Church and Civic wrangle over lot

Community Board 11 threw its weight behind the Doug-Bay Manor Civic Association in its battle with the St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church over a vacant city lot located in 234th Street at 39th Avenue.
The church wants to buy the land from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to build a childcare center. The Civic and CB 11 want to see the lot turned into a neighborhood park.
Following a 33 to 1 vote by the full Community Board (CB 11), Jerry Iannece, Chair of CB11 has written to the Department of Parks and Recreation requesting that Commissioner Adrian Benepe investigate the feasibility of transferring the lot to the Parks Department.
Citing the Mayor’s PlanNYC 2030 stating that all residents should be within walking distance to a playground, Iannece told Benepe that the full board had recommended that the land be transferred from its current owner to the Parks Department. The nearest playground, at P.S. 98 is owned by the Department of Education, is often closed to the public.
The lot, which is right next door to the church, has been the focus of bitter wrangling ever since it was acquired by the city in 1969 to extend 39th Avenue through to Douglaston Parkway.
According to Ann Jawin of the Doug- Bay Civic that earlier proposal, positioned the Civic and the New York Fire Department against residents of Douglaston Manor with Doug-Bay losing out and the road extension never did get built.
Jawin said that the church had never consulted with the community, but also said that she was unaware of anyone at the civic approaching the church. “We don’t want to get into an argument,” she said.
The local community has been opposed to the church all along, claiming it does not serve them and that due to a lack of parking causes havoc and chaos whenever there is a service. “The building’s too big, there are only eight parking spots, and you should see the license plates: New Jersey, Westchester, they’re not locals,” Jawin said.
Jawin and other community activists think that the childcare center is not feasible; pointing out that several nursery schools have closed programs for very small children due to a lack of kids.
Church leaders have been reportedly said the day care center would benefit the community and commuters using the nearby Long Island Rail Road station, but did not return phones calls or e-mails.
The outcome of this dispute is uncertain. As was pointed out at the CB11 meeting, DPR does not own the lot and has expressed no interest in it.