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Grace Mountain Church withdraws site plan; applicants to pursue variances for parking and stormwater
Summary
The applicant for Grace Mountain Church withdrew its site‑plan application June 16, saying variances are required for buffer and stormwater‑quality pretreatment on the small (about 0.4‑acre) lot; the applicant said it will seek variances at the Zoning Board of Appeals and return with revised drawings.
The site‑plan application for Grace Mountain Church on Prospect was withdrawn at the June 16 Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission meeting after the applicant said variances are needed for buffer, landscape and stormwater‑quality requirements.
Greg Fettus of Fettus Engineering, representing the church, said the existing church property is roughly 0.4 acres and the team reduced an initial layout of 26 parking spaces to 19 spaces to meet some setbacks. Fettus said the project “meets 1.3” of retention but cannot meet the town’s stormwater‑quality manual pretreatment requirement — for example, a hydrodynamic separator or other pretreatment device — because “we just don't have the room” on the small site. He described site measures such as trench drains, a roof‑drain infiltration system and two rain gardens that will manage runoff but said the pretreatment standard will be the subject of a variance request.
Fettus said the team plans to appear before the Zoning Board of Appeals next month with a modified variance request and then will resubmit to the Planning and Zoning Commission for site‑plan approval once the variances are obtained. He also said the project team will provide clearer CAD drawings when it returns to give commissioners and the public better visuals of the layout.
A nearby resident who spoke said formalizing on‑site parking would be an improvement over the current informal conditions, where vehicles sometimes park on the lawn or on the street on Sunday mornings. Commissioners asked clarifying questions about impervious area, snow storage and whether neighbors would support fencing or landscaping along the northern property line; Fettus said the team prefers grass and a fence to address headlight glare and snow storage concerns but will weigh neighbors’ input.
Why it matters
The project would formalize parking and drainage for a long‑standing house of worship on a small infill lot; because the lot is small and in a residential area, the project will require variances that could change the design and neighborhood impacts.
What’s next
The applicant will request variances from the Zoning Board of Appeals and return to the Planning and Zoning Commission with revised plans and CAD drawings. The commission and staff emphasized that small‑site stormwater pretreatment and buffer requirements are governed by the town’s zoning and stormwater manual and may require design changes or mitigation to win approval.
