Stonington ― More than 50 members of the public, including many Masons Island residents, attended a contentious public hearing on an Enders Island site plan application before Tuesday’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

The hearing centered around a proposal by St. Edmund’s Retreat Center ― already engaged in two major construction projects ― for a third, $3 million building project. It calls for the demolition of two existing structures as well as some unused storage sheds followed by construction of the two-story, 6,600-square-foot Kenyon Recovery Center.

The Catholic retreat center on Enders Island offers numerous religion-based programs, including marriage retreats, pastoral counseling and bereavement and addiction recovery retreats. Additionally, the center houses a residential addiction recovery program.

The new building will contain meeting rooms for addiction recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, staff rooms, a studio apartment, a library, and study and exercise rooms as well as provide 12 rooms to house the center’s addiction recovery program participants.

Opponents cited traffic concerns and zoning violations and argued that the proposal constituted an expansion of the allowed non-conforming use of the property.

Most of the opponents of the project who spoke at the hearing were residents of neighboring Masons Island. In 2018, a group of Masons Island homeowners filed a lawsuit in New London Superior Court seeking to restrict the current use of the St. Edmund’s Retreat Center. The litigation is ongoing.

Representatives of the center noted throughout the hearing that the project will not change the type or number of services provided on the island, but rather consolidate existing services under one roof.

Many of the speakers pointed to a parking lot on the island that they has been illegally expanded, constituting a zoning violation and an expansion of the island’s permitted use. Attorney Amy Souchuns, who represents a group of Masons Island residents, agreed and told the commission a site permit cannot be granted for the property while there is a current zoning violation.

In February, town Zoning Enforcement Officer Candace Palmer determined there was no violation. Masons Island residents have appealed the decision to the Zoning Board of Appeals, which will hold a public hearing on the issue on April 9.

Town Planner Clifton Iler, in a staff report prepared for the application, said the pending appeal was not relevant to the commission’s discussion of the application.

Iler also noted discrepancies in the application regarding the size of the island and the way the floor area ratio was calculated.

Floor area ratio is a ratio of total floor area to the size of the lot it occupies. Souchuns asserted the proposed project would constitute an expansion of use because it would exceed the maximum floor area ratio allowed for the property.

The Rev. Thomas F. X. Hoar, center president, responded to many of the arguments raised.

He noted that Enders Island visitors comprise a smaller percentage of Masons Island traffic than in the past and pushed back on claims the parking lot had been expanded. He said only a minimum number of spots designated for chapel parking were ever set.

The commission voted unanimously to continue the public hearing until its April 16 meeting and requested the center provide further information, including updated maps and surveys, new floor area ratio calculations, a phasing plan and copies of traffic studies completed in 2004 and 2018.