Organizers of the proposed Rabbinical College of Tartikov pledged to be “good neighbors” when meeting last night with Pomona residents, some of whom expressed concerns that they ultimately could be pushed out by an expanding ultra-Orthodox Jewish population.

The meeting at the Comfort Inn, drew about 50 residents, and was arranged by the college’s proponents to discuss plans for the school and housing on 130 acres off routes 202 and 306.

The focus of the opposition to the college was how its size would impact the village of about 3,200 people, where one-acre residential zoning has been the rule for 40 years.

Michael Tauber of Monsey, the college’s developer, said the proposed initial phase would include 250 units with three or four bedrooms.

That appeared to alarm some residents, including Terrance Wansley, who said that could mean 1,000 or more occupants when counting the rabbinical students, their wives, and children.

But an attorney for the college, Roman Storzer of Washington, D.C., said the project differed from others because it was not housing for profit, Prol saw that as irrelevant.

Tauber said the intent was to fill a need for rabbinical judges in religious courts spurred by a rapidly growing Orthodox community. “We’re not here to take over anything,” Tauber said. “In no way are we looking to take over the village.”

TJN