-Evan
SaveMoheganLake.com
Zoning Variances Make Faith Bible’s New Development Too Big
The church next to my family’s home wants to triple in size, but the site
is already illegally overbuilt, and lacks adequate parking. Faith
Bible Church(FBC), by all accounts a reputable congregation, is located at the
northern tip of the lake, along two small residential streets, Mohegan
Ave and Sagamore Trail. The character of our community is steep hills, large trees, and snug houses. In this community there are obvious problems of scale and numerous other problems with the developer’s proposals.
FBC is now proposing five (5) zoning variances to the Yorktown Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) in order to build a facility that would be more than three times the legal occupant load of the existing structures, without an increase in parking.
Please note that the objection is to only three(3) of the five(5) proposed variances. The zoning variances are not required to reasonably develop the land. Those variances being opposed are: a 14.5 foot encroachment into a required 30 foot rear yard; a 12 foot retaining wall where 4.5 feet is permitted; and providing a 2 foot side yard where 12 feet are required. The other two variances—a height variance and a front yard encroachment—are uncontested.
We urge the ZBA to deny the three (3) major variances that facilitate the major increase in occupancy without requiring parking sufficient to accommodate the proposal. Without the variances, the new development can still more than double the legal occupant load to more than two hundred people; that’s a sizeable increase over the legal capacity of the church as it exists today.
We do not oppose the church. This is simply a matter of scale and sound town planning. The three (3) variances are completely unnecessary and—if approved—will have an adverse affect on the surrounding community, permanently.
The development increases the legal occupant load which is currently “80-100 people-3 Hours-3 Days a year” to 344 people. That’s well over a threefold increase in the number of people allowed to legally occupy the premises, yet parking will not increase at all. In fact, the total number of spaces proposed is four less than the highest load FBC has had this year.
The developer employed an engineer, Site Design, who submitted a traffic study along with a sworn affidavit to the ZBA last Thursday, 9/22/2011. The study was conducted from 4/17/2011 through 5/22/20011. That study showed that 90 parking spaces were necessary to accomedate the highest recent occupant load of 242 people. The new development proposes 344 people to be supported by 86 parking spaces. How can that be? How can the legal occupant load more than triple while parking is reduced by four (4) spaces? Based on their own engineers study 128 parking spaces would be necessary to sufficiently accommodate 344 people.
About five years ago, the developer converted a single family house located on one (1) of the five (5) parcels they own to a meeting hall and daycare center. That home is now proposed to be razed in order to create a new parking lot. Contrary to town law, no documents were ever filed to certify that the egress and life safety provisions of the code had been met for this conversion (not to mention parking requirements as well).
If Yorktown records are to be believed, then the developer has already expanded the church without any of the required approvals and permits. The planning board file indicates that the site is normally used by 160-170 people. Considering that parking and septic plans were the determining factors in establishing the legal occupant load, this fact is a bit unsettling (e.g. because it’s current a septic system, the illegal occupant load overtaxes the environment; the system was sized to accommodate 100 people for 3 hours, 3 days a year). They currently exceed that every two weeks.That’s 26 times the current legal limit.
To give you some perspective on the scale of the developer’s proposal, consider nearby St. Mary’s church which is not in a residential district and is located on Route 6; two distinct advantages over the developer’s site at 3500 Mohegan Avenue. The proposed 344 person occupant load dwarfs the capacity of St. Mary’s which maxes out at 250 people. Not only that, but St. Mary’s provides more parking, it is located on major thoroughfare, and it is unencumbered by the environmental variances required to completely eliminate the wetland buffer to create a parking lot.
The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) file will be open for written comments until the close of business on Monday, October 3rd. The ZBA will make their decision after considering the file and will vote on the matter at their next hearing on October 27th. Considering the parking limitations of the site, granting those three (3) major variances will adversely and permanently affect our small, unique, residential community.
Parking requirements are spelled out in and integral to Yorktown’s zoning ordinances. The Board should consider the existing and proposed parking loads relative to the existing and proposed legal occupant loads. They are not being asked to consider anything but the minimum adjustments to the law in order reasonably develop the land. Three of the five variances are completely unnecessary for FBC to thrive in Mohegan Lake.
Immediately after the first zoning hearing on 3/24/2011, if I had not received the ardent support of neighbors who have lived here 30, 40, some over 75 years–residents of the Mohegan Highlands and Shrub Oak Lake Estates–I would have stopped this campaign a long time ago. Between PTA meetings, coaching soccer and working full time to support a young family of five, I can certainly think of few other things I can occupy my time with other than writing letters to the editor.
Bazzo 09/28/11
Warning ... Bazzo at Work! 