Ramapo Planning Board Gives Go-ahead to Yeshiva on Babcock LaneFebruary 17, 2010 The planning board met last night to consider a single application that had been adjourned from Feb 9. Congregation Khal Torah Chaim wants to build a four-story yeshiva with a dormitory that could house 160 students in a rural section of the town next to Patrick Farm and the Village of Pomona. The school would have three stories and a basement, would stand more than 30 feet high with lighting that planned for 20-foot poles. The students, 13 to 16 years old, would reside at the school during the week, to be picked up Friday afternoon and returned back to the school Sunday morning at 9am. To be decided at the Planning Board Hearing was the acceptance or rejection on the basis of the SEQRA (New York State Environmental Quality Review Act), the decision to grant site plan approval, and special permits if required. Attorney James Licata and Leonard Jackson Associates represented the applicant who already has three schools in the Monsey area that are currently operating. This was a return visit as the application had been denied previously and was now returning with changes it claimed would remove the board’s objections. By the end of the evening, the board voting 5-1 granted approval on all three votes. Those voting to grant the approvals were: Yakov Basch (yes on all 3 votes), Yakov Buxbaum (yes on all 3 votes), Sylvain Klein (yes on all 3 votes), Bracha Gobioff (yes on all 3 votes), Dora Green (yes on all 3 votes), Walter Brightman, Jr. (Yes on one vote, no on the site plan and special permits). The legal questions remaining at the end of the evening could create obstructions in court down the line, not the least of which is the requirement of a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers approving the protections put in place for the wetlands on the 17-acre property. There is a man-made pond on the property that will be used to catch and redirect run off and that use is controlled by the Army Corps. The engineer for the applicant said a letter granting permission from the Corps was not necessary. There are questions about the emergency access road that is planned to go into the Patrick Farm property, questions about proper notification of neighbors and the Village of Pomona, an outstanding objection by the Fire Inspector concerning the size of the water main supply line, and the width of the road coming into the complex. Never discussed by the board were two objections raised by the public. This project for 160 new residents sits adjacent to a project for 500 new homes on Patrick Farm, a new school for down 306 at the Bobover site, and the Tartikov College application across the street that could add literally thousands of new residents to the area. This board does not consider long-range, comprehensive planning as their responsibility. They do project approvals for specific applications and are blind to the long-range consequences in neighborhoods and rural areas of the town. In other words, they reflect the downzoning philosophy of the individual who has appointed them to long terms on the board—Supervisor St. Lawrence. They are not elected and never have to answer to the public. The second objection not discussed was the fact that this project will be paving over land that sits at the headwaters of the Mahwah River. That river flows into the Ramapo, which is a significant source of drinking water for one-third of Rockland County’s residents. Buildings and parking lots and roads are impervious, and they will all affect the water balances on the site. The only people at the meeting who spoke about the threat that this project, and Patrick Farm pose to all county and Bergen residents as well, were neighbors. Michael Castelluccio
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