Concord Planning Board recommends Trinity Church project

The Concord Planning Board recommended 6-0 to the Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday a plan to renovate and expand Trinity Church?s parish hall, despite the opposition of some abutters.

Some neighbors claim the project would escalate parking problems that already exist on and around Elm Street because of church activities.

?We are a neighborhood of residences,? said Jane Deering, a resident of Elm Street whose home is across the street from the church. ?I?m very worried about the increase in use and what will happen down the road. There must be reasonable ways to update the area that currently exists without having to expand the footprint.?

The proposal includes the reconstruction and expansion of the administrative area and 100-seat parish hall, which would be replaced with a 400-person parish hall, a kitchen, additional bathrooms and updated classrooms and office spaces.

It also includes the relocation of an unoccupied single-family home on the site that the church said would be retained as a historic home.

The project does not call for expanding the size of the church itself.

According to the planning department, the renovation and expansion will increase the gross floor area of structures on the site to 19,105 square feet.

Randy Hartnett, the head of the Building for Ministry Committee at Trinity, said parishioners began to discuss the possibility of expanding the parish hall back in 2004. He said the stone church, which has been at the site for the last 125 years, was updated to hold about 500 people in the 1960s but that the parish hall was never upgraded to reflect the church?s expansion.

Residents and parishioners acknowledged there is a parking problem on Elm Street as well as on nearby areas such as River Street when the church hosts large events.

Abutters said the streets can get crowded with cars when a church event is going on, and that people park on both sides of the roads and on some occasions block driveways.

Claudio Topolcic, of Elm Street, said he has no problems with the plan but asked the parish to inform him and other neighbors of large church events so he can do whatever is necessary so he?s not impacted.

?Police don?t take action and the church doesn?t take action when there?s a parking problem here,? he said. ?This is a safety issue. We have a parking problem.?

The church relies primarily on on-street parking as it only has a 19-space parking lot on its property. The project calls for adding one additional space to the lot.

The Planning Board recommended the project to the ZBA with a list of various conditions, including having the church ask Concord Police to have a discussion with neighbors about traffic and developing a method of outreach so the church can inform neighbors of anticipated events.

Planning Director Marcia Rasmussen encouraged church leadership to look at all possible solutions for lessening parking headaches, such as shuttling people to and from the church from a nearby location, as well as tasking outside groups that use the facility to help think of ways to solve the parking problems.

Trinity parishioner Win Wilbur, of Revolutionary Road, acknowledged how aggravating it must be for residents to have cars crowding up their streets during church events but said the parking problems are not unique to the Trinity neighborhood.

?You see it on Lexington Road when cars are all over the place,? she said. ?I think this is what happens in a town like this. I do feel we need additional space in the parish hall. I know personally when my husband died last year, over 400 people came and it was too many to fit in the parish hall. The reception had to be held in a less appropriate place.?

James Hornblower, of Whittemore Street, also a member of Trinity, said he would be happy to take the lead and help educate his parish to do a better job with parking.

Hartnett said the church has two to three weddings a year now and hopes it can have ?a few more? because of the expanded parish hall.

?We?re not looking to expand the size of the parish and rent it out five nights a week,? he said. ?We don?t think it will grow much at all but it will accommodate the needs of the people there now. We are very mindful we live in a residential neighborhood. This is my neighborhood too.?

The project is scheduled to go before the Zoning Board of Appeals at its meeting Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Keyes Road.

Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/concord/news/x273433227/Concord-Planning-Board-recommends-Trinity-Church-project?rssfeed=true

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