Hampton Bays Church Needs Variances Before Building New House Of Worship

A Hampton Bays church is expected to seek variances from Southampton Town allowing it to demolish its current home and replace it with a building that’s more than double in size.

The operators of the Rock of Salvation Church, which sits just north of Montauk Highway on Bellows Pond Road, are seeking permission to knock down their current 2,092-square-foot building so that a new 4,970-square-foot church can eventually be built on the 1-acre property.

According to the updated site plan filed with the town on June 17, the new church would be able to seat up to 240 people and feature 41 parking spaces. The current church, which is a blue-shingled, single-story house that was converted to a house of worship in 1998, can accommodate only up to 100 people at once, according to Jose Pirilo, a longtime church member who helps Pastor Miran Salmeron with her Sunday services. The converted house was constructed in 1988.

“We need to have a proper temple, because the house that we use right now is really old,” said Ms. Salmeron, a pastor at the church for the past 17 years, adding that the congregation has outgrown the old space.

Adequate parking continues to be an issue with the plan, which was originally proposed in 2009. The town requires one parking space for every three visitors; therefore, the church must have 83 spaces, or twice as many as are being proposed under the current site plan, which provides space for just 41.

Parking has been an ongoing obstacle for the church, as officials simply do not own enough property to both build a larger building and provide the required parking.

Jacqueline Fenlon, a senior planner for the town who is familiar with the application, said the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals will take into consideration, when reviewing the application, that the church now has a fleet of vans. Those vehicles will be utilized to pick up some of the parishioners at their homes, alleviating some of the demand for parking spaces.

The church has eight vans that can hold up to 15 people each, explained Rebecca Salmeron, Ms. Salmeron’s 17-year-old daughter. She noted that the church will require fewer spaces because many parishioners will take the vans to attend services.

Another issue with the application is how close the proposed building would sit from the street. Zoning dictates that it must be at least 50 feet from Bellows Pond Road; the proposed structure sits only approximately 25 feet from the street because of the constraints of the parcel.

Ms. Fenlon noted that Planning Board members previously recommended that church officials move the building’s blueprint closer to the road so they could fit more parking in the back. The revised modification adheres to that suggestion, which was made because at least 35 percent of the property must be left as open space as it falls within the town’s aquifer overlay protection district in the Pine Barrens.

Church officials must secure separate variances from the town, one to allow the smaller lot and another to permit it to build close to the street, according to officials. They have not yet applied for the variances, and it is not clear when they intend to do so.

“It’s been a balancing an act and I think they’re moving in the right direction,” Ms. Fenlon said.

Representatives of the church have been working to secure site plan approval to rebuild their house of worship for the past six years. The original application called for the current church to be bulldozed and replaced with a single-story, 5,000-square-foot structure featuring 244 seats and 53 parking spaces.

That plan also exceeded development limits for land. But the updated application, filed in June, leaves a patch of undisturbed land on the west side of the property.

The application also seeks to improve the aesthetics of the church; the new structure will feature a stone exterior, according to the application. Plans also call for the installation of new landscaping, including the planting of trees and shrubs.

Additionally, officials want to install three crosses on the front of the church, all constructed from DecoBloc glass block, another feature that will make it stand out as a house of worship. Presently, the only thing identifying the former house as a church is a single sign written in Spanish and installed along Bellows Pond Road.

Mr. Pirilo, who lives in Riverhead, said he and other parishioners have been waiting a long time to have a new church.

“A lot of people in the community want to build a new church because we like to help people,” said Mr. Pirilo, who has attended the Rock of Salvation Church for the past 14 years. “I think when people see a big church, more people will come and help.”