Plans to turn Cobleskill’s Zion Lutheran Church into a restaurant and performance center took a step forward Thursday.
The village Zoning Board of Appeals granted a variance to the Lutheran congregation, which would allow the sale of the church to RJ Freitag.
About 30 people packed the small meeting room at the village office, most of them supporting plans for the church. Although the meeting wasn’t a public hearing ZBA Chair Sandy MacKay allowed speakers.
“How can we make this happen?” asked resident Ruth Van Deusen, adding that the ZBA should “have the guts to do what’s right for the community.”
Ms. Van Deusen supported the proposal in the past because of the need of a restaurant/performance and also the opportunity to save a vacant but historic Main Street building.
Several speakers pointed to the need for a performance center, including Bobbi Wilding, who read a letter from Julia Walter, president of the Theater Project of Schoharie County.
“Cobleskill needs more anchoring venues,” Ms. Wilding read.
Bob Holt of the Schoharie Valley Singers agreed and noted the fine acoustics in the church.
“This is a win-win, and it should be in the hands of RJ,” Mr. Holt said.
Joanne Darcy Crum, attorney for Mr. Freitag, shared photos of Saratoga’s Preservation Hall, a church that was converted to a performance center.
Because there are no other prospective buyers, Ms. Crum also warned that if the ZBA didn’t grant the variance, Zion Lutheran could go the way of the old St. Vincent de Paul Church, which is to be demolished.
To stress her point, Ms. Crum held up a copy of last week’s Times-Journal, with the headline “Church set for demo” over the story about St. Vincent’s fate.
Not all comments were supportive. One man said Cobleskill lacks enough parking and there wouldn’t be enough for a performance center.
Mr. Freitag responded that he has an agreement with nearby Head Start to use that lot after 5pm and that there’s parking at the Cobleskill Firehouse and The Community Library.
“Parking’s a made-up issue,” added Vern Hall of the Lutheran congregation.
A restaurant/performance center isn’t a legal use in that zone––that’s why Lutherans are seeking the variance––and there are 24 legal uses for the site, argued Mayor Becky Stanton-Terk.
“The ZBA has to stick to the law,” she said.
But others pointed out that Mr. Freitag couldn’t get a reasonable return on his investment with any of the zoning-legal uses.
Mayor Stanton-Terk drew sharp criticism for publicly coming out against the proposal several weeks ago.
The Mayor and the village board also cleared the way for St. Vincent’s demolition, a point brought up by Ms. Van Deusen.
“If the Mayor overturns this [the variance], we should be outraged,” Ms. Van Deusen said.
The ‘reasonable return’ issue is what the ZBA should consider, Mr. MacKay said. It’s “pretty clear,” he added that apartments––a legal use––wouldn’t bring the necessary return.
ZBA member Sandy Poole wondered about a nursery school, another legal use, but Ms. Crum responded that there’s no need for one.
The ZBA’s Mike Moore moved to approve the variance, and George Konta seconded.
Approval had to be unanimous because the County Planning Commission recommended against it last fall.
Ms. Poole originally planned to vote no and said she “would like to see more numbers” about possible legal uses.
But Ms. Poole also said she was convinced at the meeting and also didn’t want to see Zion Lutheran torn down.
She voted for the variance, making it unanimous, to applause from the crowd.
The sale of the church to Mr. Freitag still must be approved by the state Attorney General’s office, which may take several months, Ms. Crum said.

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To be clear: Ms. Poole is the wife of this writer, Jim Poole.