Judge sides with Chester against yeshiva
By John Sullivan
Times Herald-Record
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Chester - A state judge has ordered a would-be yeshiva to stop using temporary trailers that town officials believe are being used illegally to house a school.
Yeshiva Toras Chemed, the new owner of The Inn at Chester on Route 17M, installed the trailers in violation of town laws and after repeated warnings not to do so, according to documents in the case.
The trailers have exposed power cables and electrical wiring, rest on cracked cement blocks and lack access for fire or other emergency vehicles, town officials said.
Officials said the structures were used at least twice earlier this month by large gatherings of young Hasidic men.
"It appears that they have decided to do as they please, in violation of the law," said Chester Supervisor Bill Tully.
Supreme Court Justice Lawrence Horowitz has granted a temporary order directing the yeshiva to stop using the trailers.
Westchester-based Yeshiva Toras Chemed bought the motel and its land four months ago. It asked the town to consider construction plans for a school and dormitory to be used with the existing inn as part of a future yeshiva.
The town Planning Board approved the yeshiva's request to use trailers temporarily, provided that it use them only as offices and storage facilities, that Building Inspector Joe Mlcoch approve and that the yeshiva sign an agreement with town planners.
The yeshiva moved the trailers in without Mlcoch's OK, just as the building inspector demanded to see detailed designs for their use.
A review of those designs by a town engineer found that the eight trailers, when paired, formed four modular buildings for use by 70 people and for food services, multiple rooms, showers and bathrooms and an assembly hall. The plans, Mlcoch said, suggest that the yeshiva intended from the outset to build a temporary school with the trailers and that the group's statements otherwise were meant to skirt oversight.
Increasing his suspicions was yeshiva lawyer Burt Dorfman's refusal to sign off on assurances that the trailers would never be used for educational or religious purposes and would be occupied by no more than 15 people at a time.
Rabbi Moses Weissmandl, the yeshiva's project representative, called the trailers a "misunderstanding" resulting from his group's lack of experience with such projects. He said his group will move all of the students out of Chester until everything is cleared up.
"There was never an intention on our side to do something illegal," he said. "We're looking for a peaceful solution."
Tully said the town's lawyer would talk with the yeshiva's lawyer about avoiding a permanent injunction. A court hearing is set for Feb. 20.
