By Alexander Dworkowitz
College Point residents have started a petition against a church that opened up illegally in the College Point Corporate Park about a month ago.
The Abundant Life Alliance Church recently began serving a congregation of mostly Korean immigrants at 15-19 132 St. in College Point Plaza, part of the larger corporate park.
While churches can open up in most areas as of right, the urban renewal plan which governs the corporate park does not allow houses of worship on its grounds, according to Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside).
The church has been hit with two city Department of Buildings violations for operating without a certificate of occupancy and constructing parts of a kitchen and bathroom without a permit.
“There seem to be a small faction of people who think they can do whatever they want … without respect to the zoning codes,” said Avella, who chairs the City Council’s Zoning and Franchises Committee. “Those laws are on the books for a reason.”
The two-year-old congregation formerly operated in Flushing. Faced with a growing membership and lack of parking, the Abundant Life Alliance Church elected to move to an another area, according to Patrick Jones, an attorney representing the church.
Rocco D’Erasmo, president of the Golden Park Block Association, said he has obtained 200 signatures from local residents in opposition to the church.
“They had everything done without the certificate of occupancy,” said D’Erasmo. “It’s incredible. They just broke the law. In this day and age I can’t believe something like that can happen, especially in New York City.”
D’Erasmo expressed concerns about parking problems. Since no one is allowed to park on the streets of the corporate park, D’Erasmo said the congregation spilled out onto 132nd Street and 15th Avenue, preventing residents from parking near their homes. The area is already crowded on Sundays, when people come to play ball at Golden Park, located across the street from College Point Plaza.
“This Sunday I took my car out to go to church,” said D’Erasmo, who lives on 132nd Street. “When I got back, I could not find a parking space. You have to go to at least 130th Street and maybe even 129th Street.”
Jones, however, did not think the parking problem should be blamed on the church.
“We don’t think parking is going to be much of an issue because of the ample parking,” he said.
College Point Plaza has a lot with 116 parking spaces. Each of the 13 units in the plaza are allowed seven spaces, with the remaining 25 spaces for general use, Jones said.
The church had made arrangements with its neighbors in the plaza to use 35 extra spots on Sundays, Jones said. With members using the general use spaces as well, they could legally use up to 67 spaces on the lot without spilling over to the nearby residential streets.
“They have counted cars at their peak service,” Jones said. “They have never counted more than 40 cars.”
Jones said the church could only accommodate 120 parishioners, and most of the congregation came as families together in cars.
D’Erasmo, who toured the facility, contested Jones’ figures.
“They had pews set up for at least 250 people, and there were more pews ready to be set up,” he said.
Jones has filed applications with the city challenging the details of the corporate park’s plan so that the church will be allowed.
Those changes need City Council approval, Avella said.
“It’s very unlikely that’s going to happen,” Avella said.
In the meantime, the church is due in court Oct. 15 to settle its Buildings Department violations. The facility could be fined up to $5,000, said Ilyse Fink, a spokeswoman for the department.
Fink said the violations were not serious enough for the department to take steps to shut down the facility, but the city could levy further fines as long as the church was operating without a permit.
Jones, however, said he thought he could convince the city that the church was not hurting anyone.
“We’re aware of a number of controversies in eastern Queens where churches have going into the middle of residential areas,” he said. “This is really different. They’ve gone to an area away from homes.”
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 141.
