By Angela Marshall
The group will go before the Rockville Centre Zoning Board of Appeals early next year to protest the superintendent of buildings' ruling that the Rosa Lee Young Childhood Center is a school. Rosa Lee Young, currently located on North Village Avenue, wants to build a new facility on Woods Avenue, at the former Arbor Inn site.
One of the five laws concerning school placement adopted by the village board of trustees in October defines just what a "school" is. Members of the RVC Citizens Association protested the definition for many months before it was approved, saying village officials were framing it to fit the childhood center.
The law states that the village's superintendent of buildings will determine whether an organization claiming to be a school fits the definition. The current superintendent, Steve DeClue, ruled in October that Rosa Lee Young does.
Until the school placement legislation was adopted, the village did not allow private schools to open in some residential zones. A few years ago the board was advised by counsel that it needed to update its code to conform to state case law. When Rosa Lee Young's application for a building permit was turned down because of its planned location in Residence A, the childhood center sued the village and the board began earnestly updating that section of the code. Hundreds of residents showed up at the subsequent public hearings, protesting the revisions.
Many of the RVC Citizens Association members are attorneys and don't believe the code needed to be updated to meet state case law. They also feel that Rosa Lee Young is a daycare center, not a school.
The citizens filed an appeal based on a village law that allows residents to challenge the buildings superintendent's decisions. In addition to the civic association, 11 residents are named as party to the appeal. They are Katie O'Toole, president of the RVC Citizens Association; Judy Brickman; Lionel Brickman; Joyce Krause; Alice Krause; John Mirando; Karen Mirando; Maureen Moulder; Zachery Franzese, Mary Ellen Franzese and Robert Sayles. They will be represented by an attorney from the law firm Certilman Balin Adler & Hyman of East Meadow.
Many of the RVC Citizens members live in the vicinity of the proposed childhood center development. However, they see the new laws as a threat to more than their neighborhood. Michael Guararra, a member of the civic association, said that in addition to opposing the non-residential development of the Arbor Inn site, the association was formed to "protect" Residence A zones in the village.
"We're committed to following through," Guararra said. If the zoning board doesn't agree with the citizens' appeal, he said, they have been advised by counsel that there are "many other steps to take to get the relief that we seek."
Catherine Pucciarelli, president of the childhood center board, said Rosa Lee Young representatives provided "vast amounts of evidence" proving that the facility is a school at the public hearings. She doesn't deny that Rosa Lee Young is a child-care center, but she feels that taking care of children and educating them are not mutually exclusive.
A date for the hearing had not been set at press time.
