Church dimensions remain the issue

Church officials say their old building is just too small to serve three congregations comprising 518 worshippers. The church is now located at 144-27 Sanford Ave., which has been owned by the Mormons since 1995.

The arguments remained the same at Borough President Helen Marshall’s Office. Marshall will make her ruling within the month and from there it will be ultimately decided by the Board of Standards and Appeals.

They need three variances to address the size of the project, side-yard dimensions and a grade restriction for the garage.

About a dozen people spoke against the project Thursday, including Tyler Cassell, president of the North Flushing Civic Association, a CB 7 member, vice president of the Queens Civic Congress and a member of the Queens Zoning Task Force. He explained why the project is so repugnant to the community.

“What they want to build there is too big,” Cassell said. “They want us to supersize them.”

He explained that the proposed building of 23,097 square feet is almost twice the 12,200 permitted by the existing zoning. In outlining the community board’s denial, Cassell said it was only based on BSA regulations: “We look at applications with a blind eye, solely based on whether they meet the findings or not.”

He noted that the proposed steeple would be higher than anything in the area, except for downtown Flushing, and would loom over the single-family homes in the neighborhood.

But the overriding issue is the precedent that would be set if the BSA approves the plan. Paul Graziano, a zoning consultant and member of the North Flushing Civic Association, said it would have citywide ramifications if approved. “No one has challenged the rezoning of 2009,” he said.

Cassell said if the church plan is approved, “it would be like the rezoning never happened, which limits McMansions and large-sized development of community facilities.”

Dr. David Duffy, a physician who is president of the 11-church Mormon group in Queens, said he remains optimistic that the plan will be approved by the BSA. “It’s clear some people are very defensive and they feel it’s a threat,” Duffy said.

Should the variances not be granted, “we’ll see what happens and then we’ll regroup if necessary,” he added.

It has been suggested that the Mormons stay at their existing Flushing location. Even Marshall pointed out during the presentation that their building is larger than the proposed facililty. The existing church is in an R-7 zone so that the Mormons could enlarge it to about 117,000 square feet.

That is nearly 10 times bigger than what’s allowed at the new site, Cassell pointed out. “Why not stay and remodel?” he asked.

But church officials claim that the building does not meet their needs, and to start over on the property would force worshippers to go without a facility for two years while construction is underway.