St. Andrew Floats Church Closure

Says lawsuit over parking could force building sale

A year after filing a lawsuit against the City of Beacon over access to a city-owned parking lot, the leadership of St. Andrew & St. Luke Episcopal Church said it is weighing the sale of its 124-year-old South Avenue building. 

The Episcopal Diocese of New York, which owns the property, could sell if the lawsuit “drags on further, or if there’s a poor resolution that doesn’t provide us with access as we’ve had in the past,” said the Rev. John Williams, the rector at St. Andrew, on Wednesday (June 19). 

The church and the city have been deadlocked in court since June 2023, when the city erected a fence around a gravel lot behind the church to store equipment and materials for the construction of the new Beacon fire station next door.

Within days, the church filed a lawsuit in Dutchess County court arguing that the city could not restrict parishioners’ access to the lot because of a 1987 agreement between the church and the volunteer Lewis Tompkins Hose Co., the former owner of the lot, guaranteeing that both could use it. 

The city, which purchased the lot and opened it for public parking in 2020, leased adjacent land to create a temporary, 22-space lot and also designated spaces on South Avenue and at City Hall for the church. But the two sides continued to spar.

In February, the church asked Judge Thomas Davis for a summary judgment, or to decide the dispute without a trial or witness testimony. The city was expected to oppose the motion, but Davis granted Beacon’s attorneys three extensions because both sides indicated they were working toward a settlement. Last week, Davis gave the city what he said would be its final 45-day extension.

On June 11, Robert Zitt, representing the city, told Davis “the parties remain close to a resolution,” but David Chen, for St. Andrew, said negotiations had broken down over the amount the city would pay St. Andrew to terminate the 1987 agreement.

Chen also said that, “in broad strokes,” the sides had discussed St. Andrew withdrawing its suit “in exchange for consideration including [Beacon’s] assistance in obtaining whatever zoning and building permits are necessary” to facilitate the sale of the 15 South Ave. property and renovation of the church’s 850 Wolcott Ave. campus. The church moved its Sunday services to the latter in April. 

The Rev. Williams said Wednesday that the church needs to extend the Wolcott Avenue sanctuary to install restrooms and upgrade the heating and cooling systems. It also would need to construct a building to move the food pantry, Narcotics Anonymous meetings and special events out of South Avenue. 

Chen told the judge that he asked the city attorneys in April to draft language “for the building permits needed for all this work” and for “the special permitting needed for residential development” of the South Avenue property. 

“We understand that the city may not be able to approve permits that haven’t been formally applied for,” he wrote. “But we want to get a sense of what kind of commitment we can reasonably expect in exchange for dismissing the suit.”

Chen said a Beacon attorney told him in May that the city “can’t agree to preapprove a project” and that negotiations broke down soon after. He asked the judge to deny the city’s most recent request for an extension.

That elicited a response from Zitt, who said the church had inappropriately divulged details of the settlement talks. Chen’s letter “not only dismisses the legitimate reasons for the extension request with a tone that could be deemed unprofessional but also violates the confidentiality typically afforded to settlement negotiations,” Zitt wrote. 

The city requested another extension because settlement talks had just broken down a day earlier, he said. 

As part of the $14.7 million fire station project, the disputed lot is being paved and striped for 52 parking spaces, including ones compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and will be outfitted with charging stations for electric vehicles. City Administrator Chris White said this week that he anticipates the lot will reopen for public parking by early fall.

The city must file its response to the church’s request for summary judgment by July 12. Davis also scheduled a settlement conference for July 18.