In Plymouth, the Planning Board, on the 26th, in the 1820 Courthouse, hosted a standing-room only crowd. The majority of them, members of the New Hope Chapel congregation.
Church representatives requested special permits to construct a 787-seat church, associated parking areas, and an amphitheater—in an area zoned rural residential, on Joshua’s Way, off of Long Pond Road.
State and federal laws say that with respect to zoning, a church can be built in any zone in town.
Bobbi Clark has more…
Steve Bolotin, Vice-Chair of the Planning Board, says New Hope Chapel came seeking the Planning Board’s recommendation to the Zoning Board of Appeals…
“on 3 Special Permits.”
On the removal of sand and gravel, Bolotin says there was a split vote:
“It was a 2 to 2 vote. Two of the Planning Board members voted to restrict all sand and gravel removal, and two opposed.”
The next permit relates to the maximum slope. The Town statute calls for a 3 to 1 ratio…
“The request was to allow a 2 to 1 ratio,” said Bolotin. “The Planning Board decided to recommend allowing it as long as the slopes were properly stabilized and restored.”
And according to Bolotin, the zoning bylaw would require a building of this size:
“…to have 197 parking spaces. They asked for 365 spaces—they got 365 spaces, but of that 365, 165 has to be pavers that water can pass through.”
The Board decided the amphitheater was not a religious use:
”and therefore, we recommended that no sand and gravel removal be allowed for the construction of that amphitheater.”
Anne Balboni, spoke representing the Concerned Neighbors of Long Pond Road asking the board to recognize their rights:
“The right not to have desecration in all our areas of drinking water and our natural resources and to recognize that we have some very major concerns as well.”
The ZBA is scheduled to hold a hearing on the matter on November 16th.
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- The future site of the New Hope Chapel off Joshua’s Way in Plymouth.
