St. Demetrios Church seeks community center

Residents worry they'll lose their neighborhood character

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Ever since St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church moved from Freeport to Hewlett Avenue in Merrick in 1982, parishioners there have dreamed of constructing a community center where they could hold Greek language, culture and religious classes, said the Rev. Nikiforos Fakinos, St. Demetrios’s pastor.

“This center is a vision the community has had many, many years,” Fakinos said, seated in his office overlooking the red-brick, Byzantine-style church, its massive copper dome shining brightly.

The church leadership recently went public with plans for the new center. The two-story, 36,000-square-foot structure, to be built at Hewlett and Annette avenues, on the north side of the church, would house 10 religious education classrooms, the pastor’s offices, a gymnasium and a kitchen.

“It’s like the cars that do a little bit of everything,” Fakinos, 43, joked.

Some residents of surrounding Annette and Kenny avenues, however, said they worry that the center would change the residential nature of the neighborhood, which mostly comprises one- and two-story craftsman- and colonial-style homes.

Roughly 40 homes line Annette and Kenny avenues. Neighbors said they object to the church’s proposal to demolish three houses and replace them with the center, which would include a dumpster near homes. Two more houses –– which now serve as the church’s office and education center –– would come down as well and be replaced by parking lots or driveways.

The church is planning three entrances and exits on side streets, one of which would be for loading, said Town of Hempstead spokeswoman Susan Trenkle-Pokalsky.

Residents said they worry about traffic congestion on their narrow blocks. When the church hosts its annual Greek Festival in June, they said, the streets, where children often play, are full of cars.

The Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals is scheduled to hold a hearing to review the community center proposal on May 18 at Town of Hempstead Hall.

Residents said they plan to attend and voice their concerns.

‘It’s all about the kids’

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