Allan Appel Photo
As people gathered in the sanctuary to raise their arms in praise of the living God before an image of the Holy Ghost, Pastor Juan Aguayo and his wife and co-Pastor Jenny were bracing to receive the word from a more worldly source: The Board of Zoning Appeals.
The congregation was gathering for Sunday services days after a discouraging meeting of the City Plan Commission, which was considering the Aguayos’ request to allow for fewer parking spots at their church than are required by zoning law. Officials had voted that the Aguayos’ Jehova Mi Roca church, which has operated for a year out of a small industrial building on Laura Street, has too few parking spots for worshippers.
Jehova Mi Roca Church on Laura Street.
Truck traffic in the industrial zone is also unsafe for worshippers, the commissioners concluded.
The City Plan Commission reviews applications that come through the Board of Zoning Appeals then sends them back to the BZA with a recommendation. By a unanimous vote, the City Plan Commission recommended the BZA deny the church’s request for permission to operate with only nine parking spots instead of the required 28.
The church’s plan predicted it will grow from its 75 current members to over 200. City Plan staffer Tom Talbot explained that the ordinance requires a neighborhood church to provide one parking spot for each eight seats in church, so 28 would be required.
East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker, who is the aldermanic representative on the commission, questioned that standard.
Talbot replied that the Mi Roca Church is not a typical “neighborhood” institution, in which many congregants live close enough to walk. Because it is in an industrial zone with few houses, the Church will need more parking capacity than many neighborhood churches.
Talbot’s other concern was that the church’s activities will not be restricted to Sunday.
On weekdays, truckers on their way to businesses in the industrial zone and worshippers could meet on the curbless, poorly paved Laura Street, and become a hazard for parking and for traffic flow.
“I understand your concerns about other than Sunday use,” Elicker said. He asked if the city might not help find the congregation a place with 28 parking spots. Nevertheless in the end he voted with the majority.
Pastor Juan Aguayo.
The news that the 75-member Latino congregation will either have to arrange for more parking or move was upsetting to Aguayo.
Aguayo said he feels “persecuted” because other churches also have parking problems and continue to operate.
“Why us?” he asked before services Sunday morning as several young families disembarked from the church vans and made their way toward the two rows of neatly arranged pews.
Behind him was the music room that the church created. Nearby, two women were busy preparing food in the kitchen, which church members also built from scratch in a ramshackle space that formerly housed a printing company.
Church members and a rollicking band read from the Bible and led the singing of hymns up front. In the back of the church Aguayo said that the experience of being asked to move, alas, was not new.
Try #3
Aguayo began the church three years ago out of his home on Farren Avenue. There were nine members then. Their next home was on Grand Avenue. There, too, a lack of parking forced a move.
Laura Street is his third try.
He and the congregants have invested mightily with sweat equity. In addition to the music room and kitchen, they removed wild growing vegetation on a public right of way across from the church to allow parking.
On Sunday morning, it appeared neat and organized. There was even a place of honor for a ‘48 Chevy, pictured, which belonged to one of the band members.
The church also installed sensor lights to tamp down persistent problems such as midnight dumping and prostitution.
Church members literally go into the community and bring back people with problems to discover God or get help or both, said congregant Cynthia Rivas.
As Aguayo and his wife greeted late arrivals, they continued to ask: Why us?
A partial answer was offered last month at a meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals, which was the first body to review the Aguayos’ application for relief from zoning laws. At that meeting, Zoning Commissioner Regina Winter asked the Aguayos why after a year of occupancy, complete with a Certificate of Occupancy, Jehova Mi Roca was now coming before the BZA. The Aguayos’ attorney, Anthony Avallone, revealed that the city building department had received a complaint.
The complaint wasn’t from neighbors, all of whom appeared to be happy with the church livening up a street that otherwise has little to no activity (unless you count trucks).
“I think it was from a competitor minister of another Pentecostal church. The complaint was that there is a non-permitted church,” Avallone replied. “Not a noise issue.”
Aguayo said at least one morning a week he is at the church counseling people, mainly addicts, whom he has met at Sunday services.
God’s Work = Ministering to the Addicted
His dream is in fact to open a rehab center in New Haven separate from the church but under its umbrella. “That’s in the way distant future.”
C. Espada, J. Aguayo, M.Torres.
Before they went in to pray Sunday, Carlos Espada and Miguel Torres both said that Aguayo’s work with them and others in the immediate community has changed lives.
An ex-addict, Torres said he has been through all kinds of counseling programs; none compared to Aguayo’s touch. “When I talk to him, he opens his heart: ‘I don’t have money, but I will help you,’‘’ Torres said, quoting Aguayo.
Aguayo said that he has helped several people from the church get into rehab programs in New York City away from their home communities where there’s more temptation to backslide.
A former Long Wharf food truck operator, Carlos Espada had anger management problems that torpedoed his business. He now is in the food business in Puerto Rico. When he comes back to New Haven to visit, he comes to Jehova Mi Roca. “This is a place to be,” he said.
“If I don’t talk to him, I’ll be on the street,” said Torres.
The church too may be out on the street, but this time Aguayo may have some help. Avallone volunteered to submit an amended parking plan to the Board of Zoning Appeals, which will review the proposal again for a final vote. And at Wednesday’s City Plan Commission meeting, Elicker said he would like the commission to issue more than a standard denial. Elicker ordered a note be added that if the Aguayos return to the BZA with an amended parking plan, it should be seriously considered.
As of Sunday, the Aguayos had not received the city’s official notice nor heard from their lawyer.
“I’m going to fight it,” Aguayo said.
A house of worship requires a Use Variance in an industrial zone for a good reason. A church is a civic use and civic uses belong in residential neighborhoods. That's where people live, there is a well developed network of sidewalks and streets can accommodate parking. Industrial zones, and the heavy truck traffic they generate, are inherently dangerous to residential-type uses.
This isn't the applicant's fault. The church shouldn't be expected to know the development regulations.
A Certificate of Occupancy seems to have been issued without the necessary zoning relief. If this is true, why didn't the Building Department first check to see if zoning was granted? This problem could have been avoided if the church was directed to first consult with City Plan.