This posting will be updated as more articles are printed.
I will be excerpting part of each article to highlight important parts
and inconsistencies between the writers. You can click on the links for complete articles.
1. BOA approves Etz Chaim variances; restrictions apply - Teaneck Suburbanite
Thursday, August 19, 2010
BY HOWARD PROSNITZ
TEANECK - After months of contentious hearings, the Board of Adjustment on Aug. 11 approved variances sought by Etz Chaim, an Orthodox Jewish organization, giving it the status of a house of worship and permitting it to hold religious services on its premises at 554 Queen Anne Road. However, the BOA imposed several restrictions on the organization’s use of the one family residentially-zoned home.
A super majority of five votes was required to approve the application, which included variances for parking and the use of a kitchen. With three members recusing themselves, including BOA chair Anne Senter, and two absent, only five voting members were left on the dais. A single negative vote would have blocked the application.
On at least one occasion during the hearings, Edward Trawinski, attorney for Etz Chaim, threatened to sue the township for discrimination.
Some of the restrictions imposed by the BOA limits religious services to the Sabbath and Jewish holidays and prohibits weekday morning and evening services; restricts life events (weddings, bar mitzvahs, funerals) to members of the congregation, prohibits cooking or catering, limits classes and workshops to one a month and prohibits signs without further application to the board. The BOA also required that Etz Chaim designate one of its members as liaison to the community and that the congregation’s leaders remind members at least twice a year to respect neighbors’ privacy.
But Ritvo said that the board could not restrict the congregation from applying for expansion in the future.
"The board cannot deny them the right to come back," he said.
Etz Chaim President Robert Erlich wrote in an e-mail that the community liaison position is not unique to this application, but that the BOA has required such a position for similar applications.
"We are pleased with the approval and we will comply with all conditions imposed," Erlich wrote.
Neighbors of 554 Queen Anne Road, a house that Etz Chaim acquired from Mario Guralink, a member of the congregation, have contended that the group has dealt duplicitously with them and with the township, conducting full scale, regularly scheduled religious services since 2007 while claiming that the house was the residence of Rabbi Daniel Feldman who, according to the neighbors, conducted private prayer meetings in his family room.
Guralink retains ownership of an adjacent house at 576 Queen Anne Road and neighbors are concerned that the two houses will eventually be combined, or both demolished, to construct a large synagogue at the site.
In 2007, a family room was added to the house and other substantial renovations were made. The family room, which contains an Ark and Torah scrolls, is used for services. In August 2008, Township building official Steven Gluck ordered the organization to cease from conducting public worship in the house. Following Gluck’s order, Etz Chaim filed the application for a BOA hearing. The congregation had been permitted to continue to hold services pending the outcome of the hearings.
As far back as 2007 a petition signed by 78 neighbors alleging that the house was being used illegally for religious services was presented to township officials.
Months prior to Etz Chaim’s application to the BOA, the organization had produced a brochure requiring members and new members to contribute $5,000 toward a building fund.
BOA member Harvey Rosen, who voted "reluctantly" in favor of the application, chastised the congregation’s leaders from the dais.
"From the first meeting it has been evident that the applicant has exhibited reprehensible behavior. As a member of their religion I am ashamed at some of their behavior," he said at the hearing.
He noted that in his seven years on the BOA he has dealt other contentious and emotional cases involving houses of worship. But in every other case, he said, the community and the applicant have resolved their differences.
"From day one when they began operating as a quasi-not for profit their behavior has been surreptitious and anything but forthcoming," he said.
He urged the township officials to be vigilant in enforcement of the restrictions: "Perhaps more vigilant than in other cases because of the behavior that the applicant has exhibited."
In an interview, Griggs Avenue resident Janet Abbott, one of the protesting neighbors, said that the BOA’s decision was fair.
"The fact that they had a number of stipulations reflected some of the concerns we raised. We are pleased that we were heard and we are glad for the congregation that they can have their services and that everything is above board," Abbott said.
E-mail: suburbanite@northjersey.com
TEANECK - After months of contentious hearings, the Board of Adjustment on Aug. 11 approved variances sought by Etz Chaim, an Orthodox Jewish organization, giving it the status of a house of worship and permitting it to hold religious services on its premises at 554 Queen Anne Road. However, the BOA imposed several restrictions on the organization’s use of the one family residentially-zoned home.
A super majority of five votes was required to approve the application, which included variances for parking and the use of a kitchen. With three members recusing themselves, including BOA chair Anne Senter, and two absent, only five voting members were left on the dais. A single negative vote would have blocked the application.
On at least one occasion during the hearings, Edward Trawinski, attorney for Etz Chaim, threatened to sue the township for discrimination.
Some of the restrictions imposed by the BOA limits religious services to the Sabbath and Jewish holidays and prohibits weekday morning and evening services; restricts life events (weddings, bar mitzvahs, funerals) to members of the congregation, prohibits cooking or catering, limits classes and workshops to one a month and prohibits signs without further application to the board. The BOA also required that Etz Chaim designate one of its members as liaison to the community and that the congregation’s leaders remind members at least twice a year to respect neighbors’ privacy.
But Ritvo said that the board could not restrict the congregation from applying for expansion in the future.
"The board cannot deny them the right to come back," he said.
Etz Chaim President Robert Erlich wrote in an e-mail that the community liaison position is not unique to this application, but that the BOA has required such a position for similar applications.
"We are pleased with the approval and we will comply with all conditions imposed," Erlich wrote.
Neighbors of 554 Queen Anne Road, a house that Etz Chaim acquired from Mario Guralink, a member of the congregation, have contended that the group has dealt duplicitously with them and with the township, conducting full scale, regularly scheduled religious services since 2007 while claiming that the house was the residence of Rabbi Daniel Feldman who, according to the neighbors, conducted private prayer meetings in his family room.
Guralink retains ownership of an adjacent house at 576 Queen Anne Road and neighbors are concerned that the two houses will eventually be combined, or both demolished, to construct a large synagogue at the site.
In 2007, a family room was added to the house and other substantial renovations were made. The family room, which contains an Ark and Torah scrolls, is used for services. In August 2008, Township building official Steven Gluck ordered the organization to cease from conducting public worship in the house. Following Gluck’s order, Etz Chaim filed the application for a BOA hearing. The congregation had been permitted to continue to hold services pending the outcome of the hearings.
As far back as 2007 a petition signed by 78 neighbors alleging that the house was being used illegally for religious services was presented to township officials.
Months prior to Etz Chaim’s application to the BOA, the organization had produced a brochure requiring members and new members to contribute $5,000 toward a building fund.
BOA member Harvey Rosen, who voted "reluctantly" in favor of the application, chastised the congregation’s leaders from the dais.
"From the first meeting it has been evident that the applicant has exhibited reprehensible behavior. As a member of their religion I am ashamed at some of their behavior," he said at the hearing.
He noted that in his seven years on the BOA he has dealt other contentious and emotional cases involving houses of worship. But in every other case, he said, the community and the applicant have resolved their differences.
"From day one when they began operating as a quasi-not for profit their behavior has been surreptitious and anything but forthcoming," he said.
He urged the township officials to be vigilant in enforcement of the restrictions: "Perhaps more vigilant than in other cases because of the behavior that the applicant has exhibited."
In an interview, Griggs Avenue resident Janet Abbott, one of the protesting neighbors, said that the BOA’s decision was fair.
"The fact that they had a number of stipulations reflected some of the concerns we raised. We are pleased that we were heard and we are glad for the congregation that they can have their services and that everything is above board," Abbott said.
E-mail: suburbanite@northjersey.com
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