Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Mormons try to build big everywhere


From the Daily News:

A controversial plan to build a large Mormon church in Flushing will get a second hearing before a key city panel on Tuesday.

But a look at the church’s construction plans from around the nation shows that Queens isn’t the only place it is seeking permission to build up to the heavens.

Representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say it needs spacious buildings to accommodate its unique way worshipping, which include separate rooms for bible study groups divided by age and sex. Building them often requires permission from local zoning boards.

The Queens plan needs two variances from the city Board of Standards and Appeals.

“Everywhere they go, they refuse to abide by the rules that are set,” said Paul Graziano, an outspoken Flushing resident and an urban planner.

Church officials say there’s nothing untoward about asking for a variance in Flushing or elsewhere. “The church endeavors to obey the law,” said church spokesman Ahmad Corbitt. “Asking for variances is part of the law.”

Last year, the zoning board in Brookline, Mass., approved a variance to build a 33-foot high building with a 72-foot steeple, though some community members and lawmakers said that church was too big for the one-acre lot. A band of residents there even hired an attorney to fight the variance.

In one of the more well-known cases, in the late 1990s in Harrison, N.Y., the church sought to build an 89,000-square-foot building with a 159-foot spire. That plan, which faced years of resident opposition, was later abandoned when the church built its temple on Columbus Avenue in Manhattan, near Lincoln Center.

Published reports also describe land-use battles over temples proposed for residential neighborhoods in Phoenix, Ariz., Fort Collins, Colo., and in Kent, Wash.

In the Flushing application, which has been reduced in scope, the church argues that concerns over how the church will impact the neighborhood are not valid grounds to deny the application.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

What kind of "church" is going to be plopped down on the corner of 32 Ave. and Parsons Boulevard? Four ranch houses were demolished and we've heard no noise about this expanded site.

Anonymous said...

Sounds good to me. A church full of polite, sober, family-oriented white people. Consider what the alternatives for the site could be. Any atrocity that you can possibly imagine!

Anonymous said...

St. Paul' RC Church, which is located directly to the south of that property, owned those houses for over 15 years.

They are building (as-of-right) a Parish House at the corner and a Rectory on the parcel farthest east on 32nd Avenue.

The Parish house will be approximately 34.5' high including the parapet wall on the front facade at Parsons Boulevard. However, the rest of the building will be much lower, as the grade of the property rises quickly and there will be no parapet wall elsewhere. At the eastern end of the building, it will be about 14' in height.

Anonymous said...

you want freedom of religion, you got. Maybe Mitt will visit .
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Anonymous said...

Try getting 'Queens' Civic Congress to try to get involved in over development outside of NE Queens.

So now its a big issue because its in their backyard?

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous #2: "A church full of polite, sober, family-oriented white people. Consider what the alternatives for the site could be."

Perhaps, polite, sober, family-oriented non-white people? Do those exist on your planet?

Anonymous said...

"Sounds good to me. A church full of polite, sober, family-oriented white people. Consider what the alternatives for the site could be."

What alternatives would sound worse to you? A church full of polite, sober, family-oriented Asians, Hispanics or African-Americans? I'm sure in your mind such people do not exist. But as hard as it might be for you to believe, there are polite, sober, family-oriented people in every ethnic group.

Anonymous said...

That many Mormons in Queens to need a church this big ?
Cant be, This sounds like an under the radar front for something else. BTW the Catholic church cant be trusted as well.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like something local developers get away with everyday in Queens, with CB7 approval. What's the matter, no mormons on CB7,

Anonymous said...

There are blacks and asians in the mormon church as well.
They have plenty of $$$$$$$$$

Anonymous said...

the first professional basketball player American, of Japanese ethnicity was Wat Misaka.
in 1949, he was an ALL-AMERICAN point guard at Brigham Young U. (MORMON) and played with the N.Y.Knicks .for a while.



i saw him play at the M.S.G on 8th Avenue/at 50th Street. He was good but his lack of height with the pro's, ended his pro career.

the first black player in the pros (to play) was Earl Lloyd,Washington Capitols. the first to be( drafted) was Chuck Cooper ,Boston Celtics. the first to be (signed$7500.) was Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, (of the Globetrotters) N.Y.Knicks.

did you know that Dr.Ralph Bunche, who negotiated the peace between Israel/Arabs, was a point guard at U.C.L.A. his team won three West Coast championships.

i hope #2 was not offended....

Anonymous said...

btw...Dr.Bunche lived at Parkway Village in Queens until his death in his 60's.

Anonymous said...

Neighbors better start
putting their houses on the market.

That whole area is too damn close
to the downtown Flushing
over development fault line anyway.

It will be swallowed up in the chasm in about 5 years.

Anonymous said...

Location, location, location!

And this does not appear to be a nice residential location any more.

It's been slowly sliding downhill.

Anonymous said...

True...
Flushing is the birthplace of religious freedom in America.

But this represents a religious
free-for-all...perpetrated by the Mormons!

Make no mistake about it...
they are not interested in abiding by any laws but their own!

The "peaceful" coreligionists of Joseph Smith are at war once again.

This time it's with the peace and quiet loving people of the neighborhood.

The Board of Standards and Appeals appear to be their allies.

"Stamp! Approved! Next case please"!

I wonder which BSA members
were "influenced" by the "church"?

Anonymous said...

Let's call it
what it really is here folks.

Granting a variance amounts to little more than ZONE BUSTING!

It's time to BUST UP the BSA!

They've been running rampant
in NYC for too damn long.

BTW:
Wellington "Willets Point" Chen once served (himself most likely) on the BSA.

What's that nefarious megalomaniac shrimp been up to lately?

Anonymous said...

"A church full of polite, sober, family-oriented white people"

Not so fast, Mormans are big time tweeders.
Yea white bible packers like George Bush and Mitt Romney who think they are going to hell if they dont "welcome the stranger"
Romans 12:13 and a 1/2 dozen other things
BAD BAD NEWS!!!

Anonymous said...

i believe the Bush family is of a Protestant religion, not Mormon.

attacking the religion is counter productive.

developers ask, but are often restrained by the d.o.b rules and regulations.

i bet graziano ,the pitbull, will not let them gain an inch ???

Anonymous said...

Yeah,
and maybe and bull dog Avella
will put a stop to this.

LOL!

Anonymous said...

Can you envision Chuck Apelian throwing himself in the path of a backhoe to halt the Mormans?

I just wet myself
laughing at the thought.

This is all
a done deal, neighbors.

All of the officials are protesting because it's all part of the show.

Get used to living
adjacent to church row or move.

What other choices are there?

Anonymous said...

One more religious building...
what difference does it make?

The tsunami has already washed
over the shores of this once fine neighborhood.

If I lived next door, I'd probably have to wind up offering my house for sale to one of these churches
at a discount.

Who else would want to buy
my devalued property?

You can't fight the BSA
and come out a winner.

Anonymous said...

Religion is for the weak.

Anonymous said...

The proposed church is way out of scale with the single family homes in the neighborhood. The Mormons don't seem to care that there are hundreds and hundreds of people against the size of the church. They are going to use exemptions in the laws to shove this down our throats. That's a fine attitude for a relgion to take. A few people want it and hundreds oppose it. God help us.