The Hempstead Town Board of Zoning Appeals last week denied granting a parking variance to the owners of property on North Village Green in Levittown, where the owners wanted to construct a church.

The board held a meeting on the afternoon of Feb. 5 where residents had an opportunity to hear testimony from church representatives, ask them questions and state their own concerns and comments regarding the proposal. Representatives for the property owners indicated that the only thing necessary to build the church would be the parking variance and said that the church was looking for permission to allow patrons to use the Town of Hempstead municipal parking lot adjacent to the property. It was also noted that town code requires that 73 parking spaces be available to churchgoers due to the occupancy allowance of the building. Representatives argued that during the church's busiest anticipated time, Sunday mornings, there is little activity occurring in the parking lot and at surrounding tenants of the property, which they found as a result of a recent traffic study done at the property. A traffic expert testified that, as a result of the study, he found over 320 of the 357 parking spaces available.

Residents argued that the study was performed in the winter, when the playgrounds and swimming pool are not being utilized. Other arguments were also made, including residents' concern that their tax dollars pay for the maintenance of the parking lot and that they would have to fight over a space with church patrons who don't pay taxes to maintain the area. Other concerns included the amount of cars that would be traveling down residential streets to get to the church's location, especially if they arrived and/or left within minutes of each other.

Two weeks after the meeting, the Board of Zoning Appeals made a final decision not to grant the required parking variance. Hempstead Town Councilman Gary Hudes, who had no influence over the board's decision, prepared letters to be sent out to residents who were in attendance at the meeting and provided their addresses.

"The Board of Zoning Appeals is a completely autonomous and independent body of town government over whose decisions I and other town board members have no control," he explains in the letter. "However, as your representative I feel that it is important to keep residents informed and thought that you would be interested to know that this application was denied. The safety of our residents is my top priority and I am pleased that the comments and concerns of the residents were heard and acknowledged by the Board of Zoning Appeals."

The board gave no specific reason as to why they denied the variance. Hudes reminds residents that the Board of Zoning Appeals does not have final say over the property's destiny.

"It is important to note that while the town's Board of Zoning Appeals has denied this application, the owners of the church do have the option of appealing to the state courts," he said.