Borough Zoners Approve Knights Of Columbus Project

By Andrew Gorosko

The Borough Zoning Commission has approved a proposal from the Knights of Columbus to construct an approximately 2,000-square-foot building, which would contain garage space on the ground level and meeting space on an upper level, in conjunction with St Rose of Lima Church’s ongoing school expansion and renovation project at its Church Hill Road campus.

The borough zoners approved the garage/meeting building construction proposal at an August 13 session.

Last October, the Borough Zoning Commission approved the church’s overall school expansion/modernization project.

The ongoing school project includes constructing a new building enclosing more than 13,000 square feet of space. The project involves creation of an additional classroom-meeting room, new offices, a faculty room and an instructional science facility. Also planned are a gathering hall with kitchen facilities, a gymnasium, a stage, an atrium, a multimedia center including church and school libraries, computer facilities, storage space, and restrooms. Outdoor sports facilities would be improved. Landscaping improvements would be made.

As part of the project, the church’s approximately 8,000-square-foot St Patrick’s Hall was demolished after local firefighters used the outdated building for fire training purposes earlier this year.

However, St Patrick Hall’s recent demolition left the church’s Knights of Columbus unit without sufficient space for its activities.

Knights representatives attended a Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) session earlier this month at which the P&Z endorsed the garage/meeting building proposal in its capacity as the borough’s planning agency.

The Knights had used St Patrick’s Hall in the past, but the church’s school expansion project does not replace some of the demolished facilities formerly used by the Knights, explained attorney James Strub, representing the Knights.

Engineer Tim Onderko, representing the Knights, said the new garage/meeting building would be constructed next to an existing garage on the property. Mr Onderko described site planning for the project, plus design aspects of the garage/meeting building.

The new building would contain three garage bays, two of which would be used for storage by the Knights and one of which would be used to park a van, said Mr Strub.

Leonard Moritz of 68 Osborn Hill Road, representing the Knights, said, “We’re very restricted” in terms of how the meeting room would be used.

The meeting room would not have a dance floor, he said. The space would not function as a bar or a hangout for people, he added. The Knights meet twice monthly, he said.

 The storage space provided in the lower level of the building would allow the Knights to continue their various charitable work, Mr Moritz said. It would allow the group to store its various equipment and collected items.