January 31 meeting - The "All Opinions are Welcome, but Sorry no Instigators" Board

Lisa Salberg · Status: Offline

January 31 meeting

Rational · Status: Offline

I am anxious to see what the DR's take will be on it.

Rational · Status: Offline

Board: Christ Church plan lacking

By Rob Jennings, Daily Record

ROCKAWAY TWP. -- Christ Church building plan opponents erupted in applause Monday night after the planning board's chairman declared that so much incomplete information had been provided that it almost didn't make sense to proceed with hearings.

One audience member blurted, "Throw it out," but the board continued with the public hearing, its 11th on the 5,000-member, Montclair-based church's controversial mega-church building plan on Green Pond Road.

Board chairman Mort Dicker said Christ Church waited until late last week to submit amended traffic and architectural plans -- well past the deadline for consideration at Monday's hearing -- and still hadn't provided pertinent information on a variety of items, including a parking garage and rooftop heating units.

"Everything seems incomplete," Dicker said.

Dicker, during an intermission, told a reporter that the board might have erred in accepting Christ Church's application as complete prior to the first public hearing on Dec. 15, 2003.

Christ Church's pastor, David Ireland, responded by saying that the church has been continually making adjustments to address points raised by board members and other township officials.

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Ireland said that much of the proposal was overhauled last summer, when Christ Church reduced its building plan in order to gain an exemption from the new Highlands law.

"They're asking a level of detail that is typically not furnished at this point," Ireland said of the board, though he declined to say whether he agreed with a church spokesman's statement last week that a "double standard" was being applied to the mega-church proposal.

Rockaway Township is challenging in court the state Department of Environmental Protection's decision to approve the Highlands exemption and the church's attorney, Wendy Berger, declined to explain Monday an apparent discrepancy in the proposed size of the mega-church from before and after the DEP's ruling.

Christ Church's building plan, which has drawn extensive local opposition, includes a 2,512-seat sanctuary, private K-5 school and recreation facilities at the 107-acre, former Agilent Technologies site.

Monday's hearing at the Copeland Middle School, the first since Dec. 20, was attended by approximately 85 people, the smallest crowd yet for a Christ Church hearing. A 12th hearing will be held next Monday.

The hearing began with Mayor Louis Sceusi, a planning board member, posing questions to the church's architect, Kenneth Gruskin.

Sceusi wanted to know why Christ Church, in its application for a Highlands exemption, listed the proposed building size as 285,723 square feet when it was later listed as 304,306 square feet in a revised plan submitted to the board.

Berger said Gruskin wouldn't know because he didn't prepare the Highlands exemption application. The DEP has said it is not reviewing its decision but its letter granting the exemption noted that it was predicated on the accurate information being provided by Christ Church.

The Highlands exemption was deemed crucial to Christ Church because the new state law, adopted in August, places strict new limits on development in a preservation area that includes the Agilent site.

Sceusi indirectly took issue with the church's categorization of a 277-space parking garage as "under-building" by repeatedly describing at is "underground" parking, a significant distinction that could impact the application.

Ireland has said the garage, while under the building, is not underground because the existing structure is built atop a slope.

Sceusi said the garage's proposed entrance and exit area is 26 feet wide and 10 feet high -- and that at least four of the township's fire department vehicles wouldn't be able to make it through the opening.

Sceusi said he wondered why the garage, described as the "lower level plan" and connected to the main structure by elevators, wasn't included in the overall size of the building plan.

Gruskin responded that parking areas were deemed distinct.

Outside the hearing, Dicker said he was frustrated by a "public relations" campaign by Christ Church blaming the board for delays.

The church's spokesman, Marc Weinstein, charged last week that the board was conducting a more intensive probe of the church's plan than of various "big box" stores approved in the township.

Rob Jennings can be reached at rjenning@gannett.com or (973) 989-0652.

Lisa Salberg · Status: Offline

Rockaway Twp. mayor questions church plan

Tuesday, February 01, 2005
BY NANCY DEGUTIS For the Star-Ledger

Mayor Louis Sceusi questioned fire safety measures and the need for three towers at a proposed mega-church on Green Pond Road during a hearing last night before the Rockaway Township Board of Adjustment.

The only opening to an underground parking garage at the religious complex would not be large enough to accommodate some of the township's fire equipment, said the mayor, who is also a member of the board.

Architect Kenneth Gruskin, representing Christ Church of Montclair, said that fire officials had indicated they did not plan on taking all their emergency equipment into the garage in case of a fire or disaster.

Gruskin also said that he had designed the aisles in the sanctuary to be at least 10 feet wide and included two staircases to the balcony to aid in any evacuation of the building.

Christ Church wants to build a 304,306-square-foot house of worship that would include a 2,512-seat sanctuary, fellowship hall, youth center, recreational facilities, a private elementary school and administrative offices.

The mayor voiced concern about an alleged discrepancy in the square footage used by the church to get an exemption from the Highlands land use law. Sceusi said the township got one set of figures in the original plans that were larger than the figures submitted to the state Department of Environmental Protection when the church was applying for an exemption.

Sceusi said the figures left out space that is to be used as a chapel, a meeting room/theater, a lounge, offices and restrooms. The township is contesting the exemption granted by the state.

The mayor also queried Gruskin about the need for three towers that would adorn the church. The architect said one would be a small extension above the chapel and is within the township height limit of 45 feet. The other two would be 29 1/2 feet tall and flank the entry to the sanctuary.

None of the towers would contain rooms, and there would not be a cross or symbol on them, Gruskin said.

The church is seeking a use variance to convert a former industrial site. The hearing will continue on Feb. 7 at a 8 p.m. at the Copeland Middle School.

karen · Status: Offline

Hey - is it a "former industrial site"? I thought office/research.

Industrial sounds like they could put a factory there.

Rational · Status: Offline

Why are we having another hearing so soon (Feb 7)? Why is this township doing backflips to accomodate this so called church whose owner would not give the time of day to any of us who live in RT? I say f**ck 'em. Have the next meeting in 6 weeks at the convenience of the members of our board. Does he expect us to completely center our lives around him and his monstrosity? Answer: YES

-- Edited by Rational at 11:36, 2005-02-01

JohnQ · Status: Offline

I suggest having patience - the planning board must have a reason for throwing the next meeting so soon I would imagine.

ChuckMueller · Status: Offline

I believe it was just the only Monday available in February at the school.