ROBBINSVILLE: Worshippers seek home of their own

by Peter Geier, Staff Writer
   ROBBINSVILLE — Iglesia Pentecostal Rios de Agua Viva, or the Living Water Pentecostal Church, has applied to the Zoning Board seeking approval to build a 11,673-square-foot church on North Main Street in Windsor.
   Julio Sanchez, 55, the church pastor, said he started the church in Windsor a year after he arrived in the United States from the Dominican Republic 12 years ago.
   ”We are a family of God. We preach in the community, and we serve the community,” said Pastor Sanchez, adding his congregation of about 140 people meets in the Methodist church, on Church Street, in Windsor, which it rents.
   The church owns an 8.58-acre parcel of land on North Main Street where Mr. Sanchez and his family live in a single-family dwelling with a separate garage. The property is zoned “village commercial.”
   The proposed structure is a multipurpose church building, including a sanctuary of about two stories, meeting rooms, classrooms and an administrative area built to accommodate a congregation of more than 200 people, Pastor Sanchez said.
   Because of the local zoning, the application requires a use variance because it is larger than 3,000 square feet and does not have access to Route 130, only to North Main Street, and a bulk variance because its plans specify a height of 34 feet in an area where there is a 25-foot height limit. It also needs a design waiver to accommodate its proposed driveway.
   Township Engineer Jack West said the application got through the preliminary zoning hearing, and the board file shows no opposition from neighbors, only concerns regarding technical details such as berms and landscaping.
   The issue came before the board for a vote at its March 3 meeting, but the church asked the township to carry the motion over to the April meeting because there were only six board members and not the full panel of seven to vote on it.
   The Zoning Board is scheduled to vote on the church’s application for variances, a waiver and its preliminary/final site plan when it meets April 7, Mr. West said.