Normandy Beach Church May Be Razed In Favor Of Homes

Our Lady Queen of Peace has stood on Route 35 for more than 60 years.

The Roman Catholic church in Normandy Beach has stood through nor’easters and floods, and through the winds of social change.

It has been home to hundreds of parishioners -- some just summer residents, others full-time -- over those decades.

Now the church -- ravaged, like so many other structures, by Hurricane Sandy -- is slated to be torn down. And if the owner of the property -- St. Pio of Pietrelcina Church, part of the Diocese of Trenton -- wins approval, the church will be replaced by single-family homes on the 2.6-acre site bounded by Route 35 north and south and by 7th Street.

The church was built in 1953, according to the book, “Brick Township, A Postcard History,” by Gene Donatiello and John Leavey. It has hosted summer services only for a number of years.

The Brick Township Planning Board began hearing testimony on a preliminary major subdivision site plan at its March 11 meeting, with testimony set to continue at the April 22 meeting, set for 7 p.m. at the municipal building.

According to the March 11 meeting minutes, the diocese’s professionals have been consulting with various agencies -- from the state Department of Transportation to the Brick Township Traffic Safety Bureau -- since November on the proposal for the homes, which Township Planner Michael Fowler said are a permitted use on the site.

The parcel has long been zoned residential, with the church existing as a permitted use in the zone, Fowler told the Planning Board.

The church’s parking lot is being used by George Harms Construction, one of the contractors working on the Route 35 reconstruction project, to park equipment during the project.

David Roskos, attorney representing the St. Pio parish, said Harms will demolish the church and remove the existing parking lot. Fill dirt -- approximately 9,000 cubic feet -- will be trucked in to raise the elevation, which Roskos said was in part due to the material that will be removed with the demolition of the church and parking lot.

Much of the discussion centered around concernd about the fill dirt, elevation and potential runoff from the site. The 9,000 cubic feet of fill, which Roskos told the board would take roughly 100 trucks and could be completed in one day -- is less than 10 percent of the amount of material that will be removed with the demotion of the church and the parking lot.

The site plan presentation also said the church and parking lot give the site about 90 percent impervious coverage, and that figure is expected to decrease to 45 to 50 percent when the homes are built.

At least one resident was unhappy that the church is going to be demolished.

Vivian Schwartz of Normandy Beach questioned why the diocese is having the church demolished when it has no mortgage on the structure and when it has a thriving summer attendance. She asked why the Planning Board wasn’t taking action to prevent it.

“It’s not the board’s responsibility to say if it is a good or bad idea,” said Howard Hensel, the Planning Board attorney. “The board controls the layout of the plan, but not the specific use if it is within the ordinance.”