www.preserve-ramapo.com
Hilda Kogut of Chestnut Ridge CUPON Photo: Peter Carr/The Journal News
“Neighbors are infuriated by the dismissal of a lawsuit over a three-car garage they claim is a being used as a synagogue.
A lawsuit filed by the religious educational center has been dropped with the village’s support that challenged a Zoning Board Appeals ruling voiding the building inspector’s original certificate of occupancy for the structure on Spring Hill Terrace. [Read more…]
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…]
A fire broke out in a group of trailers across from the Kaser Village Hall at 15 Elyon Road early Sunday morning. The unattached trailers, village hall and attached boy’s school are on the same fenced-in property. (Photo: Rochel Leah Goldblatt/lohud)
“A Sunday-morning fire in trailers that raised questions among fire officials occurred on the same property as a yeshiva and Kaser Village Hall.
The property belongs to congregation Khal Torath Chaim, according to Ramapo town property records. The Village Hall rents an office from the yeshiva, Kaser Deputy Village Clerk Binyomin Mermelstein said. [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…]
Justin Schwartz
The following letter was published in The Journal News August 2, 2017 — The writer is Rabbi Justin Schwartz, Chairman of the Rockland Illegal Housing Task Force
Re “Ramapo ex-inspector Anthony Mallia gets no jail time, won’t pay restitution in plea deal,” July 31 article:
The Rockland County Illegal Housing Task Forcewas created in response to unlawful and dangerous housing conditions and its goal has always been to eliminate illegal and unsafe housing in Rockland by all legal means. The removal of Anthony Mallia as the chief building inspector of Ramapo and his felony conviction is a step in that direction. [Read more…]
Photo: John Meore/The Journal News
“Neighbors of the massive Viola Estates housing complex have beaten back a developer’s stealth inclusion of basement space for potential illegal apartments at the Viola Road development across from Ramapo High School.
The agreement reached limited the number of condominiums to the town-approved 44, sealed off outside entrances to basements and removed electrical panels, boilers and other items that could support apartments. [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
“County officials say they found what may be asbestos inside a now-sealed utility closet at the recently opened girls elementary school on the grounds of the former Edwin Gould property.
However, officials said the representatives for the property owner, Chestnut Ridge Ventures, LLC, refused to let an inspector representing the Rockland Health Department sample the material for testing after it was found during a Feb. 2 inspection.
A spokesman for the school and the property owner’s lawyer denied the material found posed a danger to students, faculty and administrators. [Read more…]
Photo: John Meore/The Journal News
This article appeared Jan. 30 on www.matzav.com
The development has been shut down for months. But its developer has been quite busy.
After the unprecedented stop work order issued by the Town of Ramapo last October against Viola Estates Condominium on Viola Road – the first such order resulting from neighbors fighting the town’s unrestrained overdevelopment – the developer of Viola Estates got to work. [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…]