Residents sue zoning board over St. Demetrios expansion

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As the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Merrick prepares to build a two-story cultural center for religious and educational uses, residents are preparing to take the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals to court in an effort to repeal its decision to allow the expansion.

After a 12-hour hearing in June, the zoning board gave the church the green light to construct a two-story, 36,000-square-foot structure at the corner of Hewlett and Annette avenues that would house 10 religious education classrooms, the pastor’s offices, a gymnasium and a kitchen, and allow the church to offer two youth sports programs, according to the church’s minister, the Rev. Nikiforos Fakinos.

Local attorney John Healy, however, filed a lawsuit on behalf of five neighbors of the church against the zoning board on Aug. 2, arguing that it did not consider environmental procedure, gave too much deference to a federal religious law and did not give the opposing side its due process rights in reaching the decision.
“We think they’ve made some mistakes,” Healy said.

He contended that the town did not abide by the State Environmental Quality Review Act, which, he said, mandates that it evaluate how the expansion would affect the surrounding environment.

Healy said that the expansion could negatively impact the environment by removing too many trees during construction. But Richard Regina, the town board’s secretary, provided the Herald with a copy of an environmental assessment form, stating that no potentially adverse effects on the environment had been found.

Healy also said that the board relied too heavily on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which protects religious institutions from discrimination during the zoning process. “It does not require the approval of any project of any scope or scale,” Healy said.

To counter Healy’s argument, Bill Bonesso, attorney for St. Demetrios, said, “I think [the board] recognized that both under federal statute and under federal case law, there are preferences and obligations that must be adhered to when the proposed use … requires religious practice.”

At the hearing, opposing residents raised concerns that the expansion would damage the community’s character. “It’s going to change the whole neighborhood,” Alfred Koemm told the Herald before the hearing.

Koemm, who has lived on Annette Avenue for 54 years with his wife, Marion, said that the expansion could cause an increase in traffic along neighboring streets. “I have no problem with the church,” he said. “But what they’re trying to put up is just too big.”

Healy said that residents were kept from voicing their concerns as extensively as they wished at the hearing, and that they were barred from submitting certain photographs as evidence. For example, he said, Paul Scolieri, of the Merrick Fire Department, was kept from presenting photos in support of his argument that traffic congestion on Hewlett Avenue already makes it hard for fire trucks to pass through.

After researching Scolieri’s concern, however, the board concluded that many cars park illegally on Hewlett Avenue, and that has nothing to do with the church or its proposed expansion.

Furthermore, Bonesso said, “Hewlett Avenue is a through street between Merrick [Road] and Sunrise [Highway], and it gets a lot of traffic as a result of that … They would like to believe that it is because of the church.”

Church officials also agreed not to use the cultural center during worship, because that would go against the church’s religious practices. Therefore, the board concluded, the church would fill only half of its proposed 253-space parking lot at any given time.

Regardless, Healy said that he still believes that there would be overcrowding in the community once the new space is built. “I think most of the neighbors feel that they wouldn’t be opposed to some project,” he said. “But the size and the scope of this project are clearly out of the size and the norm of our community.”