By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — An updated playground and new half-basketball court at Greens Farms Church have been approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

The work, which needed variances for structures in setbacks and coverage in a residential district, is part of an overall project to keep the church (which has a mere 300-plus-year history here) addressing the needs of congregation members, and the community.

Dave Kercher, a trustee of the church, explained that at Tuesday’s ZBA meeting, which was online.

“As many of you know, over the last several years, Greens Farms has been undergoing a major renovation project called the Church of the Future,” he said. “We finished the makeover of the church building and some surrounding areas in 2022. The guiding principle behind this project has been to update the church for today’s needs, but also to plan with the future in mind, essentially for the next 20 years.”

He said the playground redesign is an extension of that.

“In addition to being a natural, eco-friendly playground design, which will add beauty to the GFC campus and surrounding community, it will also emphasize flexibility of use.”

He said the area would be used not just by the nursery school and church youth groups, but by the neighborhood as well.

“The proposed project is to remove most of the existing playground structures, especially those that had been in the setbacks, and install a new more eco-friendly playground,” Rick Benson Sr. told the board, Zooming in from Vietnam.

“The second part of the project is to expand the play area for our teens program by removing the existing shed and reorganizing the 17 parking spaces in the small church lot,” he continued. “This will allow room for a teen-sized ½ court basketball feature, a fire pit, and adjacent seating. New fencing will be installed around the new playground and the new basketball court.”

Benson’s son, Rick, is a ZBA member and recused himself from the hearing, being replaced by Sheri Gordon.

Member Liz Wong asked about the proximity of the basketball court to a neighboring property. Benson said that neighbor is a member of the congregation, had his own basketball court near the property line, and was thinking of decommissioning it and using the church’s.

“The neighbor was notified, correct Mr. Benson, and did not object?” Chairman Jim Ezzes asked.

“That’s correct, he did not object,” he supports it,” Benson replied.

There were some other questions about parking, fences and a curb cut. But nothing that appeared problematic.

The board voted unanimously to approve the variances.

Thane Grauel grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 36 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.