A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 25 - Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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Neighbors Object to Proposed Greek Orthodox Church
ROSELAND, NJ -Though testimony started 15 months ago on an application to build a Greek church along Laurel Avenue on the Roseland/Livingston border, the issue is still far from being resolved. Members of two parishes—St. Nicholas Church in Newark and St. Constantine and Helen in Orange—want to consolidate and build a new church on a 12-acre parcel, primarily in Roseland. The application is being heard by the boards of adjustment for both Roseland and Livingston. The proposal has met with intense resistance from Roseland residents living in the upscale Crest neighborhood, across the street from the proposed church site. The site, which is owned by the Crestmont Country Club, is a wooded parcel near Route 280, a Baptist church and the country club’s golf course. At the next scheduled hearing in August, residents from the Crest neighborhood plan to present their own witnesses—a planner and a traffic expert—who will testify about the impact of locating the church along Laurel Avenue. “Our principal concern is some of the traffic,” said Ed St. Thomas, president of the Crest Neighborhood Association, whose members have testified at the meetings. “It’s not really a community church, it’s a regional church…I've been told that the festivals are very noisy.” Pam Demassi, another Roseland resident, said the size and scope of the plan has put off the neighbors. “It’s not just a house of worship, there will be a banquet hall, fairly huge kitchen, gymnasium and Greek school.” But representatives of the church have disputed those claims, saying the church holds one major service a week, its kitchen will have just one stove and oven and the language classes average from 30 or 40 students two nights a week. “We believe it will be low-impact,” said John Wyciskala, attorney for the two churches. “This was not a willy-nilly process; a lot of thought went into this design.” Attorney Wyciskala said his clients have “bent over backward” to accommodate the concerns of the neighbors. Some of the changes made to the plan include: Shrinking the size of the proposed 47,000-square-foot church by 20 percent and reducing the number of parking spaces; Hiring a police officer to direct traffic at Sunday services, on High Holy Days and at weekday language classes; Eliminating the bell chimes in the steeple to avoid disturbing neighbors with the sound; Installing a $30,000 ventilation system for an outdoor grill to prevent fumes in the neighborhood when outdoor cooking is done; and putting in two layers of upright plantings to shield the view of the church from the surrounding streets. “We are putting our best foot forward,” the attorney said. “The goal is, ‘Let’s get the approval.’” Plans to build the church on this site are more than four years old. The churches initially sued Roseland after the borough council changed the zoning of the 12-acre property to a conservation and recreation zone, which bans churches. The current application asks that the churches be granted a variance. Portions of the lawsuit were heard in state Superior Court two years ago, but a judge ruled that the application must first go before the two boards of adjustment. So the boards have been meeting together—not always smoothly—since beginning to hear the application last March. A Livingston board member asked at a hearing last week if the two boards could separate for the remaining meetings because Livingston didn’t share most of Roseland’s concerns. Mr. Wyciskala asked if they would meet together at least once more in the hopes of finishing the process. Livingston’s chairman, Alan Maitlin, also took issue with Roseland Chairman Lewis Kraut, who asked whether the churches have enough money to buy the land and build the new church—a three-year project estimated at $8 million.
“The Livingston
board does not ask those questions and does not
need to hear the answers,” Mr. Maitlin said. Mr.
Kraut retorted that the Livingston members didn’t
have to listen. Those costs do not include redesigning the architectural plans and paying for additional landscaping and engineering services, he said. Mr. Kraut said every building applicant who comes before the Roseland Zoning Board of Adjustment is subject to the same costs, but he admitted this is the longest set of hearings he can remember in his 16 years on the board. The participants say the hearings are winding down, though Mr. Wyciskala and Mr. Kraut said they doubt it will be wrapped up in one more meeting. Attorney Wyciskala is sure of one thing: If the boards turn down the application, he said the matter will be appealed. From the
New Jersey Star-Ledger |
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