Rockaway Twp. planners to stick with case; next meeting in Sept.

By Rob Jennings, Daily Record

ROCKAWAY TWP. - The Christ Church case will stay with the planning board, but the next hearing on the controversial plan won't be until September, maybe later.

After a 6-month inquiry, the planning board accepted jurisdiction for Christ Church of Montclair's building proposal Monday, but tabled further questioning until September, because of uncertainly over the impact of the Highlands bill.

The final version of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, approved by the state Legislature June 10, lumped Christ Church's proposed building site on Green Pond Road into a 395,000-acre "core area" where development will be strictly limited and overseen by a 15-member state council.

An earlier version of the legislation, which Gov. James McGreevey has promised to sign, omitted the 107-acre Agilent Technologies site - currently under a $14 million contract with the church - from the core area.

Lawmakers haven't said what prompted the site's inclusion but Mayor Louis Sceusi, who supported the bill, said last week that it made sense because of the presence of an aquifer on the property.

The Highlands bill's supporters touted it as needed to protect drinking water throughout a region encompassing seven counties, including Morris and Sussex counties.

Planning board chairman Morton Dicker scheduled the next hearing for Sept. 13, but said afterward that even a 3-month delay might not be enough time to assess the bill's impact.

"We may just have to kick it over again," Dicker said during a break in the hearing, the seventh on Christ Church's controversial building plan.

McGreevey has not yet signed the bill, Dicker said, and the Department of Environmental Protection will likely take several months to issue new regulations.

Christ Church's attorney, Wendy Berger, agreed with the extension and acknowledged that the Highlands bill will require changes in the church's plans.

The 5,000-member, evangelical Christian church is proposing 3,000-seat sanctuary, private K-5 school and recreation facilities.

Christ Church's pastor, David Ireland, said to a reporter that the bill's impact will "just cause us to be more strategic in our planning" - perhaps, he explained, by reducing parking at the site.

Ireland said the church will consider only a slight reduction in its proposed 3,000-seat sanctuary, which many residents have objected on the grounds of increased traffic.

"We're going to get to that number as close as possible, if not that number," Ireland said.

Ireland added that he was "thankful" for the ruling of planning board attorney William Dimin, who advised the board that that the size and scope of Christ Church's application did not disqualify it from consideration as a conditional use under the township's zoning ordinance.

"'Mega' is just an adjective. It doesn't change the meaning of the noun, 'church,'" said Ireland, who previously testified that the church's application complied with the township's zoning laws.

Whether or not a so-called "mega-church" would qualify as a church had been the subject of extensive testimony since Dimin posed the question in December. Dimin's ruling was not a surprise, since it followed a similar opinion last month from the township's planner.

No board members objected to Dimin's recommendation. Dicker said no action was required because the board's attorney was advising it to retain jurisdiction.

Michael Edelson, attorney for a local group opposed to the church's plan, vowed to continue his advocacy.

"Obviously, I'm disappointed," Edelson said during a break.

Edelson, who represents Voices of Rockaway Township, had previously argued that the crafters of the township's ordinance could not have envisioned a religious institution as large as Christ Church.

"We respect the board's decision and we'll carry on," Edelson said.

Berger, in statements at earlier hearings, invoked the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act - a 4-year-old federal law that gives great leeway to churches in zoning matters - in arguing that a religious institution cannot be treated differently because of its membership size.

Many of the 225 people in attendance at the Copeland Middle School left after Dimin's recommendation and the announcement of a 3-month delay in further hearings.

After the intermission, the board heard testimony from the church's engineer, Paul Anderson, but his remarks were limited to detailing the site's existing uses and not the church's proposals.

Ireland, in an interview, reaffirmed his desire to relocate to the township. He said he had searched 7 years for a property large enough to accommodate his congregation, which grew from 500 to 5,000 members in less than a decade.

"We're not backing down. We're not going anywhere," Ireland said.

The first six hearings were held in Denville at Morris Knolls High School, whose auditorium seats up to 1,200. The auditorium was nearly filled at the first hearing Dec. 15 but had leveled off to about 200 people by the sixth hearing last month.