St. Pius X Church Seeks Expansion

Black Rock Congregational Church's $25 million plan to build a mega-church on upper Black Rock Turnpike has attracted a lot of attention, but another church, less than two miles away, is planning a pretty big expansion of its own.

St. Pius X Church wants to build a 14,230-square-foot addition onto the back of its church at 834 Brookside Drive. If the addition is built, St. Pius X Church's buildings on the site, which include the church, an Education Center, rectory and small barn, would total 57,580 square feet on 13.3 acres.

By contrast, Black Rock Congregational Church wants to demolish its existing 33,000-foot-church and build an 84,515-square-foot church in its place on 12 acres at 3685 Black Rock Turnpike. Black Rock Congregational Church's proposal secured approval from the town's Inland Wetlands Commission in late 2009, but it still needs approval from the Town Plan and Zoning Commission.

Ken Brix, business manager at Black Rock Congregational Church, said Monday that the church expects to file an application in the town's Zoning Department in a month or two.

Meanwhile, St. Pius X Church is in the early stages of having its project reviewed by town boards.

The town's Conservation Department last week granted a certificate of wetlands conformance - or over-the-counter permit - for the project, though residents can request that the project instead be reviewed by the Inland Wetlands Commission at a public hearing. The request would need to be made to the Conservation Department, which is on the second floor of the Honorable John J. Sullivan Independence Hall.

St. Pius X Church estimated in 2008 - when it launched a capital campaign for the project - that construction of the Faith Center and repairs to the existing church would total $5.5 million.

Gene Fairfield, co-chairman of the committee planning the addition, didn't return a call this week, but the church's Web site cites repairs to the existing church as including a new roof; installing new doors at the church entrances and sacristy; repairing and repointing brick work; replacing gutters and leaders; refinishing and restoring church pews; painting and restoring outdoor columns; and repairs to the tower and front of the church.

The Faith Center, which would be on one level, would include a small chapel for prayer, worship, small weddings, funerals, baptisms, youth and adult education, and meetings of ministries and groups in the church; a prayer garden behind the chapel; and a gathering space and community room for parishioners to socialize after Mass, according to the church's Web site.

The Faith Center also would include Parish offices, a library, music office and choir room, according to the church's Web site.

St. Pius X Church doesn't believe the Faith Center will require a waiver to town zoning regulations from the town's Zoning Board of Appeals, but it would require a public hearing and vote of the Town Plan and Zoning Commission.

St. Pius X Church, which is one of seven Catholic churches overseen by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, says on its Web site that it cannot take out a mortgage for the construction project but could begin construction once half of the pledged amounts had been received. The church most recently estimated the number of its parishioners at 1,817 families.

The proposed Faith Center is not within setbacks to wetlands, but the church's property does fall within those setbacks, which is why the Conservation Department needed to review the project. The Mill River is across Brookside Drive from the church, and a small wetland also exists on the church's property, according to Conservation Department staff.

But concerns that nearby residents traditionally have when a development is proposed - the potential for increased traffic and the size of the development being out of scale with the neighborhood - fall under the jurisdiction of the Town Plan and Zoning Commission.