The Block Island Times: Four apartments proposed for Harbor Church

By Pat Tengwall

Wed, 11/22/2017 - 10:00am

The Harbor Church is seeking Town approval to convert the unused third floor of its Water Street building into four one-bedroom apartments to be rented year-round at “below-market” rates. If completed as proposed, the new apartments would be counted toward the Town's state-mandated quota of affordable housing units.

For the new apartments to qualify as “affordable housing,” they must be approved under the Affordable Housing provisions of the Town's Zoning Ordinance (Section 405), which requires a Special Use Permit. The Zoning Board of Review received the church's application for that permit at its November 15 meeting and scheduled it for a public hearing at its January meeting.

Architectural plans show four apartments with full kitchens and bathrooms, a living/dining area and a separate bedroom, intended for one or two persons. The units share a central hall and would be accessed by an existing interior staircase and a new exterior stair leading down to an existing deck on the second floor. There are already two apartments on the second floor of the church, one for the pastor's family, the other for the church's sexton.

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Courtesy of The Block Island Times