For third time in 10 years, church says end is near
The Rev. Steve Schunk, the priest-in-charge at St. Mary’s in Cold Spring, said on Sept. 27 the Episcopal church may close in 2024 if its finances don’t improve dramatically, putting its expansive lawn at the corner of Main Street and Chestnut Avenue in jeopardy.
The 1.5-acre great lawn serves as an unofficial village green, hosting winter tobogganers, the annual Halloween parade, craft fairs and other community events.
Schunk said St. Mary’s has a $50,000 gap in its 2024 budget, which includes $180,000 to $200,000 in expenses. Sixty percent covers utilities, insurance and upkeep for the 155-year-old church and three buildings; 30 percent provides minimal pay for clergy and staff; and 10 percent is sent as dues to the Episcopal Diocese of New York. In addition, Schunk said the church and buildings need an estimated $3 million in repairs and upgrades.
In a meeting on Sept. 27, Schunk and senior warden Vincent Tamagna identified three paths for the church, with the preferred scenario being the solicitation of enough donations to cover the immediate shortfall this year and the creation of a $5 million endowment in 2024. Citing the area’s relative wealth, Tamagna said: “If we can’t come up with $5 million in Cold Spring, then maybe we shouldn’t be here anymore.”
A second option would be to develop the great lawn and lease the rectory and parish hall, which has a commercial kitchen. The church would continue to provide spiritual support but would no longer have outreach programs.
A third option, they said, would be to close the church. “If we do have to close, if we cannot be sustainable, the property reverts back to the diocese,” Schunk said. “And they will develop their asset; the Episcopal Church is land rich, cash poor.”
Tamagna cited Gov. Kathy Hochul’s call for increased affordable housing in communities located along rail lines and distributed a rudimentary drawing of a housing development on the great lawn. “Everything’s on the table,” he insisted.
Tamagna, a former Putnam legislator who is now transportation manager for the county, said the parish had considered placing a conservation easement on the property, but that approach would only bring in up to $500,000, or revenue to fund the church for a few years. “We need $5 million,” he said.
When asked if St. Mary’s could sever the great lawn and sell it, Schunk said it was more likely the church would lease the land to a developer, a strategy he said has been used by other parishes. In 2017, the Rev. Shane Scott-Hamblen, who was then rector, said the entire 3-acre property had been valued at $2.96 million and the lawn at $275,000. That the lawn could be easily developed is far from certain; the parcel would need to be rezoned from educational, religious and cultural.
This is not the first time St. Mary’s has faced the abyss, or warned that its great lawn was at risk of being swallowed up. In 2013, Scott-Hamblen said the church was going broke “despite every effort at fundraising.” Things had not improved by 2017, when he reported the church’s endowment was “nearly gone.” In a bid for community support, he described the corner lot as prime real estate that would be ripe for development.
The next year, Scott-Hamblen resigned after 16 years at St. Mary’s because the church could no longer afford a full-time rector. Schunk works part time.
Schunk and Tamagna met with community leaders on Tuesday (Oct. 3) to advise them of the dire financial situation. In an email, Cold Spring Mayor Kathleen Foley said everyone agreed saving the lawn “is vital for our collective community life.” She noted that it is also critical to stormwater infrastructure because Back Brook flows beneath it.
It is unlikely St. Mary’s can continue without outside assistance. Schunk said attendance at weekend services, which averaged 30 people before the pandemic shutdown, has dropped to 19. That reflects a national decline in churchgoing. A recent Gallup Poll found only 20 percent of Americans say they attend church weekly.
Schunk said over the years St. Mary’s has been largely supported by residents who are not members of the parish. He hopes that will continue. “We do need the help,” he said. “We can’t soft-pedal it.”
If St. Mary’s Church is perpetually crying poverty, why don’t they have their financial statements open to the public for everyone to see?
Good question.
I was brought up in the Jewish faith. I am not a Christian. I am not even a believer. Yet I am writing this letter to offer my strong support for the future of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Cold Spring. I read with dismay that the church is in danger of disappearing.
I consider the church a local treasure that benefits everyone who walks or drives by the corner of Chestnut and Main, and everyone who has attended events at the sanctuary or parish hall, from the moving Christmas services to events as secular as, for example, Trivia Night. In addition, the great lawn is not just a wonderful sight. It is used regularly: for the garden of remembrance every Memorial Day, for the staging area for community events like the Halloween Parade, for craft sales and for sledding as soon as the snow falls.
I could not agree more with vestry member Vinny Tamagna. The area is rich. If there are not enough people willing to make (tax-deductible) contributions that would total up to $3 million in this very rich set of communities (which includes all of Philipstown), then we don’t deserve to have St. Mary’s. The rest of us will do our part, from the highly successful recent thrift sale to individual contributions that number in the thousands rather than the hundreds. And maybe small donations can close the $50,000 gap for the coming year. But the article makes clear, the church needs an endowment.
Well, folks, it’s up to all of us. Thanks to the church leaders for honestly sharing the facts of the financial crisis.
There’s an interesting exchange in the Oct. 5 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting at 2:15 about the Village Code now having a “protected view shed overlay” that includes St. Mary’s lawn. Hopefully that would really protect the lawn from anything except what it is. Would the overlay protect the buildings as well?
At the meeting, Zoning Board Chair Eric Wirth, who served on the Ad Hoc Committee on the Code Update, noted that St. Mary’s and its lawn are among a dozen sites that “cannot be degraded” without a variance. “If you attempt to put condos on the lawn, it would run directly afoul of the scenic viewshed provision,” he said. However, John Martin, a Zoning Board member, pointed out that, because St. Mary’s is private property, the designation could be challenged as a “taking” — in which government illegally seizes private property for public use — because St. Mary’s wouldn’t be able to generate the same value from its property if it can’t be developed.
I find it interesting there is no mention of the businesses that are renting space in the former rectory to give income to the church. This article reads as if there is no income from these sources. (via Facebook)
The Rev. Steve Schunk, rector at St. Mary’s responds: “Currently there is one business and one artist letting space in the rectory, for a grand total of $1,450 of monthly income, or less than half of our monthly fuel bill. Our Parish Hall rentals are dramatically down because people have not held as many public events, even after the pandemic officially ended. If every room was rented in the rectory, our annual projected income would be $65,000, or enough to cover the recent loss of a significant donor. But Parish Hall rentals need to double. We also now charge for use of the great lawns, such as for the Modern Makers Market and the Community Day event. Whatever the source, our income is down while our operating expenses have exploded.”