Pastor confident as Christ Church application heads to its 25th hearing at Planning Board By CLAUDETTE LEMERDY Contributing Writer 02/01/2006 Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly ROCKAWAY TWP. - The Planning Board will hold its 25th hearing Monday on an application by Christ Church to build a campus facility on the former Agilent site.
Advertisement
The Rev. David Ireland, the pastor of the Montclair-based congregation, remains optimistic despite many outstanding issues, including a federal suit the church filed against township officials alleging they took actions that discriminated against it.
Ireland, who has attended Planning Board meetings at which the definition of “church” was debated and who at the most recent hearing had security guards accompany him, spoke confidently about the hearings and about what he is doing while he and his congregation await a decision on their building project.
At the most recent hearing, church officials were questioned about whether the project would meet the standards of noise regulations.
In another issue related to the application, an exemption the church obtained from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from Highlands Act regulations was challenged by the township.
State courts agreed with the township position that DEP officials had not conducted a full hearing on the request and had not outlined the rationale for granting the exemption and ordered the DEP to essentially do it over.
When asked whether the DEP had made its decision about granting Christ Church an exemption from the Highlands regulations, Ireland said, “They’re still processing it (the application for an exemption); the public appeal period is closed and we should hear a verdict in 30 - 90 days.”
As for the next Planning Board hearing, Ireland said, “The acoustical engineer made his presentation and the Planning Board membership asked him some questions which required him to do some further number crunching and further assessments, which he will do before the next meeting,” said Ireland.
The pastor also said at the last Planning Board hearing on the church’s application the board’s consultant was in full agreement with the findings of the church’s acoustical engineer, who said the church operations will meet noise regulation standards.
Church spokesman Marc Weinstein said of that discussion, “The church’s noise expert gave testimony on the impact of noise levels in the area around 140 Green Pond Road (former Agilent site) and he said that based on his studies, the church was well within compliance of the state’s noise standard regulations.”
Weinstein also said that at the last hearing, the Planning Board had instructed the township’s noise expert to seek clarification on potential noise levels at Green Pond Road from the DEP, after a board member had expressed concern about noise levels if 5,000 car doors were slammed at the same time, or if 5,000 cars entered the church’s parking lot.
Additionally, Weinstein said the DEP indicated the church was exempt from the state’s noise regulations but under a township ordinance the township could regulate the noise levels at the church.
But Weinstein also said, “If that were the case, then the township would have to force traffic coming in and out of every Rockaway Township church parking lot on a Sunday to be regulated also, and if not, then they (township officials) would just be singling out Christ Church.”
Weinstein also said, “There is no noise issue with the church because we are in compliance with the state regulations regarding noise.
“The larger issue, however, is how many laws will the township create to prevent Christ Church from relocating to Rockaway Township,” said Weinstein.
“The township had created a new zoning ordinance which we believe was just created to block the church from relocating to the township so (we believe) the township will (try to) enforce a noise ordinance (against the church) which would be a blatant abuse of governmental power,” said Weinstein.
After more testimony about noise is heard on Feb. 6, the church’s environmental engineer, Jennifer Kohlsaat, of Hatch, Mott, and McDonald, will testify. Church site engineer Paul Anderson is scheduled to testify at the March meeting.
Additionally, the church planner Peter Steck will testify at a hearing scheduled for March or April. Steck had testified at earlier meetings on the church’s application.
In a phone conversation last month, Ireland said, “My desire is that the Planning Board keeps everything fair and equitable, in terms of how they deal with us.”
When asked what Ireland has been doing to reduce stress associated with the protracted Planning Board hearings, Ireland said, “I don’t take it personal, because if I did, then I’d be doing things to relieve stress, and the responsibilities of taking care of a large church are so immense that this (hearings) is just one piece of the pie, so I can’t really let this thing take (away) my peace or let it distract me.”
When asked about the fact he participated in the 26-mile New York Marathon, in New York City last year, Ireland said, “I ran the whole distance - it took me five hours and six minutes.
“It (the race) was grueling, but I did it,” Ireland added.
Ireland said he prepared for the marathon by running 40 miles per week for about four or five months.
“When I first started, I couldn’t even run two blocks. It took me about eight months to work up to 10 miles and then I took four to five months to prepare for the marathon and build up to 26 miles.
“Yes, I prayed before, I prayed during, and I prayed after’’ the race.
Isn't this the same basic article run in the Monclair times a week ago? Probably written by Spring O'Brien. The total imbalance in this article may be due to the fact that the article was originally written for the Montclair paper and most people that we know who live in Montclair can't wait for cc to move out of there and to RT. Looks like they just lifted it from the other article.
