The following is from the NY Daily News:
A proposal to build a multi-story school for Jewish boys in Far Rockaway is facing resistance from the community.
Bayswater residents are opposed to the Yeshiva Zichron Aryeh’s request for a zoning variance that will allow the group to build a roughly 60-student dormitory above the school. The site is located at 1213 Bay 25th St. in a residential neighborhood.
The city Board of Standards and Appeals is slated to vote on whether to allow the exception on Tuesday following a series of hearings.
“The yeshiva is welcome in our community as long as it goes by the current zoning,” said City Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Laurelton), who added that the neighborhood has a strong Jewish presence. “What is being proposed, we believe, will change us radically.”
Community Board 14, which represents the Rockaway peninsula, voted against the yeshiva’s application in October.
“The community didn’t really have a problem with the school,” said District Manager Jonathan Gaska. “It had a problem with the dormitory, height of the building and the lack of off-street parking.”
Gaska said the community board members were also worried that the students could become rowdy.
The city down zoned the area in 2006 to preserve the aesthetics of the neighborhood.
In a letter to the community board last year, lawyers for the yeshiva wrote that the school will “not burden” the community.
“The proposed development will not have any adverse impact on the neighborhood or surrounding buildings or occupants,” the letter stated, “but is compatible with existing and future development in the area.”
But Enid Glabman, president of the Bayswater Civic Association, which represents several hundred families, said a project like this will be out of context with the surrounding neighborhood.
“We had no objection to the yeshiva building being built,” she said. “But we are opposed to the variances that would provide for a higher building than anything in the area.”
“It will change the character of the neighborhood,” Glabman said. “The quality of life will not be the same.”
(Source: NY Daily News)
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9 Responses
It will definitely “change the character of the neighborhood”, and the neighborhood should be thankful, vhamaven yavin.
i agree….the last this they want is to have things change in that direction….
Ya, as a Far Rock local, I would hate to see the areas around Bayswater become rowdy…see end of Pinay’s post.
Whenever I wonder mashiach isn’t here yet I see what ‘frum’ ppl post here
What??? The community is concerned about the rowdiness of yeshiva bochurim. Oh, please.
I don’t live in Bayswater but I have visited the area several times. Once I was there for a Shabbos. I will never forget the rowdiness of the non jewish kids who live on the street next to Bay 25th street. They were partying with very loud music late into the night, But the community is concerned about rowdiness from yeshiva bochurim?????
They need to get their priorities straight. If parking and the building was the only problem, they would not have mentioned their concern of rowdiness. I can read between lines.
There is one thing to be against this proposal and there is yet another thing to post your negative comments in a public forum. Yes, the sonay yisrael out there DO look at the blogs so they could use our words against us.
rowdy! thats an absurd statement
“Rowdy” or not, this is a residential area where people (both yidden and goyim) purchased homes with the expectation that the zoning laws would keep it looking an feeling residential. The new “high rise” building is out of scale with the nearby buildings (If you don’t believe it look at the photos of the existing building on Google maps and Google Earth) Why do they need a dormitory when there is public transportation readily available in the area.
I live nearby, and I have mixed feelings about this. It’s fine to have a small yeshiva like ZA in the neighborhood, but I believe they intend to grow significantly. That brings major parking issues, which I don’t believe the yeshiva has addressed.