Board OKs SAR project, nixes homes in Fieldston
One of the most controversial developments in Riverdale moved a step closer to becoming reality last week, while another hit a roadblock at Community Board (CB) 8’s Land Use Committee.
The Salanter Akiba Riverdale (SAR) Academy’s expansion plans for its West 254th Street campus were approved in a 9-4 vote, with three abstentions, on Feb. 5. The project includes a new classroom, a second gymnasium and a connecting hallway. CB 8’s full board was scheduled to vote on the project on Tuesday night, after The Press went to print.
For a project on the other side of the Henry Hudson Parkway — the Bloomfield family’s plans to build three new houses near Indian Pond in Fieldston — the committee voted against the under taking.
Concerns about student safety took precedence over issues raised by some board and community members about the SAR Academy’s lack of a master plan, the potential for disruption to neighboring houses and the planned removal of 51 trees from the grounds during construction.
Since the SAR Academy moved to West 254th Street in 1974, its student body has grown from 450 to 905 students. The new building would accommodate the existing student body, and the school has no plans to increase enrollment, Principal Binyamin Krauss said.
The school, which has an open floor plan without walled classrooms, cited security as its most pressing concern. Part of the additional space would act as lockdown location for students during an emergency, SAR President Jack Bendheim explained at a previous meeting on Jan. 12.
Land Use Committee Chairman Charles Moerdler, who voted in favor of the project, defended the school’s plans for the 13,329-square-foot expansion.
“Until relatively recently, people had a sense of security. They believed they could walk around the streets of Paris with a yarmulke. They could not,” he said. “That’s the basis for what they’re trying here to do — in a hurry, perhaps too much of a hurry.”
Keywords
SAR Academy, Binyamin Krauss, Development, Bloomfield Development, Land Use Committee, Charles Moerdler, Maya Rajamani
