Residents Voice Opposition to Chabad School at Ohel

Almost a hundred neighborhood residents, including civic association and elected officials, collectively spoke out against a proposed Chabad boys’ school near the Rebbe’s Ohel in Cambria Heights, Queens, during a land-use hearing at Queens’ Borough Hall earlier this month.

From the Queens Times Ledger:

A Chabad-Lubavitch entity, a sect of the Hasidic Jewish community, proposed construct a four-story religious school and dormitory which would cater to over 300 students not including the 64 that would be living on the premises. The school, covering three properties 224-12 and 224-20 Francis Lewis Blvd., would be next door to one of the holiest sites for the Chabad-Lubavitch in North America, the Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch, the burial site of the famed Rebbe Menachem Schneerson at the Montefiore Cemetery.

The proposal requires a variance to allow a construction of such a large size in an R2A zoned neighborhood. R2A, is a residential zoning district, which allows for the expansion of existing homes, but the facade has to be consistent with the scale and character of the neighborhood. The proposed school would stand four-stories tall, instead of two floors required in a R2A district. The maximum expansion allowed under R2A zoning is 6,177 square feet while the proposed building would expand nearly six times that size.

According to the residents complaints at the hearing, Ohel visitors have trashed their neighborhood and blocked their driveways. They said the neighborhood was zoned to go against the very project the Chabad community had proposed.

Click here to continue reading at the Queens Times-Ledger.

13 Comments

  • Zalmy Schapiro

    I got an idea let’s make a special parking lot so that way we don’t block peoples driveways it’s not a bad idea but where can we put it there’s no room Haha:):)

  • And we are the ...

    BH
    BSD

    AND WE ARE THE ONES TALKING MOSHIACH IS HERE
    AND TBE NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENTS COMPLAIN ABOUT US?

    AHD MOSAI …WILL WE GET IT..
    AND ACT PROPERLY…WITH OUR NEIGHBORS

    • Anonymous

      C’mon, do you really believe we are trashing their neighborhood?
      they love selling their properties to us and get a higher price and they love that the real estate has gone up
      but still they want to complain ..
      yes, we want Moshiach – and until Moshiach shows up we will not be welcome anyplace..
      It’s ironic .. they do not even realize what they are saying..
      They admit that thousands visit the Ohel – yet how many disturbances, beatings, robberies etc. have they experienced?
      and I do believe that nearly everyone makes an effort to be civil and park legally.

    • Another Guy

      Nu, can you blame them considering that crown heights is the filthiest neighborhood?

  • cheap housing

    I used to work there and the houses are a great starter home for a young couple with small children. 30 from ch, with parking, backyard, frontyard, and now a yeshiva down the block for….350,000. You can’t beat that.

  • Does it have to be 4 stories?

    Any reason not to make some kind of “compromise” like this: instead of one building, 4 stories, why not have 2 or more units, 2 stories? Then, it will be
    “consistent with the scale and character of the neighborhood.” What will be their excuse, now?

    So. one house can be the dorm, the other for learning, etc.

  • Pedant

    These people hate vibrancy and growth, which puts them at odds with the Jewish people. They just want to be left to die in peace, with nothing and no one to conjure up in them unsettling thoughts of leading a long life in name only believing in nothing and contributing nothing.

    They have no kids or grand kids so they hate kids.

    They are brittle and vulnerable, and all change is a threat.

    Believe in nothing and be nothing for there is nothing to be.

    Pathetic little people.

  • To Pendant

    Why do you spew lashon hara? Pathetic little people? no kids? brittle? nothing to be? You sound like Leona helmsly… You do not represent us in CH!

    Do you realize that is what the Nazis said about us! If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.

    • Milhouse

      Just because the Nazis said something falsely about us doesn’t mean it isn’t true about someone else.

      In any case, the Nazis never said anything like that about us.

      Oh, and he’s a pedant, not a pendant!

  • disgusted

    #1 The trashing disrespect has become an old wives tale its an excuse as to the School why does it have to be right by the Ohel? a few blocks away is Linden Blvd which is zoned for it. Additionally there is a School building several blocks away why not a. try to buy them out or b.Acquire & build near by. Yes itis a good idea to create more of a community there by houses around thearea & build another Shechuna thenyou will see less opposition

  • So will this be the "Kiryas Yoel" of Lubavitch?

    That is, will all of the “antis” move there from Crown Heights, and 770 and Crown Heights will become known as the home of the rest of us Lubavitchers?