Wallkill Valley Times Jan. 23 2019 | Page 2

2 Wallkill Valley Times, Wednesday, January 23, 2019 IN THIS ISSUE Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Crossword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Maybrook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Police Blotter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 School News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Service Directory. . . . . . . . . . . 28 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Walden.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Queens-based church buys Montgomery property PUBLIC AGENDA WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23 Town of Crawford Planning Board, 7 p.m. Town Hall, 121 Route 302, Pine Bush. Village of Montgomery Planning Board, 7:30 p.m. Village Hall, 133 Clinton Street. MONDAY, JANUARY 28 Town of Montgomery Planning Board, 7:30 p.m. Town Hall, 110 Bracken Road, Montgomery. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5 Walden Village Board of Trustees, 6:30 p.m. Village Hall, 1 Municipal Square. Town of Shawangunk Planning Board, 7 p.m. Town Hall, 14 Central Ave., Wallkill. Gardiner Town Board. 7 p.m. Town Hall, Route 44-55, Gardiner Montgomery Village Board, 7:30 p.m. Village Hall, 133 Clinton Street. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6 Climate Smart Gardiner Task Force. 7 p.m. Town Hall, Route 44-55, Gardiner. HOW TO REACH US OFFICE: 300 Stony Brook Court Newburgh, NY 12550 PHONE: [phone], FAX: [phone] Emails may be directed to the following : ADVERTISING [email protected] CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS [email protected] TO REACH THE EDITOR [email protected] FOR THE SPORTS DEPARTMENT [email protected] PUBLIC NOTICES [email protected] WEBSITE www.timescommunitypapers.com The Wallkill Valley Times, (USPS 699-490) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh, NY 12550, with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court, Newburgh, NY. Single copy: $1 at newsstand. By mail in Orange, Ulster or Sullivan Counties: $40 annually, $44 out of county. Periodicals permit at Newburgh, NY. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Wallkill Valley Times, 300 Stony Brook Court, Newburgh, NY 12550. Local members of Queens-based Good Canaan Land Church are proposing a church on Lake Osiris Road, a residential street in the Town of Montgomery. By LAURA FITZGERALD [email protected] The local residents of Queens-based Good Canaan Land Church are planning to build a church on land subdivided from a large farm on Lake Osiris Road in the Town of Montgomery. The two-story 12,000-square-foot building has a footprint of 7,800 square feet. The bottom floor houses a sanctuary, a common area, bathrooms and offices while the top floor contains four apartments and a balcony for overflow during services. Lawrence Marshall, Principal Engineer for MNTM, said the four two- bedroom apartments will house the church’s caretaker and pastor and visiting clergy and pastors. The sanctuary will have a maximum occupancy of 170 people. The proposed church’s congregation will be comprised of between 60 and 70 local residents who travel to Good Canaan Land Church in Flushing and would like a local building to attend services. The church’s location in Flushing has about 300 members in its congregation. “We’re not bringing people from any other congregation,” Marshall said. “These are local residents that are looking for a local church to pray at.” The land was donated to church members by an adjoining farm. Six acres were subdivided from the 140-acre farm, so the farm and church operate as separate entities. The parking lot was scaled down from approximately 100 parking spaces to between 54 and 60, the minimum amount allowed under New York State law based on the maximum occupancy of the building. Marshall said a traffic study has been commissioned on the residential Lake Osiris Road. Peak traffic hours will be on Sunday mornings, which will not coincide with peak traffic hours for residences and the summer camp and golf course also on Lake Osiris Road. A member of the largely Chinese immigrant congregation said they want to lead a simple life centered around farming and will maintain the adjacent land as a farming operation. The church member also said they want to practice their religion freely. Christianity in China is legal but tightly regulated and censored by the government, so church members can practice their religion with much more freedom in the United States than in their home country. “We are people from China that suffered a lot of religious control. We don’t have religious freedom,” the church member said. “So, we want to worship here to lead a normal human life.” Almost 50 residents on Lake Osiris Road signed a petition protesting the construction of the church, citing concerns over traffic, tax implications and community character. Lake Osiris Road resident Maureen Markei said the traffic study being conducted now won’t reflect increased pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the summer and requested that a traffic study be conducted by a certified traffic engineer that would take into account those factors. “A certified engineer said there is substantive potential danger because of the increased traffic on this narrow, rural road,” Markei said. “If you do [the traffic study] now, you’re missing the bikers, the joggers, all of the walkers that use that road.” Town of Montgomery planning board chairman Fred Reichle said the traffic study commissioned by the applicant takes into account those factors and the planning board will analyze the study to ensure they agree with the findings. Marshall said whatever tax implications there may be, it will only affect the six acres that were subdivided from the farm. Marshall also said the church can’t relocate to a commercial zone along Route 52, as some residents suggested, because the church does not own that land. Other residents objected to the church’s location in a residential area. Resident of Lake Osiris Road Peter Schuyler said he and other residents are not opposed to the people building the church, but they are opposed to it being in a residential rather than commercial area. The two other churches pending before the board are accessed by Route 52 and 208, both state roads, and are in commercial areas. “We are not opposed to these people having a sanctuary here,” Schuyler said. “We are opposed to it being this big sanctuary in our neighborhood that’s going to take away the charm of this neighborhood and this corner of Montgomery.” A continuation of the public hearing will be at Montgomery town hall on Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m.