Planning Board OKs Coptic church expansion

The Planning Board voted 4–1 on Feb. 11 to approve the site plan for the St. Philopater Mercurius and St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Church complex at 169 Rice Road, following a detailed, page-by-page review of its draft decision and conditions.
The board’s review focused on the draft-written decision governing the proposed church campus. Included in that draft is a new church building (Bldg A), a three-story community building with classrooms, a basketball court, 21 studio and one-bedroom apartments for older adults (Bldg B), a two-story diocese building with function room and three apartments (Bldg C), and a sports field. The site features an emergency access lane, retaining walls, lighting, signage, and parking. The septic system will lie under the southern parking lot.
The board reorganized portions of the draft decision prepared by Town Planner Robert Hummel to clarify findings and conditions. Members separated building setbacks from structure setbacks, concluding that all principal buildings meet zoning setbacks, while certain retaining walls and fencing that appear to encroach must be limited to six feet or less in height. The board required the final plan set to clearly depict wall and fence heights and reconcile inconsistencies in plan legends and elevations.
In its findings, the board addressed height and bulk of the church structure. While buildings B and C comply with height limits in the R60 single-residence district (2.5 stories or 35 feet high), the top of the towers (at 100 feet), the central dome (87-987–95 feet), and main mass of the church (58.7 feet) all exceed those limits.
Citing the project’s protected use status under the Dover Amendment, which limits local regulation of religious uses, the board stated it is constrained in restricting the height and bulk of the church element despite members’ concerns about scale relative to surrounding residential properties.
The board also revised findings concerning parking and a resident occupancy capacity of 570. Members confirmed there are 24 proposed apartments. Drawings dated Dec. 22, 2025 show 21 units in the northwest side of the community building B and three in diocese building C.
Nineteen units are to be designated for elderly parishioners consistent with the church’s St. Simon Elder Services criteria. The remaining five units will be designated as affordable (<80%AMI) local action units in compliance with Article 22 of the zoning bylaw and state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) requirements for inclusion on the town’s Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI). Counsel for the applicant, Jonathan Silverstein, confirmed the church would comply with bylaw requirements for such units, including lottery and monitoring provisions.
To ensure consistency between affordable and market-rate units, the board requires the applicant to identify any differences in parking, amenities, appliances or finishes. Members also discussed the interaction between affordable units and on-site parking, noting that parking allocations must remain consistent with zoning requirements.
Conditions require the applicant to submit final compiled plan sheets dated Dec. 22, 2025 revised, to address outstanding discrepancies, and to obtain approvals under the scenic road and shade tree statutes before issuance of the first building permit. The decision requires written approval for any deviations from the approved plans.
Two driveway cuts on Rice Road will be allowed while the existing Turkey Hill Road access must be permanently eliminated.
Regarding parking management, the board required a written agreement for off-site overflow parking during construction prior to issuance of a building permit and a long-term overflow parking agreement prior to the first certificate of occupancy. Construction vehicles are prohibited from parking or idling on Rice Road, Turkey Hill Road or nearby town property.
Exterior lighting must be extinguished at 9 p.m. or 60 minutes after the last church service of the day, whichever is later, with the exception of motion-sensor lighting. The board encouraged the applicant to incorporate noise buffering and landscaping to mitigate impacts from mechanical equipment and the sports field, though it acknowledged limited jurisdiction over noise regulation.
The decision includes a five-year completion timeline for the full project, consistent with zoning lapse provisions, while preserving the ability to seek written extensions as allowed by law.
Members approved the decision as amended, authorized Planning Board Chair Anette Lewis to finalize the document with Hummel and sign on behalf of the board. In a 4-1-0 vote, Lewis voted against the motion, stating she was not comfortable approving the project without a finalized, fully reconciled plan set reflecting all required revisions.
See updated information in the now posted final decision here: https://tinyurl.com/Plan169Rice