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.”
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In a separate action, the Rockland Health Department plans to seek a search warrant to inspect the buildings being used on the property. The move comes after county inspectors were denied access to the property on Thursday and after the private school’s lawyer failed to provide all the requested documentation regarding fire inspections and certificates, County Executive Ed Day said
The Health Department had issued the property owner violation notices last week for allegedly operating a dormitory without permits and a school without approvals, ordering the owner to remove beds from a dormitory established in a separate building on the 145-care campus.”
Read the complete Journal News story here.