What is 'JW Parking' at Old Zyla's Building?

The signs showed up, and then the cars. Lot's of them. And it has had people talking this week. What's going on at the old Zyla's building?

No, it's nothing new coming to the long-vacant property, but instead, Zyla's is being used to park the numerous cars associated with the construction project that has begun on Wire Road for a new Kingdom Hall, the worship place for Jehovah's Witnesses.

After two years of, at times highly contentious, negotiations with the town, the site work has officially begun in the old corn field at 59 Wire Road.

The parking lot, a couple miles down the road from where the actual construction is taking place is temporary during the project as there is limited parking on site at the moment, according to Ron Hansen, assistant to the New Hampshire and Vermont Regional Building Committee for the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Hansen, who is one of the overseers of the project, said they have about 35-50 volunteers a day right now getting the site work done for the project. When the actual build is taking place, scheduled right now for the last three weekends of June and the first weekend of July, that will spike to a couple hundred a day.

"Jack and Dottie Zyla have been just great allowing us to use their parking lot," Hansen said.

Right now, it doesn't look like much over on Wire Road. It's a large dirt lot with  lots of heavy equipment being used to lay the ground work of the project – things like electrical fit ups, laying the swailing system for the site drainage and preparing the pads where parking and the actual building will sit.

Hansen said the all-volunteer operation should be completed by July 4, assuming all remains on schedule.

While at the site, they are trying to be courteous to their neighbors. They serve three-meals-a-day to their volunteers, starting with breakfast around 7:30 a.m. and ending with dinner around 5 p.m. Construction begins after breakfast and ends around dinner time.

Hansen said he's talked personally with Bob Walles, one of neighbors across the street who led the charge last year in a lawsuit against the Merrimack Zoning Board of Adjustment over the board's reversal of it's original decision to deny the Kingdom Hall construction. Walles said the suit was over the process the ZBA took in reversing its original decision and not specifically against the church.

The lawsuit was settled last fall after the Jehovah's Witness Congregation indicated its intention to intervene in the lawsuit, and things seem to have been harmonious between neighbors and the church since the settlement.

Walles said on Tuesday that so far the construction, which really only got underway two days ago, has been running smoothly, and the church has been mindful of the neighbors, especially when it comes to keeping traffic and an abundance of vehicles from coming to and from the site each day. A couple of shuttles take volunteers between the site and the parking lot on Daniel Webster Highway.

Hansen said the Walles, who have been the only neighbors they've seen around at this point, have also been great.

"We made it known, if they have any concerns at all, to let us know and we'll take care of it," Hansen, one of the congregation's elders, said.

Hansen, a longtime Merrimack resident owner of Hansen's Outdoor Services, said the project is using local materials as much as possible, including having gotten all of the site work materials from C.S.S.I Contractors in Merrimack.

"It's been a very long time, a very long road," Hansen said. "We've tried to cooperate and remain patient and it's paying off."

While they still have several weeks to go ahead of them, Hansen said the build for these projects generally goes very smoothly and he's confident by the time they are done with the modest 45-by-90-foot one-story church and the landscaping they have planned for the site, the church will fit in nicely on the residential road.

"Those who had concerns will see it will be a beautiful project in the end," Hansen said.

Past stories on this project:

• ZBA Agrees to Settlement for Controversial Church Plan
• Planning Board Puts Jehovah's Witnesses On Hold While Waiting for ZBA
• No Rehearing for Kingdom Hall Foes
• Contentious Jehovah's Witness Church Approved
• Wire Road Couple Seeking Help From Attorney
• Residents Suing Town Over Kingdom Hall Ruling
• Suit Against Town Over Kingdom Hall Settled