Hearing postponed on proposed church in Head of the Harbor

A church proposed by a Russian Orthodox monastery in Head of the Harbor’s historic area faces continued opposition from neighbors, and a village hearing for needed approvals has been postponed. 

The roughly eight monks of the Monastery of the Glorious Ascension, also known as Monastery of Saint Dionysios the Areopagite, occupy the 1800-era Timothy House on a 4.6-acre lot on North Country Road. They seek a special-use permit to build a house of worship in a residential zone with plans for a 3,341-square-foot church on the lot with a 47.5-foot steeple and 45 parking spaces, according to a Village Hall application. Those plans put total allowable occupancy at 282 people, but Joseph Buzzell, a lawyer representing the monks, said in an interview last week that peak attendance would be fewer than 100 worshippers, with far fewer most days. 

Proposal opponents say a busy new church would be out of place on the historic corridor and could impact Timothy House, once home to a descendant of Smithtown founder Richard "Bull" Smith and one of the few Smith holdings still visible from North Country Road. In an email to news outlets and village residents this month, village historian Leighton Coleman III called the project "badly sited and ill-advised." 

Buzzell said a village hearing scheduled for last week had been postponed indefinitely to allow for comment from New York State's Historic Preservation Office, whose role is to advise the village and any agencies that might permit or provide funding for the project. After examining the monastery's plans in 2021, preservation office staffers recommended that "alternative locations for the new construction are explored to reduce or avoid adverse impacts to the setting of the Timothy Smith House," including to the home's "character defining" front lawn, a spokesman said in an email. Staffers are waiting for a "revised alternatives analysis" from the monastery, he said. 

Buzzell said one criticism of the proposed church — that it would sit just 147 feet back from the road, closer than the 200 feet required in the historical area — was based on outdated architectural drawings. Revisions place the church 204 feet back and preserve the view of Timothy House from the road, he said. A page on the monastery website announcing a school for Orthodox liturgy and theology at the church is also outdated, he said; if the school does open, it would be on a separate property. 

Coleman's email linked concerns for Timothy House's “pastoral historic setting” with more contemporary worries. He questioned whether parking would be adequate during busy hours at the church and suggested pickup and drop-off would snarl North Country Road traffic, as he said already happens at a Starbucks drive-thru about half a mile south and a school on nearby Three Sisters Road. 

Another resident, Lisa Davidson, paraphrased the singer Joni Mitchell this year in her own email to village officials: “Let’s not pave paradise.”

Buzzell said a traffic study was being revised and would address any potential congestion issues. And he argued the proposed church — which he said would be hidden from the road by a hedge and foliage when built — would benefit a visitor's sense of history, because it would ensure the monks stay on as caretakers of Timothy House. 

"The monastery will absolutely preserve that house," he said.