Neighbors Dispute Yavneh Academy's Expansion Plans

Yavneh Academy's plans to add five additional classrooms, expanded lobby area and extended parking lot drew at least a dozen neighboring property owners armed with questions and concerns about the proposal to the Paramus Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing Thursday night.

The pre-K to Grade 8 school seeks to add classrooms to meet its current instructional needs while also adding a sufficient amount of parking spaces intended to eliminate the need for staff members parking on side roads.

However the neighboring property owners worry that this newest expansion of the school will cause them further woes by adding more vehicles to roads like Farview Avenue and cause additional flood problems on Broadview Terrace.

The plan would add five additional classrooms to an existing building at the ground level, an area which currently is underneath the most recently constructed new wing, not changing the building's footprint, according to Don Barree, the project architect.

With these new classrooms, the school can meet the needs of its special education students who need to be placed into smaller groups throughout the day for instruction, according to Rabbi Jonathan Knapp, school principal. Knapp claims space is so limited there are times these classes are forced to be conducted in the school's hallways.

Board members and residents questioned whether this additonal space could mean the possibility of enrollment growth. According to Knapp the school currently has 720 students and at maximum could accomodate 750.

"We don’t expect change in enrollment.  We expect it to be stable and remain close to where it is right now," said Knapp.

"How do we take your word for it? We were promised enrollment wouldn't go up last time and it did," questioned Catherine Smith a neighboring property owner.

Board member James Huffman believed the last time Yavneh came before the board a stipulation was put in place capping the enrollment at 750. The Board will look into its records to determine if this cap has been previously set.

The parking expansion is said to improve the school's impact on the neighborhood as its current parking lot is undersized and forces some of its employees to park on side streets or in spaces the school leases at a church lot near the property.

In the plans parking would increase from 89 spaces to 157. To do this the school plans to use two pieces of property at the north end to convert into parking area. Traffic expert Judd Rocciola testified that the number of parking spaces proposed would eliminate the need for staff members to park on side streets.

As for impact of vehicles on the roads, Rocciola told the Board he did not do a traffic study as the plans are said to have no change to the school's current day to day operations and therefore there was no need.

This was met with concern by neighboring property owners and some Board members like Pat O'Brien who said he was surprised the opportunity to improve the traffic impact on the area was not considered. He also challenged the school for not taking a look at improving the narrow area in front of the school where students are picked up and dropped off which he called an "unusual traffic pattern."

"There is no appropriate way for picking up and discharging the students. It's hard to consider additional variances if not fixing some of the things I think are wrong," said O'Brien.

Board Chairman Stephen J. Sullivan challenged that the lot at the north east end which has a house on it the school rents out was not considered for additional parking spaces.

Ralph Barros of Broadview Terrace brought his flooding woes to the project engineer Andrew Missey asking if the proposed drainage system will finally fix problems that have existed for years causing sewers to overflow on his street and flooding his property.

"The drainage on Broadview is terrible to say the least and it's due to Yavneh because when it drains it comes on to my property," Barros said.

Bonnie Dickinson claims there are old drains on the property that were never maintained and are clogged.

Some who came forward said previously the school said it would make improvements to the drainage system and nothing was done and hopes this new plan won't make things worse.

Missey explained that a detention system will be placed in the center of the lot catching some of that run off. It was agreed that the drainage system on the property will be further looked into before the next hearing.

Homeowners also had complaints about the buffer area on the north end of the property bordering Longview Court which they claim has not been properly maintained causing the trees to rot and die.

"I hope you will be better neighbors," Smith said as she left the podium.

Plans also include a renovation to the front entrance lobby area which would allow for security desk and ample space for entry, eliminating congestion which is the case with the current narrow corridor the building has now, according to Barree.

The hearing will continue on Thursday, Aug. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers.

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