The Town of Montgomery planning board recently granted conditional final approval to Good Canaan Land Church.

The congregation of the Queens-based church will be comprised of between 60 and 70 Montgomery-area residents who travel to Flushing each week for services and would like a local place to practice their religion.

“They are local residents that would like a local church to attend services,” Principal Engineer for MNTM Lawrence Marshall said.

The two-story 12,000-square-foot building has a footprint of 7,800 square feet. The bottom floor houses a sanctuary, a common area, bathrooms and offices while the top floor contains four apartments and a balcony for overflow during services.

Marshall said the apartments are to be used by the pastor, sexton and visiting clergy.

The sanctuary will have a maximum occupancy of 170 people.

The parking lot will have 65 parking spaces, Marshall said.
The project will have two accesses. One entrance will be approximately 60 feet west of the gravel driveway known as Zwart Lane. The second access is approximately 325 feet west of Zwart Lane.

The traffic study completed by Stephan Maffia, Principal Engineer, concluded the estimated additional traffic generated by the church is minimal, even during its peak Sunday service time period. The study estimates approximately 40 additional vehicles at peak Sunday traffic times traveling in either direction on Lake Osiris Road for a total trip generation of no more than 80 vehicles.