Some Residents Upset with Church's Application

Some nearby residents are upset about an application before the zoning board of adjustments that would enlarge Bethany United Methodist Church's vehicular footprint in the area.

Several residents addressed the board and Gerome Vogel, the lawyer representing the church, at the board meeting Jan. 18. 

The church is applying to demolish three dwellings on the property, a shed and garage, and construct a two-story building with classrooms and meeting rooms and additional parking spaces. Several variances are required to complete the project. The church is located at 491 Alps Road.

Several residents said that the church is not a local church. They said it is a regional church, drawing parishioners from various municipalities in the North Jersey area, not just Wayne. They said that traffic is already a constant problem whenever the church has social events during the week and on Sundays. The church has an agreement to park vehicles off site on municipal property.

“Bethany has outgrown the property they are on. They are no longer a neighborhood church,” said resident Russ Schubert. “Parking and traffic are big concerns. They are overwhelming the site. You should be able to handle parking on your own property.”

Vogel said classifying a house of worship as being “local” or “regional” is difficult to do.

“You can’t differentiate if a church is regional or local because you don’t know where they [parishioners] are coming from,” Vogel said. 

The township’s Master Plan Re-Examination Report from July 2010 states that: “houses of worship shall be of a scale appropriate to their location in order mininize negative impacts to surrounding land uses, particularly residential neighborhoods and the environment.”

The church presented the board with a similar application a few years ago. That application was denied.