By:Andrew Coen
The approval also gives HAFTR the go-ahead to build six new classrooms and new administrative offices. According to HAFTR president Allan Hermes, the hope is to begin construction this summer and have the project completed by the fall of 2005.
We-ve been praying for this the last 10 years, said HAFTR Athletic Director Rabbi David Beitler. It-s going to give us an opportunity to not have to deal with different gyms.
He explained that HAFTR has played its home games at Lawrence Middle School and the Number Six School in Woodmere in the past. The kids are very excited to have the chance to play in a beautiful facility, Beitler said.
We-re finally going to be able to meet the educational and physical needs for the next decade into the future, said Hermes.
Many of the school-s neighbors voiced objections to the planned gym during the hearing process. Lifetime Cedarhurst resident Barbara Freifeld, who spoke out many times against the school during the hearing, was frustrated by the decision. I think it-s intrusive, said Freifeld, referring to what she said would be additional noise and traffic the gym will bring to the neighborhood. I think this whole thing is wrong. I am tremendously disappointed.
The approval given to the Cedarhurst yeshiva is for a third modified plan, which was presented to the zoning board at a Sept. 25, 2003, hearing. The only change to the plan presented at that hearing is the village-s request that the expanded school be set back 20 feet from Central Avenue, instead of 15. The plan, which was designed by the Manhattan firm of Caon Design, locates the gym in front of the school, and would involve knocking down a rental house on Grove Avenue, which HAFTR owns. That would create 25 new parking spaces, helping to alleviate some of the parking and traffic concerns raised by neighbors.
The new parking lot would also allow the school-s buses to pick up students in the lot and route them onto Grove Avenue and then onto Broadway, instead of from Locust Avenue onto Central Avenue, routes included in the first two plans. The plan, which calls for a total square footage of 96,000, places the main entrance to the building on Locust Avenue instead of Central Avenue, which was the original plan.
On behalf of HAFTR, we are pleased that the Village of Cedarhurst has accepted our amended site plan, said HAFTR attorney William Bonesso. The new design has been very closely reviewed and will help promote better traffic circulation in the area, reduce parking congestion, [provide] a larger front yard setback on Central Avenue and, overall, a much more aesthetically pleasing building.
HAFTR was granted a variance for height and for about 40 parking spaces on Dec. 23, 2002, subject to 14 conditions. Some of them included: preventing HAFTR from using any additional water facilities; allowing the village to conduct random unannounced inspections to verify compliance; and requiring HAFTR to come back to the board for consideration of changes to any of the original plans.
The first modified plan, presented at a July 24, 2003, hearing, was not much different from the original except that the gym would have been separate from the existing building, with a large common area surrounded by community facilities, the cafeteria, auditorium and gym.
The original plan called for 85,000 square feet of construction, with the gym located directly in front of the existing building, and six new classrooms and administrative offices beneath it.
HAFTR-s first attempt for a building permit was denied by the Cedarhurst BZA on Jan. 4, 2000. On Aug. 15, 2000, the zoning board denied a variance requested by HAFTR, and the New York State Supreme Court denied HAFTR-s appeal on June 14, 2001. HAFTR then brought an appeal to the New York State Appellate Division Second Department and, while the appeal was pending, reached an agreement with the Cedarhurst Board of Trustees and BZA. On Dec. 23, 2002, the BZA granted HAFTR the requested variance, subject to the 14 conditions. HAFTR officials then decided to adopt a new plan, which they presented to the zoning board for approval on July 24, 2003, and again on Sept. 25, 2003.
