By Andrew Coen
Attorneys for the school district and the fire department appeared at a public hearing before the Town of Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals on Wednesday, Oct. 1. They argued against use of the site, at 1199 East Railroad Ave. in Hewlett, now occupied by a former storage facility, for the proposed Reenas Bais Yaakov School for Girls.
After more than three hours of testimony, the hearing was adjourned and is scheduled to be continued on Jan. 21, 2004. No decision was reached by the BZA. About 35 people attended the hearing.
If the proposal is approved, the school would increase enrollment to 200 from the 50 students currently attending classes at the Young Israel of Hewlett building, at 1 Piermont Ave. The yeshiva has been operating there for the past five years.
Much of the debate at last week's hearing focused on parking and safety concerns. A key moment came when a dispute arose over a Town of Hempstead law, and focused on whether the yeshiva would have the right to use municipal parking lots for bus drop-off since it is a private school. Howard Avartine, representing the Hewlett Fire Department, pointed out that Chapter 80 of the Hempstead Town code reads: "Public parking fields or town parking fields or municipal parking are only to be used for municipal parking or railroad drop-off and not for private usage."
Robert Eschbacher, an engineer and traffic consultant who testified for the yeshiva, responded to Avartine's point by stating that he understood the code to mean that the vehicles could not be parked for private use, but since the buses would be simply dropping off and not parking, the drop-off would be allowable under the law.
Avartine asked Eschbacher what the school would do if the town law doesn't allow for the bus drop-off in the municipal lots. "I would then recommend that consideration be given to dropping off directly in front of the side on Franklin Avenue and that the 'No standing at any time' restriction be changed to one that would allow bus drop-off during certain hours of the day," said Eschbacher.
William Cohn, an attorney for the yeshiva, objected to the line of questioning about the parking law, since the town has not ruled on the matter yet. "We're asking a bunch of questions at this point based upon an assumption which there is no basis for at this point," said Cohn.
Gerald Wright, BZA chairman, overruled the objection and added that if the town rules the bus drop-off can occur, then the board will not consider the evidence.
Cohn said he believes Franklin Avenue would be sufficient for bus drop-off despite the no-standing law there, if the bus drop-off is not permitted at the municipal lots. "It's perfectly legal to drop off and pick up on [Franklin] because the students need to get to school," said Cohn in a phone interview two days after the hearing.
Whatever the town decides, the parking law could have a critical impact on whether the yeshiva is approved. "I think it would be significant if the only plan they have is dropping off students in a parking lot that is not allowed under Town of Hempstead law," Jerome Ehrlich, attorney for the Hewlett-Woodmere School District, said the day after the hearing.
Ehrlich said that the only concern of the Hewlett-Woodmere school system is safety. He said there's the possibility that traffic will block fire trucks from emergencies at surrounding schools like Woodmere Middle School, South Shore Yeshiva and Franklin Early Childhood Center. "The main issue from my client's point of view is the safety of the kids," said Ehrlich. "The firehouse is on Franklin Avenue, so if the traffic is impaired, it will make it tough to respond to emergencies at the other schools. This is injecting the possibility of risk that does not exist today."
Rabbi Ari Ginian, executive director of Reenas Bais Yaakov School for Girls, was cross-examined on several points of the plan, particularly transportation. He explained that parking would not be much of an issue, since half of the 50 students get to the school via the Long Island Rail Road and he anticipates that to continue if the school expands to 200. Currently, 15 students arrive by mini-bus, and if the plan is approved, the school would have a maximum of four mini-buses, according to Ginian. The proposal at the Railroad Avenue site would consist of 15 new parking spaces, the minimum requirement. Town zoning law requires one parking space for every two employees at the school and one space for every 25 pupils.
Ginian does not envision the mini-buses in the area posing a problem for the fire department. "How about the trucks that have been backing up on that block for the last 25 years?" Ginian said the day after the hearing. "My few mini-buses would be like a drop in the ocean compared to those trucks."
After three hours of testimony, outrage mounted among those who stayed to the end, when Wright announced that the hearing would be adjourned until Dec. 17. "I object!" and, "That's bull----!" were some of the responses. One man yelled, "People took time out of work to come here. We understand that you have to move it on to another date, but now you're moving it into a holiday time when people are going away."
After consulting with other board members for 10 minutes, Wright ruled that the hearing would be re-scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m.
Time expired before the public was allowed to speak at the hearing, but Hewlett High School PTA president Teri Stein voiced her opposition to the proposed plan after the hearing. "I am against it," said Stein. "I believe that the safety of the children attending the school and the safety of all the residents of the community will be compromised by putting a school building there."
Joe Gelb, president of the Hewlett Business Association, said he's in favor of the school but is also concerned about the safety of the proposed site. "I would welcome the upgrade of the new building and am in favor of the school as it complies with the building code and is safe for the children," said Gelb. "I am dreadfully concerned over safety and traffic flow."
Construction would include a new hallway, seven classrooms, a computer lab, a multi-purpose room, a cafeteria, science lab, a library, administrative offices and a lecture room for assemblies and prayer.
The Oct. 1 hearing was originally scheduled for May 21 and then Aug. 6, but both were postponed after the Hewlett Bay Park Fire District requested more time to hire an attorney to fight the project. The delays ended Ginian's hope of opening the new school this fall.The school purchased the property from Ellman International, a manufacturer of medical equipment which used the building as a storage facility, last January for $2.7 million. The building is also the former site of the Long Island Gymnastics Academy.
