By Andrew Coen
The possibility of a new Jewish parochial school became a reality when the Hempstead Town Council unanimously approved a site plan for the yeshiva at its April 5 meeting in Hempstead Village. Plans call for Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island to construct a new building on Doughty Boulevard.
Yeshiva Ketana has been operating on the first floor of Congregation Ohr Torah in North Woodmere for nine years. The new school would be a roughly 40,000-square-foot, two-story structure, according to Rabbi Abraham Liss, head of the school.
The proposed building would be on a 1.6-acre parcel on Doughty Boulevard, 394 feet north of Mott Avenue, on land that has been unoccupied for the past few years, with two unused houses currently occupying the site, according to Liss.
Yeshiva Ketana officials purchased the Inwood property two years ago with the hope of being able to provide more space for students, with current enrollment at 230 in kindergarten through 12th grade. Liss said the yeshiva is pressed for space, since it has only 12 classrooms and must use the parking lot for a playground. "The school has grown, and we've reached capacity," said Liss. "We're bursting at the seams."
The cost of purchasing the property and constructing the new building will total around $5 million, which was raised through private donations, according to yeshiva officials.
Melvin Cohen, a religious leader from Far Rockaway, said late last year that an increasing number of Orthodox Jews were choosing to move into Inwood because the real estate is more affordable than in the more traditionally observant areas of Lawrence and Cedarhurst. Many of their children might enroll in the new yeshiva.
Liss said he hopes to be able to open in the new Inwood location by the start of the 2006-07 school year. In addition, he hopes to clear the property within the next week, once he gets demolition permits. The parcel is properly zoned, meaning the yeshiva will not have to go before the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals for a variance, according to town spokeswoman Susan Trenkle.
The last hurdle before construction can begin, according to Liss, would be acquiring the proper building permits from the Town of Hempstead Building Department, which he does not believe will be a problem.
The proposed yeshiva has the support of many in the Inwood community, according to Liss. Rose Marie Dorn, Inwood Civic Association president, said that Yeshiva Ketana officials met with the group's zoning committee members to show them the plans, and they were impressed and had no objections. "We welcome [Yeshiva Ketana] into the community, and hopefully we will have a long, nice relationship - and maybe they'll join our organization and get involved, too, with the community," said Dorn.
"We welcome the school into our community," said Inwood Republican Leader Jesse Mistero, also a member of the Inwood Civic Association. "We think they are going to be an asset."
Greg Nunn, founder of the Inwood Community Group, is also in favor of the new yeshiva. "[The Inwood Community Group] will reach out to [the Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island] and they, in turn, will reach out to us," said Nunn. "We think it will be a positive."
The new location in Inwood would make for an easier commute for one-third of the current student body, which comes from neighboring Far Rockaway and Bayswater, Queens, according to Liss. "I think it will be a shot in the arm for an underdeveloped area," he said. "We hope to become a fixture in the Inwood community."
Comments about this story? ACoen@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
