Pastor Seeks to House Veterans in Old Church
03/05/2009
Since the war in Iraq started in 2003, Seth Kaper-Dale, pastor of the Reformed Church in Highland Park, has led prayers for peace, prayers for soldiers and prayers for the Iraqi people.
Then in 2007, as he passed the closed All Saints Episcopal Church in the borough, he thought of a way to do more.
With approval of the Reformed Church's Affordable Housing Corp., Kaper-Dale worked with Veterans Affairs and developed plans to convert the shuttered 83-year church into 11 housing units to help struggling veterans.
"We're saying we're bringing them home to homes, bringing them home to care for them," Kaper-Dale said. "We wanted to do something hopeful."
Plans for the project, which are still pending before the borough zoning board, have sparked opposition from residents contending the conversion would damage the historic church.
"It would rip open the roof and put dormers on. It would change the character," resident Michael Adas said. "We are not opposed to veterans, but there are two-family homes in Highland Park that could be used," said Adas who has attended meetings with about 40 people opposed to the project. "We are very, very concerned about this building," he said.
Opponents have also been to the zoning board meeting and will attend the next meeting March 23.
The project requires variances for slightly higher housing density and parking space requirements.
While that application is before the board, Adas and others are watching an application they filed with the state to get the church registered as a historic site.
Housing corporation trustees say the project would protect the architectural integrity of the church, with stained-glass windows maintained along South Third Street and Magnolia Avenue.
The roof would remain the same height, but the slope would be changed. As proposed by the Reformed Church of Highland Park-Affordable Housing Corp., a second-floor would be built in the closed church with five studio apartments on that level, three units on the first floor and three units, including a two-bedroom apartment, in the basement.
There are apartment buildings on two sides of the church, which closed in 2007, but the building faces single-family homes.
"What's huge is not the size of this project; it's the need for housing," said John Zarrat, a member of the Reformed Church and a trustee on the housing corporation.
New Jersey has more than 3,500 homeless veterans, said Victor Carlson, a psychologist and chief of homeless services for the VA New Jersey Health Care System.
To be eligible for the kind of permanent housing proposed in Highland Park, veterans first go through up to four months of VA-supervised residential treatment for vocational training, then another one or two years in transitional housing, Carlson said.
"I think there's a misconception that we'd just be taking homeless people off the street," Carlson said. Converting the closed church, he said, "is an outstanding use of community resources to serve men and women who have served their country."
The veterans would have few, if any, physical handicaps. The corporation is planning a partnership with Behavioral Health Care of the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Piscataway to provide for their emotional needs, but Carlson said most of the veterans would have little need for those services.
Kaper-Dale said he has heard residents' fears; he has similar concerns about who comes to the community. "I have three girls myself. I want to know who's going to live in my neighborhood," said Kaper-Dale, who is president of the housing corporation.
Last year, the corporation held two nights of meetings to answer questions from the public about the building plan.
As part of the plan, Greenfaith, a 16-year-old interfaith environmental group, would have an office in the converted church.
This is the Affordable Housing Corp.'s second project. Last year the corporation opened Irayna Court, six apartments built in a second-floor addition at the Reformed Church on South Second Street for women ages 18 to 21 who had been in the foster care system.
"We have a track record of success. We live in the same neighborhood," corporation trustee and church member Robert Roesener said.
Kaper-Dale said the corporation also will undertake housing efforts in other municipalities.
"We have hopes of doing many more," he said.
Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@starledger.com or at (732) 293-4928.
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