Bobover Yeshiva denied approval by
Zoning Board: Vote is 4 to 1

June 18, 2009 After one-and-a-half hours of public testimony, a request for zone changes needed to permit the building of a school for 250 students on two acres on Route 306 failed by a four to one majority vote. The Town Hall meeting room was packed with an audience that spilled out into the hallway. The crowd erupted with the announcement of the denied approval.
 

A number of speakers who were opposed to the application cited problems with parking spaces, setbacks, negative impact on the single-family residential neighborhood, traffic, and unhealthy and dangerous conditions for that many children on such a small site. A theme that was repeated over and over was the scofflaw attitude of the current owners who had been cited by the building department and Board of Health for numerous violations including the scandalous, and illegal, butchering of a calf. Much to the chagrin of neighbors, the school has been operating illegally for two years.

One speaker warned the board that they would be rewarding bad behavior if they approved the changes. The school has been operating illegally since the first buses pulled up in 2007. That was shortly after building permits to work on a breezeway and garage gave way to construction inside the house. Neighbor Carol Friedman read a narrative of events on the site from when the property was first purchased in 2006 to current plan to build a school.

One resident said, "This meeting is a symptom of what has been happening for years in Ramapo."

Those who spoke in favor of the school said the children were growing vegetables and flowers on the grounds and the teachers were "instilling good values." Other parents who had children attending the school praised the school and its staff.

One apologist for the school included in her remarks a reference to the RLUIPA legislation used as leverage by other local developers, and she accused the Journal News of having violated the public trust. She also expressed the opinion that there was nothing wrong with the "lesson in the back yard" that involved the slaughter of a calf and the hanging of its carcass.

As the time arrived for the vote, board memberTzirel Friedman made a motion to deny giving the zone changes to Bobover. Maurice McDougal then expressed his agreement saying the school would have an adverse impact on the neighborhood, the variances are substantial, and the hardships are self-created. He voted to deny the changes. The final vote was 4 to 1 with the board refusing to grant approval of the changes needed to allow the school to be built.

The board took a five minute break with another highly controversial application, the Burgess Meredith property, to be taken up the same evening.

Michael Castelluccio