By Kathianne Boniello
CB 11 voted 28-6 against the variance application put forth by the Chabad of Northeast Queens, with most of the opposition citing the size of the proposed house of worship as too large for the surrounding community. There were two abstentions in the vote to deny the Chabad variance.
Bayside civic leader Frank Skala, president of the East Bayside Homeowner''s Association, has opposed the Chabad plans.
“This building is too big for this area,” he said. “It''s going to change the use of the zoning here from dozens of people to hundreds of people without a single parking space.”
Because the proposed synagogue will not include fixed seating, city zoning law does not require the planners to include parking spaces.
Residents who attended Monday night''s meeting at MS 74 in Bayside also protested the Chabad''s plans to build at the corner of 26th Avenue and 213th Street because of the lack of parking in the neighborhood due to the expansion of the Bay Terrace Shopping Center.
Andy Ippolito, president of the Property Civic Association, also protested the Chabad''s plans.
“This building does not belong there,” he said. “It''s the wrong time and the wrong place.”
The proposed synagogue needs at least five variances from the city, because if the new construct were to be built as now planned, it would exceed height restrictions, take up too much land on its plot and would not be set back far enough from the sidewalk on 26th Avenue for the current zoning. The synagogue is to be officially named the Yankel Rosenbaum Center at 26-06 213th St.
Plans filed with the city show the proposed synagogue would have a kitchen, offices, classrooms, several bathrooms and a sanctuary with room for 140 people. Because there would be no fixed seating in the synagogue, based on the plans, the builder is not required to provide parking for the new 9,000-square-foot house of worship.
Last month CB 11''s zoning committee denied the variance by a vote of 7-1, with many committee members urging Chabad lawyer Adam Rothkrug to come back to the board with scaled-down plans.
The only change Rothkrug presented Monday night was the scaling back of a decorative feature of the proposed building, a wall meant to replicate the Wailing Wall, a site of prayer in Jerusalem. Rothkrug said after members of CB 11 and representatives at Borough President Claire Shulman''s office protested the height of the wall, the architects for the project reduced it from 48 feet high to about 35 feet.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
