Planning Board delays decision on church parking deck

San Marco Catholic Church can't get any relief for its parking problem.

The Marco Island Planning Board delayed a decision on the church's request for a two-story parking deck.

After hearing from neighbors who said the church has never approached them about the plan, board members decided to reconsider the issue when church officials have met with neighbors to possibly find alternatives.

"We're talking about communication and consultation, and that's it," board member Everett Van Hoesen said.

Parking at the church has been a problem during tourist season for several years. When spaces run out, people generally park in swales off San Marco Road and the surrounding neighborhood, resulting in angry neighbors — and angry parishioners when they leave Mass to find parking tickets on their windshields.

City code requires that churches have three parking spaces per seven seats, City Planner Bryan Milk said. The church has 414 spaces for a building that seats 1,100 people.

Code requires that the church have 471 spaces. If the proposed garage is built, there would be 515 spaces.

The church has not been cited for code violations, but police routinely disperse parking tickets Sunday mornings.

Area residents told the Planning Board that a parking deck would decrease their property values.

"We recognize that our neighbors have some concerns with this," said Robert Mulhere, a church representative. "We have designed the facility to be in architectural harmony with the other campus buildings."

Resident Elizabeth Quinn said parking-deck alternatives haven't been discussed adequately.

The church says it has experimented with alternatives and had little or no success. They include stacked parking; a heavier Mass schedule during season with different times; expanding the parking lot to empty residential lots near the church; razing the present church office building and chapel; and off-site parking with a shuttle service.

According to a survey the church conducted, alternatives amenable to residents would yield only 50 spaces.

Weekend Mass attendance swells to more than 7,000 during peak season and drops to about 3,000 in April. The month with the lowest attendance is August, with 1,000 to 2,000 people attending Saturday and Sunday services. Church officials increase the number of weekend Masses in December from three to seven, with most churchgoers attending the 10:30 Sunday service.

"We've pretty much exhausted every aspect that we could possibly do," Terry Ward, the church's property and maintenance manager, said last week.

Board members said that if the church doesn't make an effort to communicate with neighbors, they would be inclined to deny the request.

The issue will be addressed again Friday, March 10.