Residents Complain Of Church Parking Problems

Residents of the1st ward complained about the parking problem caused by the parishioners of the .

Many residents from North Eagle Road and Maryland Avenue complained that the Korean church can not properly accommodate parishioners and their vehicles, which results in a massive parking problem the attendees of the 1st ward meeting stated last Wednesday.

Some homeowners maintained that some parishioners have blocked their driveways and thus also make it difficult to drive down Maryland Avenue as both sides of the street have parked vehicles.

Township Manager Larry Gentile, one of the members of the 1st ward board, said that the township must respect the civil rights of the church, but stated that he is willing to create a special work session to resolve the parking issue.

One solution the township can look into is whether or not parishioners of the church would be allowed to park at the Manoa Shopping Center, Gentile told the Haverford-Havertown Patch after the meeting.

Some residents suggested that parking permits should be allowed, which would mean that only homeowners on Maryland Avenue would be allowed to park on the street.

But residents from neighboring streets said that solution would not work, as church members would simply park on the next street over.

Steve D’Emilio, 1st ward commissioner who arrived late to the meeting because of a family medical emergency, told the nearly 45 people gathered at the conference room at the Manoa Fire Company that they can call the police if someone has parked his or her vehicle in front of their driveway.

D’Emilio also told the crowd that he has personally witnessed the parking issue on Maryland Avenue and has seen near accidents from churchgoers as they pull out of their parking spots without looking.

“Traffic on the street at 5 a.m. is brutal and dangerous,” D’Emilio said.

And the parking problem is not only restricted to Sundays, said D’Emilio and the residents. Many at the meeting have stated to have seen many parishioners leaving the church around 5 a.m. during the weekday carrying pillows and blankets.

“I think something more is going on there,” D’Emilio told the crowd regarding the unusual hours that the church keeps. However he did not go much further about his suspicions.

Other problems that some of the residents of Maryland Avenue told the board was that the church’s trash blows out of its garbage containers and onto their yards and that noises can be heard from the church at night.

D’Emilio told the Haverford-Havertown Patch that he did not invite any church officials to the meeting because they “are aware of the issues” that have been discussed with them in the past.

The Haverford-Havertown Patch has reached out to Pastor Yoon of the Sheep's Gate Presbyterian Church on three separate times, the latest being on Tuesday. Yoon has not returned requests for an interview at this time.