Ramapo asks court to shut Eckerson Lane yeshiva

By Steve Lieberman
Journal News
May 22, 2016

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/ramapo/2016/05/21/ramapo-shut-yeshiva-violations/84538138/

Young children are led into Mosdos Sanz Klausenberg, an ultra-orthodox Jewish religious school on Eckerson Lane in Hillcrest May 20, 2016. Town of Ramapo has asked a state court to order the school closed for it considers zoning violations. Photo by Seth Harrison

Ramapo has asked a state court to shut down an Eckerson Lane yeshiva for overstaying temporary permits that allowed it to use a house and classroom trailers for students while building a more permanent school.

The yeshiva was opened three years ago by a congregation without approvals. But the congregation later received town permission to use a single-family house for classrooms and add modular trailers for additional students.

Ramapo is arguing in court papers that Mosdos Sans Klausenberg of Monsey is violating zoning regulations after failing to build a school on the property within two years. Town law gives developers one year - with the potential of a 12-month extension - to run a school with temporary modular classrooms while constructing a more lasting structure.

Mosdos Sans Klausenberg apparently is the first school targeted by Ramapo for closure for failing to meet such requirements. The town's legal action comes while it is under increased scrutiny by the state for how it has conducted its code enforcement.

The town's court papers say Ramapo Chief Building Inspector Anthony Mallia gave the congregation a temporary certificate of occupancy July 23, 2013, to use the property's three-story house for classrooms, finding the building would serve the same purpose as modular trailers.

He also approved installing the modular trailers for additional classrooms a year later, in July 2014.

The Mallia-issued certificate of occupancy for the house expired in July 2015 and no school had been built to date, meaning Mosdos Sans Klausenberg is operating a school unlawfully in violation of town zoning, according to the town's legal papers, filed April 5 in state Supreme Court in New City.

The congregation also illegally converted the attic into classroom space, the town alleges.

Asked about the litigation, the congregation's school administrator, Rabbi Abraham Spitzer, e-mailed to The Journal News the town's Planning Board minutes for April 5  indicating the board's seven members had approved a special permit for paving the parking lot, install lights and landscaping, and had also approved a revised site plan for a school.

Spitzer wrote, "There's a misunderstanding. Our project has been approved by the ..  Planning Board..."

Spitzer said the congregation will be seeking a building permit to proceed with construction.

"I would like you to know that this is a technical violation," he contended in the email. "During the time the school had their temporary permit we met all fire and safety regulations."

The congregation's attorney, James Licata, didn't return messages seeking comment. The congregation has not responded to the town in court.

Micheal Miller, a leader of Citizens United to Protect Our Neighborhoods, said Friday that the town's action is long overdue, but he doubts the town has really turned a corner. He said Ramapo was only taking action in response to the state crackdown on the lack of local enforcement after years of lobbying by Wren, CUPON, County Executive Ed Day and the Rockland Illegal Housing Task Force.

He said the town also feels the pressure from ongoing corruption investigations by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI and the Rockland District Attorney's Office that already have produced charges against the town supervisor and a town council member.

"They classified this house as a trailer," Miller said Friday on Eckerson Lane as dozens of children left yellow school buses. "It's obviously not a trailer. Many schools like these don't conform to local zoning laws and they are allowed to operate. This is Ramapo's public policy - to allow schools without approvals. The town is not adhering to its own laws."

The town says Mosdos Sans Klausenberg and seven others schools had received permission as of August 2015 to operate trailer classrooms on a temporary basis. The two-year maximum has expired for six of the schools, including a Highview Road yeshiva that also opened illegally and then continued to expand with the Building Department and town's permission.

Mallia said he couldn't comment on the status of the other schools, writing in an email to The Journal News that he's busy working on the town's response to a critical state report on the town's inspections and procedures. The state is threatening to take over inspections for the town and Spring Valley.

There also are an unknown number of schools that installed trailers, sometimes in violations of local regulations, across town before the 2012 law was enacted. Critics contend some of the trailers don't meet standards or were not properly installed.

Eckerson Lane area residents have been infuriated with the town over the situation at Mosdos Sans Klausenberg.

Lee Shangase, a 27-year Eckerson Lane homeowner, said Friday that the school has disrupted the neighborhood with noise, nighttime lights, and large buses that barrel down the road and splatter mud. He also said the school burned logs during a celebration that sent embers into the sky.

Shangase said he and his neighbors aren't against such yeshivas but don't think one belongs on Eckerson Road.

"We're are not backing down," Shangase said. "We don't want the school in the neighborhood. Our neighborhood is not designed for that. This has always been a calm neighborhood - no noise, no problems. Since the school opened without us being told, we have had problems."

Rockland Emergency Services Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr. said Ramapo's approach has ignored the views and rights of the neighborhood residents. He said comparing a house to modular trailers was "ludicrous" and said residents have not gotten a chance to comment on the school before town agencies.

Wren, a former Ramapo building inspector, said he's concerned about fire safety. He said the town zoning and planning boards are allowing schools on a half-acre of land and operators are shoe-horning more children into houses than the structures should hold.

Mosdos Sanz, for example, estimates eventually having 450 students.

"This is about money for school operators," Wren said "This is not about safety or democracy and quality of life for the neighbors."

Dorothy Miller and Micheal Miller have lived in the neighborhood since 1972. She said the religious schools are being forced on local neighborhoods against the law.

"People here have moved out since this school opened," said Dorothy Miller, who also serves as a CUPON leader. "We're looking out for neighborhoods and illegal housing."

Miller said he and CUPON members have attended many town meetings and have found the members of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals are supportive of the developers and congregations, rather than residents.

Michael Miller said there are CUPON groups forming across the town to fight development. He said in the past, the town had not fined congregations much more than $500, in most cases, for issues but once fined a private homeowner $42,000 for violations at his house.

"There's collusion in town between the officials and the planning and zoning boards," Miller said. "No one takes responsibility. Everybody points fingers. The laws and appointments are orchestrated for the results like here."