By Brian Zanzonico
The Rev. Sunny Philip, the church's spiritual leader, has set his sights on a building on Hempstead Turnpike in Franklin Square, and is in contract with its owner, Stephan Schector, to purchase the property. The transaction is contingent on the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals' approval of an application calling for 820 Hempstead Turnpike, which was previously an office building, to be converted into a church.
A May 2 public hearing at Town Hall was postponed until June 20 at the request of the Community League of Garden City South Inc., one of the county's oldest civic associations. Pat Friedman, the group's president since 1961, said that because of a lack of parking, the board should reject the application.
Abutting the rear of the salmon-colored, two-story, 3,550-square-foot building is a Town of Hempstead parking lot, where parishioners would park. The lot is often used by patrons of the Franklin Square Library, which is across the street on Lincoln Road, and the VFW Hall down the block, as well as shoppers. If a library event, VFW function and a church service were to take place at the same time, neighboring streets might be clogged with cars, Friedman said.
According to the site plan, the basement would have a baptismal font, two bathrooms, an elevator and room for storage. The main floor would be the church sanctuary, with seating for 185. An old version of the plan called for four offices on the second floor, but the revised version, which will be presented to the board June 20, provides for one office, three classrooms and room for storage.
"There's an old saying: putting 10 pounds of sugar in a five-pound bag," Friedman said. "This time, it's putting 10 pounds of sugar in no bag."
Despite the civic group's concern, the church's attorney, William Cohn, said there has not been much opposition to the application. The Franklin Square Chamber of Commerce, however, has raised questions about parking. "You can't park as it is now," said Frank Cutolo, the chamber president. "There's the library, the professional building, the tae kwon do. Where's there more room to park?"
Cohn said that the only day the church would even approach its capacity is on Sunday. "I would think the business community would welcome the business from the church," Cohn said. "The only real need for parking is Sunday morning. The rest of the week, there's no great deal of parking required."
Church activities such as Bible study would take place during the week, Cohn said, but only at night. Saturdays and Sundays would be for religious instruction classes and worship from morning until early evening. Cohn said the church has already stated that it will not host bazaars, Bingo, rentals, funerals, baptisms before Sunday services, or Girl or Boy Scouts.
The municipal lot has 128 parking spaces, Cohn said. As part of the application, the church is required to provide one space for every three seats in the church sanctuary or one space per 200 square feet of building area.
Friedman also said that complications with parking may lead to safety concerns. Tragedy struck in May 2004 when Jessica Savarese was killed by a hit-and-run driver as she tried crossing Hempstead Turnpike at Claflin Boulevard, just steps from the proposed church. A makeshift memorial is still displayed nearby. Friedman said that if parishioners park on Claflin Boulevard and cross Hempstead Turnpike against the traffic light to get to the church, there could be more tragedy.
Cohn said the lot provides ample parking for the church, and predicts nothing will keep the board from approving the application. "These applications are overwhelmingly approved by the board because houses of worship are not treated the same as, say, a commercial use would be because of the First Amendment right to worship," said Cohn, who added that he has never seen the board deny a church application in his 50-plus years as an attorney. "The churches win. They win. It should be approved."
Friedman said that the civic group would hire a traffic expert if necessary to fight the plan, and that community members would meet in the coming weeks to discuss their options.
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