance at Saturday’s meeting said that Varick had been considering trying to buy and move to a new location at 85 Middletown Ave. in North Haven. Steele emphasized on Monday that Saturday’s vote was not directly about selling or buying any properties. Instead, Saturday’s vote was in line with the congregation’s so-called ​“Book of Discipline,” which governs how churches in the AME Zion hierarchy operate. In line with those protocols, Steele said, the church members on Saturday were voting only on whether or not to seek permission from the broader AME Zion Church on a potential plan to sell and relocate. Steele said that, as the moderator of Saturday’s vote, ​“I wasn’t for or against. I just wanted to hear the collective” voice of Varick’s church members. ​“I believe the spirit of God works through collective voices and the votes of the people.” And, on Saturday, the people voted — against relocating.“The next step is to engage the church and the community in a campaign to see how we can make our facilities accessible,” Steele said.In November, Steele told the Independent that one of the drivers of the church’s potential move was the anticipated reduction in surface parking to come with the redevelopment of the Dixwell Plaza site into ConnCAT Place right next door to Varick. On Monday, he said the church will be petitioning the city to transfer ownership of the parking lot that the church currently uses from the city to Varick.Varick Pastor Steele, at the pulpit.