BY RYAN O’CONNOR
The Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston plans to build a 42-room retreat and meeting center on the shore of Lake Jo-Sylvia (Clement Pond) in Contoocook, but some neighbors worry it will disturb the tranquility of the area.
“It’s a disappointment that the town approved this large structure in a residential zone,” said Mark Riel. “We’re worried about sacrificing our quality of life as the church explodes from what was once a seasonal camp to a year-round organization. It’s just encroaching on all the reasons we love to go out there.”
Sixteen residents have formed the group POWER, or Protect Our Waters, Environment and Residential Neighborhood, and have filed an appeal with the Merrimack County Superior Court against the Hopkinton Zoning
Board of Adjustment.
A hearing is set for March 5, and Riel says the group has a good case.
Ironically, Riel, who has had a home on the lake for 10 years, sold his first cottage, which was near the entrance to the retreat, to the church because traffic in and out of the camp was steadily increasing.
He then bought a new seasonal home near a secluded cove on the lake.
“We’re just concerned because we looked for a long time for a tranquil place on a small lake,” said Riel. “To put a hotel the size of the Comfort Inn in Concord on the shore of Lake Jo-Sylvia – it is just unimaginable that the town would approve this type of thing.”
Michael Sintros, director of the center, says the church has worked diligently to design a building that blends in with the natural landscape, using a natural green and brown color scheme.
“We’ve tried to keep the entire building as muted as possible,” said Sintros. “Yes, it has 42 rooms, but it’s meant to be nestled right into the hillside and among the trees.”
The building is also 113 feet back from water, said Sintros, who added that, pursuant to the New Hampshire Shoreline Protection Act, most of the property’s trees remain in place.”
Still, Riel says the suit stems from the ZBA failing to consider quality of life issues along the lake, including noise and visual pollution.
But Karen Robertson, Hopkinton’s director of zoning and planning, said the ZBA did its due diligence.
“Based on the information provided to the board and the presentation, it did appear to fall under the overnight and day camp category as a temporary residential use,” said Robertson. “The ZBA believes it met the criteria for special exception.
Because St. Methodios is a nonprofit organization and because it was proposing a structure outside the realm of normal residential use, it required a special exception, just as a bed and breakfast would, said Robertson.
“The ZBA believes it met the criteria as a nonprofit overnight and day camp and cottage colony considered a retreat center through nine pre-established points,” she said. “They believed it is more residential in nature than commercial because it has no kitchen or dining facility.”
Currently, the camp has a kitchen and 4,000-square-foot dining hall, which will still be used, though patrons will have to walk outside of the new structure to get there.
Jayne Schoch, who has lived on the pond for 45 years, says the proposed structure is not as advertised by church officials and added the zoning board of adjustment and planning board should have further scrutinized the plan.
“This use is not permitted in a residential neighborhood,” she said. “This is not a dormitory; it’s a hotel and it is defined that way under state statute and fire state safety codes.”
Schoch said anyone can rent the entire facility for a suggested donation and noted that 66 churches from around New England are allowed to use the facility at any time.
Should the plan come to fruition, six heated cabins, the dining hall, the recreation hall and a 2,000-square-foot chapel will remain on site, said Sintros, but the 196-foot-long retreat house will add space for individuals and families who are uncomfortable sleeping outdoors or who need additional privacy.
“The cabins will remain in use for children and the new building will be for primarily for adults,” said Sintros. “Part of the goal of our ministry is to work with the youth, and not having parents present is a large part of that, so we will rarely use both areas simultaneously.”
In addition, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston plans to use the building to support married couple retreats and provide privacy for elderly parishioners who wish to stay at the retreat.
Though neighbors on the pond aren’t opposed to the purpose of the retreat, many say it simply isn’t the right
location.
“We don’t object to (the church’s) goals. What we do object to is them doing that at the expense of a residential neighborhood that should be able to enjoy their property,” said Schoch.
Moreover, the current camp pays only 40 percent of its assessed property value on taxes. Funds generated from the camp site are obtained through payments in lieu of taxes and are deposited in the town’s general fund to offset the tax rate.
Last year, the facility paid $12,099 to the town of Hopkinton. The property is assessed at $1.3 million.
“We will be stuck with a multimillion commercial facility that’s rented out to hundreds of people, and they’re not really even contributing to out tax base,” said Schoch. “That’s hard for a small town to swallow.”
‘The concern that our neighbors have expressed as opposed to traffic has to do mostly with the summer camp, and a summer camp has been run here since the 1920s,” said Sintros, who noted that the largest groups at the facility are usually only 20 to 40 people, and the one heavy traffic day is for the open house in September, which draws 500 to 1,200 parishioners.
History
St. Methodios Faith and Heritage Center currently owns 191 acres on Clement Pond, which the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston purchased in 1998 and has used as a camp for parishes throughout New England over the past decade
Camp Merrimack, which the property is still listed as, previously served as a seasonal Jewish camp for boys.
Clement Pond is also known as Lake Jo-Sylvia, after Joseph and Sylvia Clough, who sold the Camp Merrimack property in 1917.
Prior to the sale, it had been part of the historical village of Cloughville, said Schoch, who said many Clough decendents still live on the lake.
Schoch says she takes issue with the St. Methodios Faith and Heritage Center, not because it continues to run a camp at the site, but because the deed still lists the site as Camp Merrimack and yet its use has changed.
Beginning in 1999, she said the church changed the site, going to the town and requesting to tear down existing camps and putting up new infrastructure including a state of the art water and septic system, while maintaining that the site was being used as a youth camp.
According to Schoch, church officials also built a seasonal cottage abutting the camp.
“They bought the cottage, so when they went to the town to get permission to build this new dormitory structure, no one else needed to be notified,” she said.
Then, Schoch said, in July 2006, Sintros began knocking on doors to let residents know the proposal would go before the town.
“He said he was doing it as a good neighbor, but at that point, most summer residents had already gone home.
A lot of seasonal residents aren’t even aware this is going on,” she said.
When Sintros met with the town, only five or six residents attended, she said.
Schoch says over the past decade, the church has built a bond with the town by inviting the Hopkinton Fire Department to host training exercises and excursions on the property and and allowing other local organizations to access the camp when needed.
“All of this was part of building a a trusting relationship with the town,” she said. “When they came before the town in 2006, that bond had long before been established.”
“It’s hard to catch up when you have a corporation this large coming at you with the approval of the town,”
Schoch continued. “That shouldn’t have happened. I think the board was overwhelmed as well.”
The ZBA approved the structure on Aug. 1 and planning board followed suit on Oct. 10.
Those wishing to obtain more information on the retreat center may visit boston.goarch.org/retreatcenter.