3-car Garage at 3 Spring Hill Terrace

Monday night at a meeting of the Chestnut Ridge Zoning Board of Appeals (Jan. 29), the board voted 5-0 to revoke the C/O (certificate of occupancy) that had been granted by the Village’s building inspector to an oversized, two-story 3-car garage at 3 Spring Hill Terrace. This was the second meeting about the garage, and both sessions lasted almost three hours and had to be held at the Chestnut Ridge Middle School due to an overflow of those attending. The difficulty of arriving at a conclusion was not due to the facts but rather a Catch 22 in the state’s zoning law. [Read more…]

Inside the 3-car garage at 3 Spring Hill terrace in Chestnut Ridge (Photo submitted)

NOTE: A special meeting of the Zoning Board of appeals will address the matter in today’s JN story–Meeting is Monday, December 18, 2017, 7:30 PM Please note Meeting will take place at the Chestnut Ridge Middle School Auditorium, 892 Chestnut Ridge Rd, Chestnut Ridge NY 

“When is a garage not used to house cars? Neighbors of a Spring Hill Terrace property say when the garage is a synagogue.

While the congregation denies holding services in the three-car garage, neighbors are asking the village zoning board of appeals to revoke the structure’s certificate of occupancy and issue a stop work order.

“They lied,” Hilda Kogut said Friday, standing with neighbor Carole Goodman on a chilly morning outside the house owned by the Brooklyn-based Kedishas Aharon D’Hadas. “This is a shul, not a three-car garage. We kept telling the village what’s going on there. The village is turning a blind eye.” [Read more…]

The classroom building at the Bais Yaakov Elementary School on the old Edwin Gould Property in Chestnut Ridge (Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News

“Owners of the property where a religious school began operating without village approvals in 2016 has come to an agreement with Rockland County over fines, inspections and the use of dormitories.

But the school still lacks approvals and permits as it continues to operate, and the village maintains it should be shuttered until they are granted.

Chestnut Ridge Ventures, the owner of the former Edwin Gould property where Bais Yaakov Elementary School of Rockland County operates, agreed to a $1,000 fine and a timetable to complete inspections, among other things, Rockland Executive Ed Day said in a statement released Monday. [Read more…]

The classroom building at the Bais Yaakov Elementary School on the old Edwin Gould Property in Chestnut Ridge (Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News

CHESTNUT RIDGE —”The owners of the former Edwin Gould property are being taken to state Supreme Court by the village and county over a school that officials charge opened there without proper inspections and permits.

Village officials asked a state judge on Wednesday to close down the private girls school operating inside a building on the sprawling 145-acre campus along Chestnut Ridge Road, saying it had been operating since early December without those clearances and site plan approval.

“We’ve asked the court to basically close down the school until they comply with our building and zoning regulations,” Mayor Rosario “Sam” Presti said Friday. “Anything and everything that’s been going on there has been done without applying for our permits. We’d like to ensure the building is safe.” [Read more…]

The gated entrance to the Bais Yaakov Elementary School of Rockland County, a private girls school on the old Edwin Gould Property in Chestnut Ridge. Photo: Mark Vergari/The Journal News

“A private elementary school for girls on the grounds of the former Edwin Gould property opened last month without permits and is not in compliance with zoning and fire code regulations, according to village officials. [Read more…]