By Andrew Coen
HAFTR officials were given approval by the Cedarhurst Board of Zoning Appeals in January 2004 after a four-year legal battle, to build the 500-seat basketball gymnasium along with six new classrooms and new administrative offices. Soon after the approval, HAFTR officials said they hoped to begin construction in the summer of 2004 and have the project completed by the fall of 2005.
While work has been done on six new classrooms and new administrative offices in the rear of the building, ground has not yet been broken at the Cedarhurst yeshiva for the planned gymnasium slated for in front of the school building on 636 Central Avenue, with HAFTR officials now asking for an extension of the variances they were granted.
HAFTR executive director David Shapiro said they are still in the planning stages for the gymnasium due to a drop in fundraising, but plan on still going through with the project. "We have slowed down a bit but we have extended our time line," said Shapiro. "We are still hoping we can move forward [with the gymnasium project]."
When approval was given, HAFTR officials were excited about finally having a home facility for their basketball teams, since the teams have been forced to play their home games at Lawrence Middle School and the Number Six School in Woodmere. According to HAFTR boys varsity basketball coach Joe Hoenig, logistical problems that come from sharing facilities with the Lawrence Public Schools have forced his team to play many of their scheduled home games at the visiting teams school, adding to the eagerness to build the gym. "It is sort of demoralizing to a team when you don't have a home," said Coach Hoenig. "Hopefully it will happen sometime soon."
HAFTR girls junior varsity basketball coach Renee Greenspan said while a new gym would be welcomed, her team has not been displaced from any of their scheduled home games at Lawrence Middle School since district 15 officials have been very accommodating. "When the time comes when we build a new gym it will make everyone's life easier but until then we are managing," said Coach Greenspan. "I have never had to give up home-court advantage."
HAFTR's four-year legal battle came in the midst of neighbors surrounding the school voicing objections to the planned gym during the hearing process, saying the project would add additional noise and traffic to the neighborhood.
On Aug. 15, 2000, the zoning board denied a variance that was requested by HAFTR, with the New York State Supreme Court denying 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, were able to reach an agreement with the Cedarhurst Board of Trustees and Board of Zoning Appeals and on Dec. 23, 2002, the Board of Zoning Appeals granted HAFTR the variance it requested, subject to 14 conditions. After obtaining the variance, HAFTR officials decided to adopt a new plan, which they presented in front of the Cedarhurst BZA during two hearings in 2003 prior to getting approval for the project in early 2004.
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