Court Orders Chabad House Closing

Judge wants more details about fire, safety measures by Feb. 5, orders temporary closing of the Chabad Israeli Center’s facility.

ROCKVILLE, MD — A District Court judge last week ordered the Chabad Israeli Center to temporarily close down the house it operates in Rockville until it can provide city officials with more detailed fire and safety plans.

Judge Brian Kim handed down the order after he and the Rockville city fire marshal deemed the center’s draft plan to make the house safe for public assembly inadequate, said Steven VanGrack, an attorney who represents Rabbi Shlomo Beitsh, the center’s leader and owner of the house.

“The judge felt they needed to show greater progress towards making the building safe for public use,” VanGrack said.

Beitsh declined to comment for this story.

VanGrack said Beitsh has been ordered to return to District Court Feb. 5 with more comprehensive plans.

The Jan. 21 order stemmed from a citation that had been issued to Beitsh during the summer, stating the single-family house at 216 Rollins Ave. was operating without the occupancy permit it required. A $100 fine was attached to the city citation and the center chose to question the action last month in court, where the judge found the center liable for not having the permit, VanGrack said.

During the Dec. 15 hearing, Kim did not shut down the center, located in a residential community, despite ordering it to pay the fine. He told the city and Chabad to work together to obtain the necessary permits and implement a $71,500 contract the center had entered into with a construction company to bring the building up to code.

The citation, which was issued July 17, was preceded by a June 1 letter from the city’s fire marshal stating the building was in violation of the state’s fire prevention code and the city’s building code, VanGrack said. It states that the group had to stop using the building until it satisfied all code requirements and the city issued an occupancy permit.

The city’s Planning Commission granted a use permit to Chabad in November 2008.

Attached to the use permit was a set of conditions, including that the building and its site must comply with all applicable building, fire and safety codes before its use as a religious institution. The center was also required to submit plans to make those improvements to the building within six months of receiving its use permit and then obtain its occupancy permit.

VanGrack said the center submitted its plans to the city on June 11, but officials rejected the application.

Susan Swift, the city’s director of community planning and development services, said she saw the center’s updated plans one day before last week’s hearing and that they were not complete enough to issue the permits needed to open.

“They brought us a plan and a letter saying they had made some progress, but were not ready to submit a full plan for a few weeks,” she said.

Swift said the city received a floor plan with some changes, but it lacked major construction details.

VanGrack said he also thought his client’s plans were lacking.

“I thought they showed major renovations, but did not hit all the nails on the head,” he said.

VanGrack said the fire marshal stated that the house’s entranceway needs to be larger and that the stairs inside the house must be widened. He added that mechanical, electrical and plumbing plans also need to be more detailed.