St. John's Episcopal Church Looks to Bring Back Nursery School

Seventeen members of the St. John's Episcopal Church attended a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Monday seeking approval to open a nursery school, while some of the church's neighbors spoke out against it.

The New City church at 365 Strawtown Road, New City, is looking to open the nursery school in September, and needs a special permit from the town to do so because the building is only 91.8 feet from Strawtown Road - not the 100 feet that is typically required by town law.

The school would be in offices attached to the church, but not run by the church. A nursery school was operated in that location for roughly 30 years, up until 2002.

Monday night, the church's case was made in front of the Zoning Board of Appeals at Clarkstown Town Hall in New City by New City lawyer Anthony Montalbano.

"There would be no reconstruction or construction," he said during the meeting. "All that's required is to obtain a special permit."

According to Montalbano, the school would have a morning session and another in the afternoon, Mondays through Fridays. He also said, ideally, both sessions would have around 20 students, all between ages 2 and 5, and the school would be open to the public.

If it would help get approved, Montalbano said the ZBA could put restrictions on the school so they can at most have two sessions a day with no more than 30 students in each. They have three offices in the building set aside for the school, with two that can be used as classrooms and one for an office, a conference room and/or storage.

"It's an opportunity for children to get a learning experience and be in social situations," he said during the meeting.

Also a benefit of the school would be the profit the church would get from renting the space.

"The congregation is stable, maybe even shrinking a little, but certainly not growing," Montalbano told the ZBA members. "The additional income from the school would help the church out."

Barbara Henning, the senior warden of the church, said that while the financial implications of opening the school would help the church, there are other reasons for wanting it.

"The building sits there empty five days a week," she said. "We want to do something more productive with the property."

Thelma Beauchemin, who lives adjacent to the church, was one of the neighbors to speak against the nursery school's approval during the ZBA meeting. Her case focused on two issues she felt the school would affect: the environment and safety of those living near the church.

"With more people coming into the area to drop their kids off at school, there could be more noise and pollutants that could affect the animals," she told ZBA members. "There are so many different types of animals around there because of the (Lake Deforest) reservoir."

She also spoke out against having more buses driving on Strawtown Road, noting the road already has numerous buses bound for local elementary, middle and high schools. Montalbano said there wouldn't be any buses to take the children to the school, and parents and guardians would be responsible for drop off and pickup.

Still, Beauchemin had concerns with the safety implications of bringing a nursery school to Strawtown Road.

"There are tons of kids who wait for their school buses alone, or get off their buses in the afternoon and go home alone on that street. If we have more people coming into that area, they're in more risk," she said, adding there would be additional risk for people who ride bikes, jog and walk on the street.

While making the church's case to the board, Montalbano said they don't envision the church increasing traffic or causing any backups on Strawtown. Another of the church's neighbors, Carmen Hernandez, didn't agree, though.

"I lived here when the old nursery school was in session, and the traffic in the morning was horrendous," she said after the meeting.

Beauchemin's husband, John, had other concerns about the school.

"It's a commercial venture in a residential area," he said. "If it was a 7-Eleven, everyone would say, 'no.'"

The Beauchemins and Hernandez agreed that if the church was running the nursery school, they wouldn't have a problem with it.

"We like the church a lot and have no problems with them," Thelma Beauchemin said after the meeting. During the meeting, she said she knew people who attended the church and said the events they put on were always well run.

Henning said the church would have some slight involvement with the nursery school.

"We're not just going renting the space and then not going to pay attention to what's going on over there," she said after the meeting.

Dave Krystel, a member of the church's property committee, said that with a meeting like this with the zoning board, the social implications of opening the nursery school are lost because they don't factor into how far the school is from the road.

"We've spent a lot of time speaking with places like the Child Care Resources of Rockland, and we've been told that there is a need for what we'd be providing," he said. "We'd be doing a good thing in that aspect."

Montalbano said the next step is for the Zoning Board of Appeals to vote whether or not to grant the special permit in the coming weeks, and then the church must go to the Clarkstown Planning Board to either finalize the opening of the school or see what else it can do to get approval.