By:Andrew Coen
During the continuation of a hearing before the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals on Feb. 11, several attendees expressed concern that opening a school in the congested area and next to the Hewlett firehouse on Franklin Avenue would pose safety risks for residents and children.
The yeshiva is seeking a waiver of the necessary parking requirements before the building could be converted.
John Carracciolo, a Hewlett firefighter and Franklin Avenue resident, made his concerns known to the zoning board. On this block it-s so bad that if the fire truck is coming down at the times of 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., there is no way they are getting down [the block], he said. The school does not belong anywhere on that block. If they put it anywhere else in Hewlett, I have no problem with it.
Hewlett High School PTA Co-President Teri Stein, representing the Hewlett-Woodmere School District-s PTA, also voiced opposition to having the school on the Railroad Avenue site. I am opposed to this, the PTA units of Hewlett-Woodmere are opposed to this and I request that you do not grant them a variance, Stein told the board.
Gaetano Capone, who lives on Frost Lane near the site, warned of the safety dangers if the board approves the school. If you vote yes, somebody is going to get hurt, said Capone.
Mara Jacobowitz, a longtime civic activist in the Five Towns, spoke of the fear that the Hewlett Fire Department would not be able to reach her North Woodmere home in time in an emergency. I live furthest from the fire department and as a community person it just boggles my mind how the fire department is going to get up to North Woodmere at 7:30-8 in the morning, she said. Every second counts. In this situation I think the community-s safety should be of utmost concern to all of us.
Yeshiva students attend hearing
Roughly 30 people attended the hearing, including some students from Reenas Bais Yaakov, but none of them spoke. It is great that people voiced their opinion, but our view is, actions speak louder than words, said Rabbi Ari Ginian, executive director of the school.
If the proposal for the new yeshiva site is approved, the all-girls high school would increase enrollment to 200 from the current 50 students who now attend classes at Young Israel of Hewlett, at 1 Piermont Ave. Yeshiva officials said they have been operating out of Young Israel for five years, and need a bigger building to accommodate increased enrollment.
Representatives of the yeshiva have argued that as a religious and educational institution, they have a legal right to operate at that site.
The hearing ended after the zoning board heard a total of nearly 12 hours of testimony stretching over two days in an 11-month period. A decision is expected sometime after the board receives memos from both sides in about a month and a half.
In summarizing the hearing just before it was adjourned, BZA Chairman Gerald Wright said, We have two issues here. We-ve got the applicant saying in essence that this board cannot trespass on the rights of a religious organization or an educational organization or institution, and we have the opposition saying that this is not so, that this board has the right and must issue a decision when there is a Ôclear and present danger as to the health and public safety- of the community. So that-s the dilemma that this board has when making a decision.
Town attorney issues ruling
A written ruling was issued by Town Attorney Joseph Ra during the hearing, stating that the school would not be able to use the Town of Hempstead municipal lots for school buses dropping off students. At the start of the hearing on Oct. 1, much debate centered on whether the school would be able to drop students off and pick them up in the town lots.
I think it-s got to play a significant role, because that goes to the heart of the matter, because there is no safe, legal place for the students to be dropped off, said Jerome Ehrlich, an attorney representing the Hewlett-Woodmere Board of Education, which opposes the project.
The Feb. 11 hearing saw testimony from both sides, with two witnesses presented by the yeshiva, represented by attorney William Cohn, and three for the opposition, with Howard Avartine representing the Hewlett Bay Fire Department and Ehrlich serving as counsel for the Hewlett-Woodmere School District.
Robert Eschbacher, an engineer and traffic consultant from Melville, who also testified on behalf of the school at the Oct. 1 hearing, spoke about how he anticipates that a majority of students would take the Long Island Rail Road to school, which would help ease traffic concerns. Eschbacher said that 52 percent of the current 50 Reenas Bais Yaakov students commute to school by train, and he anticipates that percentage to stay the same if the school increases enrollment to 200. I do not anticipate those numbers changing much, said Eschbacher.
According to Eschbacher, 29 percent of the current students come by mini-bus, and 19 percent are dropped off by their parents. He also said he does not expect that the new school would dramatically change the demographics of where the students commute from, which currently is Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Lawrence and Queens.
Avartine disputed Eschbacher-s numbers, calling in another traffic expert, Norman Gurber, of Massapequa, to testify. Gurber said that according to recent surveys, very few students used the train. Gurber-s most recent survey, conducted on Jan. 14, indicated that 33 students left the school at 3:15 p.m., with only eight, or 24 percent, seen walking toward the Hewlett station to take the train home. Gurber also conducted surveys last June 9 and Sept. 8, which also showed that very few students use the train, he said.
Joseph Ruvolo, a former Hewlett fire chief and still an active firefighter in the department, testified for the opposition, voicing many concerns about the school being an obstacle in the department-s response to emergencies. Introducing another 200 people to go along with the buses and cars is just too much for the area to handle, and will lead to increased response time, said Ruvolo.
Precedents presented
Both sides brought up previous cases that could serve as precedents. Cohn mentioned a 1995 case involving the same Railroad Avenue site, where the town BZA granted a 47-space variance for the Long Island Gymnastics Academy.
It would be unreasonable for the board to reject the variance based on the history, said Cohn in a phone interview the day after the hearing.
The school is requesting a waiver of 15 required parking spaces based on one parking space for every 25 students, or eight spaces, and one space per every two employees, for 6 1/2 spaces. At the Oct. 1 hearing, Cohn said parking will not be much of an issue in whether the new school is approved, since the building was exempt from parking when it was built in 1915 and the town did not having parking laws until 1957.
Avartine referred to a 1988 case which, ironically, he worked on with Cohn in which the Holy Trinity Greek Church in Hicksville was denied a 50-space variance by the Town of Oyster Bay BZA because of safety concerns, which is what he and Ehrlich are arguing in this case.
I don-t have a problem with the school, but I have major issues with the safety concerns, Joseph Gelb, president of the Hewlett Business Association, said two days after the hearing was adjourned. Gelb also said he has offered Rabbi Ginian an alternative site in Hewlett, but that the rabbi is not considering it at the moment. I-m working with the rabbi on finding another site in a safer area in the community, said Gelb.
If given approval by the Town BZA, the new school would consist of a new hallway, seven classrooms, a computer lab, a multi-purpose room, a cafeteria, a science lab, a library, administrative offices and a lecture room for assemblies and prayer by students. The school, which yeshiva officials hope to open this fall, purchased the property from Ellman International, in January 2003 for $2.7 million.
