The following article appears in The Journal News:

RAMAPO – More than a half-dozen men sat around the wide-screen television in Jerry Fox’s house one day last week.

It wasn’t the NBA playoff game that had their attention, or even a chance to glimpse the Mets’ or Yankees’ new digs.

Filling the screen was an architect’s full-color rendition of a proposed yeshiva, dormitory and staff housing project proposed a couple blocks away on Camp Hill Road.

“We don’t object to a school,” said Rip Hayman, who lives near the site, “but it’s overdevelopment in a residential area. It should be built on a more appropriate site, and the house that’s there should be preserved for historic reasons.”

The house is the former estate of the late actor Burgess Meredith, an 18th-century property prized for its period architecture and grounds where the Continental Army once camped.

Proposed development of the more than 7-acre property has been under town review for almost two years, spawning a growing opposition from residents.

While it appeared that the Zoning Board of Appeals had wrapped up a public airing of Mesifta Beth Shraga’s project – the Planning Board already looked favorably upon variances from zoning codes the school sought – the flow of comments will continue at the zoning board’s May 14 meeting.

“There were a number of people who still wanted to speak,” Town Attorney Michael Klein said after the board received a 325-signature petition opposing any variances for the project.

And because the applicant had a chance to reply to a critical review by the county’s Department of Planning, Klein said, it seemed fair to give residents another shot.

So Ramapo will send notices of the new public hearing to people who own property within 500 feet of the site.

The county criticized the proposal because of potential usage that would risk straining the capacity of roads and sewers.

Ramapo “must consider the cumulative and regional impacts of permitting such development,” the Department of Planning stated in its March 30 review.

Similar objections have also been raised by the village of Pomona, which borders the site.

In an observation that is not part of its official review, the county expressed concerns about allowing staff housing that “results in a more intensive land use.”

In response, Ira Emanuel, a New City attorney for the applicant, said in a March 30 letter to the town that the Planning Board already determined that there would not be any negative environmental impacts.

Emanuel also said that the proposed development was less than what would result from residential construction.

Mesifta Beth Shraga, which has a school in Monsey, has complied with town requests, including planning to preserve the main portion of the house, and conducting an archeological review.

“It’s a much better project because of that,” Emanuel said of the town’s input. “It’s more sensitive to the area, it preserves the historic portion of the house, and it feels more like a campus now.”

Emanuel’s opinion that the zoning board was bound by the Planning Board’s determinations regarding environmental impacts was disputed by Michael Diederich, a Stony Point attorney representing area residents.

“The zoning board’s obligation is to look at evidence presented to it,” Diederich said, “and make an independent determination. If it was fait accompli, why even bother with the zoning board?”