Residents say that a planned expansion of a church in Hartsdale would create traffic on an already busy street.

The new parish hall next to Our Lady of Shkodra on 361 West Hartsdale Ave. would accommodate up to 500 people.

The church plans to build the new hall because it holds dozens of weddings every year, but there's no place to have a reception. The church's architects showed Greenburgh town officials their plans at an initial meeting at Town Hall Tuesday.

Hartsdale resident Carol Allen lives a half-mile from the church. She says she’s worried about the additional traffic tie-ups the hall could bring.

"When your services let out, traffic is backed up from your church all the way down to Dobbs Ferry Road,” she says.

On West Hartsdale Avenue, there's already two religious schools and Greenburgh Central school. There’s also a firehouse right across from the church.

Tanya Dragick says she is concerned about traffic too, but she's more worried about noise and garbage. Her house sits just down a hill from the church. She wants the church to build a better buffer.

"I think a fence would help the whole garbage issue. And it would basically stop stuff from falling down on our properties,” she says.

Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner says he wants to work with the church to make the project a win-win for everybody.

Church officials are optimistic they will get the OK from the town to build the new facility, but they say it could take several months to go through the approval process.