HANOVER — A two-year dispute over plans to build a 21,250-square-foot church on Greensboro Road will again go before Hanover’s Zoning Board, which is being asked to reopen proceedings on the project along the residential road.
Both Christ Redeemer Church and those opposed to its proposed $5 million building, which is designed to hold about 400 people, recently filed appeals of a unanimous March 28 Zoning Board decision granting the church a special exception.
In separate filings to the town, both parties argue the board failed to listen to experts and caved to pressure from the other side. They also express disappointment in a regulatory process that so far hasn’t produced a compromise acceptable to either side.
“We’ve been looking (to build a church) for 20 years. I think that’s a good backdrop for how we’re feeling right now,” said Chris Audino, the church’s executive pastor. “There’s no doubt we’re all growing weary.”
Jeff Acker, who lives across the street from the church’s proposed building with his wife, Lara, said he’s dismayed as well. Neighbors’ belief that the Zoning Board would protect them from what they regards as overdevelopment has slowly eroded as the proceedings dragged on.
“We’re angry because we feel like the Zoning Board almost set up an us-versus-them adversarial situation,” Acker said on Thursday. “We’re not supposed to be the adversaries of the Zoning Board.”
Christ Redeemer Church, a Baptist congregation that meets at Hanover High School, hopes to build its new church on nearly 8 acres of land at the northern corner of Greensboro Road and Velvet Rocks. The church also owns an unused 1.7-acre parcel of land across the street. The parcels on the north side of the street comprise of four house lots, and the church hopes to keep at least two of the homes, though one that is currently vacant would be razed to make way for the building.
The neighborhood, which sits beside Mink Brook north of the Lebanon town line, is mostly made up of single-family homes with Route 120 a quarter mile away and Etna Road about 4 miles to the west. And it’s that residential character that neighbors say they’re trying to preserve by opposing construction of the church there.
If the new church were to be built, its total footprint would come in about four times larger than the First Baptist Church in Etna and Hanover’s First Congregational Church, opponents argue. But those at Christ Redeemer say what’s really stopping construction is a zoning ordinance that discriminates against religious institutions and a land use board that wants to needlessly limit its operations.
In an April 25 motion for rehearing, Christ Redeemer argues that the limits the Zoning Board placed on its occupancy and hours violate the town’s zoning ordinance, as well as federal and state law.
The Zoning Board approved the church project on the grounds that no more than 300 people could attend services at a given time. It also set regular operating hours of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.
But both conditions are not supported by evidence presented in public hearings, the church says.
While a traffic study ordered by the church once mentioned the 300 figure, that number was based on a square-foot calculation that did not take into account the fact that the church could hold 400 people, the motion said. And no other churches in town have hours of operation imposed on them.
“This condition is completely contrary to the evidence as well as common sense and instead is based on the unsupportable personal opinions of board members,” wrote the church’s attorneys, Thomas Hanna and Michael Tierney.
Audino said some Zoning Board members seemed to think that 300 was the current size of Christ Redeemer’s congregation. But last weekend, the church saw about 320 people attend its services at Hanover High School, and officials hope a new space will allow them room to grow, he said.
The Ackers counter those assertions in a motion of their own, where they say the Zoning Board shouldn’t have reversed a December decision that initially denied the church project.
Rehearing the case in March violated the town’s zoning ordinance, which calls for a rehearing only when errors need to be corrected or new information is available, they said.
“There was nothing new in the prior decision that needed to be corrected. In addition, the ZBA did not consider any new evidence,” wrote the Ackers’ attorney, Nathan Stearns.
The Ackers also contend that the Zoning Board reversed course and and approved the project because of accusations that its December decision was unconstitutional.
The church’s attorneys had argued that Hanover’s zoning ordinance discriminates against religious institutions because it requires them to obtain a special exception in sections of town where similar buildings serving large numbers of people, such as an auditorium, are allowed without the approval.
The Ackers aren’t the only Hanover residents in the neighborhood disappointed in the Zoning Board’s decision. So far, more than 16 neighbors and opponents of the church have submitted letters asking board members to reconsider.
“I am disappointed that in spite of numerous verbal testimonies, letters, outside expert calculations, as well as site visits over the last year or so, it feels as though the Board really paid no attention to those of us who have the largest stake in the decision … those of us who either LIVE next to or close to or across the street from … the proposed development,” wrote Greensboro Road resident Tracy Smith in a letter to the town dated April 25.
Messages left for Zoning Board Chairwoman Carolyn Radisch were not returned last week.
The Zoning Board is required by state law to either grant a rehearing or deny it within 30 days of receiving an appeal, according to Robert Houseman, Hanover’s director of planning, zoning and codes.
“If the board decides to grant the rehearing, a new public hearing is scheduled with new notice to everyone, and the process moves forward,” he wrote in an email on Thursday. “If the board decides not to grant the rehearing, their work is done.”
Once a decision is made, the petitioner will receive a notice informing them of the Zoning Board’s choice, Houseman said. They would then have 30 days to challenge that decision in Superior Court.
The Ackers have also initiated legal proceedings in the case. They filed a complaint in Grafton Superior Court, requesting it reverse the Zoning Board’s decision to grant the church a special exception to impact wetlands on Greensboro Road.
They argue the board largely ignored the effects of two wetlands on the property.
Because each is under 1,000 square feet in size, the town contends they’re exempt from review. But the Ackers say engineers they’ve hired can prove the two wetlands are connected and should be further scrutinized.
The neighbors also say the Zoning Board improperly calculated the impacts of wetlands and flooding during proceedings.
Traditionally, the board has considered how runoff from an entire property affects its neighborhood, Jeff Acker said. But the Zoning Board this time scrutinized only the wetland areas, he said.
“The Zoning Board in this case came up with the novel interpretation of the Zoning Ordinance, which we think has never been done before in town,” said Jeff Acker, who went on to explain that roads in the neighborhood have washed out in past floods.
In its initial 3-2 decision on Dec. 6 that denied the church the exception, the Zoning Board conceded that neighborhood flooding is “a serious engineering problem that must be resolved in a way that does not worsen an already existing nuisance.”
However, the board said a more detailed site plan review by the Planning Board and state regulations are better equipped to address those problems.
Houseman said on Thursday that the town hadn’t been yet been notified of the Ackers’ court filing and declined to comment.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.