By Brian Zanzonico
The meeting is slated to be held at the VFW Hall, 68 Lincoln Rd., Franklin Square, at 7 p.m., Pat Friedman said.
The Rev. Sunny Philip, pastor of the Gateway World Christian Center in Elmont, is in contract with the building's owner, Stephan Schector, to convert it into a church. The transaction is contingent on the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals' approval of the application. Residents have argued that a church would present parking problems.
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.The municipal lot has 128 parking spaces. 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.
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.
Church activities such as Bible study would take place during the week, but only at night. Saturdays and Sundays would be for religious instruction classes and worship from morning until early evening. The church has already stated that it will not host bazaars, Bingo, rentals, funerals, baptisms before Sunday services, or Girl or Boy Scouts.
The church's attorney, William Cohn, is expected to attend the May 30 meeting.
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