The West Windsor Planning Board has given preliminary and final site plan approval to an addition project at the Church of St. David the King.##M:[more]##
The project, approved September 3, entails expanding the building by 24,”062 square feet, in addition to a 2,”633 square foot partial basement and a 3,”190 square foot enclosed prayer garden. The expansion will include a multi-use hall, meeting rooms, and office and storage space.
The church serves approximately 1,”875 families. The existing facility, aside from worship space, contains the administrative offices for the parish and a multi-purpose area which is primarily used for religious education, youth ministries, and for an overflow seating area during the peak Christmas and Easter worship periods.
The site, located on New Village Road,currently has 353 parking spaces, including eight handicapped spaces. With the construction, parking will be slightly modified to provide 10 handicapped spaces and 340 regular spaces. The church does not anticipate an increase of traffic to the site as a result of the addition.
According to Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner, the board was comfortable that the expansion would not create a visual or noise issue for residents in the nearby neighborhoods because there currently is sufficient buffering that obscures the church from view. Still, the church has agreed to put in additional buffering in those areas, Gardner said.
In addition, the board decided that a road assessment fee would not be charged to the church because the expansion would not call for any additional traffic uses during peak hours. He said the farmland owned and maintained by the church would continue to be farmed.
