Date: Fri 28-Mar-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Sanvings-bank-Borough

Full Text:

Bank Plans Get Support From Main St Residents

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Borough Zoning Board of Appeals members heard a range of opinions, mostly

supportive, Wednesday night about Newtown Savings Bank's proposal to expand

its Main Street facilities.

Board members took no action on the bank's request for five zoning variances

to accomplish its expansion plans. The board has until the end of May to act.

If the Borough ZBA grants the variances, the bank would still require Borough

Zoning Commission and Borough Wetlands Commission approvals.

Faced with the need for more space and a desire to stay on Main Street, the

bank last spring offered to buy the next-door property at 41-A Main Street for

$550,000 from the Newtown Congregational Church. The 5.38-acre church property

includes a deteriorated parsonage, a 13,980-square-foot church house, and a

small house at the rear of the property. The church is a co-applicant for the

project.

Borough ZBA member Patrick Hill asked bank president John Martocci whether the

bank's acquisition of the church property would set a precedent for businesses

taking over residentially-zoned properties along Main Street.

Allowing houses along Main Street to be sold to businesses would change the

concept of Main Street, Mr Hill pointed out.

"The way we've designed this is to give the town the most protection it can

possibly have," Mr Martocci said. Under the plan, the bank would acquire the

church property, join the Main Street Historic District, demolish the decaying

parsonage and build a replica of the parsonage which would house bank office

space. The new office space behind the parsonage facade would be linked to the

bank by an addition.

The Borough ZBA chairman said he would hate to see a lack of parking space,

noting that the bank's proposal falls short of the normally required number of

parking spaces.

Resident William Honan, Jr, of 60 Main Street, a former bank trustee and

longtime Main Street resident, said, "The project ... will add to the street

and not detract from it." The street, the borough, and town will benefit from

the project, he said.

Resident Jack Rosenthal of 70 Main Street said, "It will add something to the

street, no doubt about it."

Resident Stan Verry of 63 Main Street commended the bank's proposal, adding

that it will enhance Main Street.

Resident James Gaston of 18 Main Street said, "I and my family are in favor of

this." The project would be consistent with the town's development plan based

on its preservation aspects.

Resident Sherry Bermingham of 42 Main Street lives across the street from the

bank's driveway. While the initial proposal sounded like a good one, many

questions have arisen in her mind, Ms Bermingham said.

Ms Bermingham said its hard to believe that the bank can prove a "hardship" in

obtaining the variances needed for the project. She expressed concerns that

the bank project would set a precedent for transferring other Main Street

residential properties to commercial uses.

Ms Bermingham asked what would happen if the bank changes ownership and the

new owners sell off the church land to various businesses.

The project would increase traffic flow on Main Street, she said.

Borough Zoning Officer Jean St Jean pointed out that the bank is seeking

zoning variances, not a zone change. The bank property is a non-conforming

use, she added. Any future change of use at the property would be subject to

borough zoning controls, she said.

Resident William Meyer of Mt Pleasant Road suggested that some agreement be

reached between the bank and the town to allow direct traffic flow between the

bank property and the Edmond Town Hall parking lot. Such a traffic pattern

would enhance area traffic flow, he said.

Madeline Bunt of 12 Castle Hill Road posed questions about wetlands. Under the

plan, the bank would donate almost three acres of land at the rear of the

church property to the Borough Land Trust for permanent open space

preservation.

Attorney Bill Denlinger, representing the bank, said granting the bank's

variance requests would be in harmony with the borough zoning regulations.

"This is the only way we're going to be able to protect these buildings," he

said. "There's nothing bad about this application. I think it meets your

criteria for `hardship,'"he said.

Mr Gaston termed the proposal a "good deal," under which land use protections

provided by the borough zoning regulations would be traded for protections

provided by the historic district.

Borough ZBA attorney Don Mitchell told board members if zoning variances are

granted for the project, there must be specific reasons for the variances,

describing the exceptional difficulty or hardship faced by the applicants.

The bank wants to lease the three-story church house on the site back to the

church for five years with an option for an additional five years, providing

time for the church to build a new church house on its property on West

Street. The old church house, which was built in 1948, then would be used for

bank operations, but it also would contain rental office space and a community

room. Currently, the building houses a nursery school and the Newtown Youth

Services offices.

New parking space would be created as part of the project.