St. John's Episcopal Church Gets Special Permit To Open Nursery School

The Zoning Board of Appeals granted a special permit to the St. John's Episcopal Church in New City at a meeting Monday so that the church can reopen a nursery school on its grounds.

Seventeen members of the church attended the ZBA meeting July 12 to plead their case as to why they should be allowed to reopen a nursery school that closed in 2006. None were there Monday, when the board voted unanimously to approve the special permit, 6-0, with one board member absent from the meeting.

One of the main reasons a special permit was needed was because the building is 91.8 feet away from Strawtown Road, whereas law typically calls for nursery schools to be at least 100 feet from the street. When the group went to the July 12 meeting, board members wanted to make sure there would be enough room for the school, which would take place Monday-Friday in a building attached to the church.

The plan called for the nursery school to take place in two classrooms in the offices attached to the church. The group also suggested that it would have a morning session and afternoon session, and no more.

The board members announced that members of the church would have to return to the Planning Board to finalize the exact details of the school's layout.

There were some stipulations the board granted along with the special permit. Besides going back to the Planning Board, the ZBA capped the maximum number of session the school can run as two per day, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. Another stipulation is that each session can only have at most 20 students, and the school can only take place in the two classrooms designated in the office building. The church must also have the Rockland County Department of Highways sign off on the proper permits.

But before the board got to the vote on the nursery school, there were two public hearings for two proposed building constructions.

One would be at 44-46 Lake Road in Congers.

The proposal calls for the demolition of an existing building that is rundown and vacant, according to Jay Greenwell, an engineer in Suffern, who was making a presentation on behalf of Ed Bertolino, the owner of the land.

Bertolino wants to replace the knocked down building with one that would hold three retail businesses and three apartments above that.

"This would promote the residential component of the area," Greenwell said.

The apartments would all be one bedroom, and about 855 square feet each. Ideally, Greenwell said, the apartments would be marketed to single people.

"It would promote pedestrian interaction with retail," he said.

But the board members had their concern about the parking situation. The building would have eight spots, including one handicapped. Each apartment is required to have one parking spot. There is street parking available near the building, but cars can't be left there overnight. Board members suggested that Bertolino look in the area for lots so he can provide off-site parking.

Greenwell said that there might not be too much overlap for the spots, as the businesses would close at night and the apartment residents might be at work during the day. Board Chairman Gaetano Massa wondered what would happen if a two-car family moved into one of the apartments.

"It would be smart to rent to one-car houses, or else you're going to kill your retail," he said.

Besides the parking situation, there were some other potential issues with the building. One is that the proposed building would stand zero feet back from the designated street line. The maximum height for buildings allowed in that area is 15 feet, but the proposed building would have to stand 28 feet to comfortably fit the businesses and apartments.

Greenwell said it would be "almost impossible" to build in that area and not need variances for a building that would house living and business tenants. He also cited a similarly structured building across the street that was approved by the board. Greenwell and Bertolino have met with the Planning Board three times prior to Monday's meeting with ZBA.

"This is a very convoluted process," he said. "That's not any board's fault, it's just convoluted."

Gerry O'Rourke, the president of the Congers Civic Association, was the only member of the public to speak at either public hearing. As a member of the Civic Association, O'Rourke had a hand in the planning of the Overlay District, although he said Monday night that went to the meeting solely to represent himself, and not the organization.

He suggested possibly instead of retail, looking to lease out the lower level of the building as offices, or that Bertolino buy the old drugstore located next to his land and knock that down to give him more space.

"Why not rip down another blighted area and make this project viable?" he said, adding that the proposed building is what the group had in mind when they came up with the Overlay District.

Bertolino said he made an offer to the owner of the drugstore, but the owner didn't accept it.

The other construction would come at 112 Ridge Road in Valley Cottage, on land owned by John Sautner, who made a presentation in front of the board along with Greenwell. Sautner is looking to knock down the house currently on that location, which Greenwell said was also rundown and vacant.

With that land, Sautner is looking to build a new home that he would then sell. He wants to build it with a larger basement than what is currently allowed, so he needs the board to approve an increase in the floor area ratio. Sautner said he spoke to neighbors would live to the north and south of the house, and neither have any issue with what he is trying to do.

Greenwell also said that if anything, the building of a new house would probably help the area, or at least make it look nicer than it does with the vacant house there.

"I don't think there's any negative impact, and it could be an asset to the neighborhood," he said. "It wouldn't alter the character of the neighborhood except positively,"