Planning board reviews material, sign and parking details for 110 South Grand Avenue church addition

The Poughkeepsie City Planning Board heard details on a site plan application for an addition to a church and renovation of a youth center at 110 South Grand Avenue, with the applicant’s architect describing exterior finish changes, a revised cross feature and adjustments to parking and landscaping.

The discussion matters because the project sits adjacent to residential properties and includes visible façade changes, new signage and a reworked parking layout that require staff review and confirmation from the city engineer before the board will finalize approval.

Michael Berta, the architect for the applicant, told the board that the team raised the cross up to the underside of the cornice to reduce a gap that had become “a place of a lot of bird habitat” and to avoid multiple penetrations through the exterior finish. “What we’re doing is actually creating it out of stucco and we’re getting the relief by adding extra insulation to bring it out,” Berta said, and showed a finish option he called “Stow Cast,” a textured stucco product intended to give a wood-like appearance while remaining a monolithic stucco finish.

Berta said the team chose the stucco-based product over an applied wood piece because of concerns about fasteners and water penetration. He described the installation as an insulated finish system with scratch and brown coats, and said the cross will project about four inches from the main wall. The board asked the architect to provide the manufacturer brochure and a material sample for the next meeting; Berta said he would meet the manufacturer’s regional representative and bring the requested information.

Board members and staff also discussed a revised parking layout. Tyler (planning staff) confirmed that the lot now meets parking regulations, and the applicant said they reduced any rows of spaces that exceeded 12 cars by adding landscaped islands so “at no point in the lot do we have more than 12 cars in a row without an island.” The applicant said additional island trees and low shrubs were added where parking was removed and that the existing tree line at the rear would remain.

The sign was another point of discussion. The applicant said they intend to provide a street-facing sign but noted the residential district limits a freestanding sign to three square feet; the project team said they are evaluating ways to create a visible, code-compliant feature for the street. The elevation shown to the board used a placeholder panel for building-mounted letters; the applicant said signage will return for a separate review when finalized.

Board members and staff confirmed that the project is still awaiting final engineering comments from the city engineer and additional survey information requested by staff. Tyler and Chris Betts (board member) said they would review submitted materials and the engineer’s responses; the applicant said he expected to have the engineer’s comments before the next meeting and would supply the requested product sample and brochure.

No formal action was taken at the meeting. The board indicated a resolution has been drafted and expects to consider final materials and engineering responses at the next hearing.

Details recorded during the meeting will be revisited when the materials and final engineer review are complete.