Neighbors opposed to the Orthodox Congregational Church of Lanesville's plan for a new fellowship hall on Washington Street vowed to keep fighting the project Thursday night, even after the city settled with the church to end a federal religious discrimination lawsuit.

"This isn't over," said Ian Lane of Leverett Street after the Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to step aside and allow construction of the new hall under the terms of its deal with the church.

Lane declined to discuss any specific next steps for opponents of the project.

Peter Combs of Norseman Avenue, another church neighbor opposed to the size of the planned building, raised the possibility of legal challenges from abutters that could carry on "forever."

The fellowship hall, if it isn't delayed by further legal action, will be built adjacent to the traditional 19th century church building and include room for bible study, increased youth programs and Sunday School.

The settlement ends a federal lawsuit accusing the city of infringing on the church's constitutional rights to freedom of religion. A parallel suit in state Land Court that named city officials and six neighbors that had challenged the building plans would also be dropped under the agreement.

Neither the church or ZBA members expressed any satisfaction in the settlement.

In explaining why the city was vacating its decision to deny the church a building permit for providing inadequate parking, Francis "Sib" Wright, the lawyer and ZBA member who drafted the settlement, said the city's case wasn't strong enough to "roll the dice" and take it to a judge.

"While I do not like to admit weakness of a case ... ultimately the church will prevail," Wright said. "The city will be exposed to tremendous damages, and more importantly, the church will provide no parking."

But he called "regrettable" the church's decision to file two lawsuits in response to the initial ZBA ruling instead of coming back to the board for a compromise on parking — the only issue over which the board had jurisdiction.

"It is regrettable because it is two years later and now we have a settlement that is what we would have obligated them to do anyway," Wright said.

Giving the church $10,000 as part of the settlement was particularly difficult to agree to, Wright said, but the concession was pushed by the city's insurance company, which did not like the idea of taking the case to trial.

Representatives of the church, meanwhile, spoke to the burdens that will be placed on them by the settlement — mainly the parking requirements designed to keep Lanesville streets from being clogged cars during church events.

The fact that the initial fellowship hall plan did not meet the city's requirements for off-street parking, 59 parking spaces, gave the ZBA its only jurisdiction in the case.

The settlement calls for the church to provide 31 parking spaces on their property by packing in cars in "tandem" formation, instead of the 15 proposed in the original plan.

In addition to the new off-street spaces, the settlement requires the church to notify parishioners of the parking plan, establish no-parking zones on Washington Street, hire "parking marshals" if the plan doesn't work, appoint a parking liaison to field any parking complaints from the community and provide a copy of the parking plan to wedding and funeral parties.

The implications of foisting parking brochures on brides and the bereaved was noted by church attorney Meirwyn Walters, who reminded the board that, right now, the church is under no such requirements.

The church's plans for a new multi-purpose hall to accommodate its growing congregation met with resistance almost immediately from neighbors in Lanesville, a village fiercely protective of its way of life.

The issue exploded last winter when a number of abutters appealed the fellowship hall building permit to the ZBA, on, among other grounds, that the building should not be able to use the exemption from parking city rules given to "places of worship."

When it first proposed the new building, the church emphasized its non-religious community uses, possibly to make it more attractive to neighbors not a part of the congregation.

Wright called the church's description of non-worship uses a "tactical error" that allowed the ZBA to rule that the building was more a function hall than a "place of worship" and should not be exempt from parking rules.

When the church sued the city over that ruling — calling it discriminatory — the battle raised the question of how much discretion a municipality has in determining what is or is not a religious building.

If the case had gone to trial, Wright said, he was confident the church would emphasize all of the religious functions that would go on in the building.

Thursday night, opponents and supporters of the church building were roughly even for the City Hall meeting, congregating on opposite sides of the auditorium, although more opponents took the opportunity to speak.

For the opponents, the potential parking and traffic issues, always a sore spot in Lanesville, are a symptom of the larger problem: the church growing beyond the scale of the quintessentially small-scale village.

"Architecturally, aesthetically, it will detract," said Jennifer Kirk of Washington Street, one of the six residents sued by the church and the sister-in-law of Mayor Carolyn Kirk. "It will bring more people driving more cars to an already congested neighborhood."

"The church is in our neighborhood, but it is no longer a neighborhood church," said Prudence Fish of Washington Street. "The new building will exacerbate the problem."

Wright called the building "an aggressive use of the lot" that "will not be keeping with neighborhood character." But he reminded the audience "we have no jurisdiction over those issues."

No one in Lanesville has disputed that parking and traffic along Washington Street on Sundays is a problem. The street is now made one-way on Sundays to accommodate vehicles parking on the street.

Opinions on whether the parking plan included as part of the settlement will work varied from cautious optimism to unbridled pessimism.

Either way, officials are urging residents to work with Ward 4 City Councilor Jackie Hardy to formulate a new ordinance managing parking and traffic on the street.

Patrick Anderson can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or via e-mail at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.