HAFTR gym expansion approved by Lawrence BZA

A zoning variance appeal by the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) was approved by the Lawrence Village Board of Appeals’ approval, moving forward the expansion plans for the Lower School’s gym at the Washington Avenue building. HAFTR also has a middle school on 44 Frost Lane in Lawrence and the high school on Central Avenue in Cedarhurst.

“The building does have a gym but that gym is woefully inadequate on many levels,” said HAFTR’s attorney Ronald Goldman. “In terms of its size, in terms of facilitating and allowing spectators.”

With an expanded gym, HAFTR would be able to play regulation games on home turf. Goldman said that traffic would not be a concern, as the number of spectators would remain the same, even as the number of games at the future facility increases. “The current gym will not be attracting more people, it will just be facilitating the activities that much more,” he said.

In addition to interior expansion, this variance will also give birth to a sports facility that is both accessible and simply devoid of causing any possible interference with Central Avenue traffic and the nearby residents. Under architect John Capobianco’s design, there will be more parking spaces on Frost Lane, where the buses are usually parked, reducing competition for on-street parking on nearby streets.

“There were 38 existing parking spaces existing north of Washington and now there’s an additional 75 which would be on the existing academy area,” Capobianco said. “The way the gym works is that it’s an addition to the existing school. This is attached to the elementary school, you have access through the elementary school and there are additional outlets in the back so that the visiting team and spectators can come in through the back rather than walking in through the school.”

Congregation Beth Sholom, the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department and the Brandeis School drafted letters of support for the gym expansion. “Whether it be to neighbors, adjoining facilities or institutions, the new gym would be put in a location that would absolutely have no detriment to the community,” Goldman said. “In times past, people were concerned in terms of height. It’s all being consistent and it’s all interior so there won’t be any impact on anyone, certainly no impact on the environment.”

HAFTR’s previous attempts at accommodating its growing student body included a brief partnership with Rambam Mesivta (and later on Shalhevet), in forming the Machon HaTorah sports and academic facility. There was a September 2008 groundbreaking ceremony for a new “Torah and Athletic Center” but those plans were shelved.

Goldman and Capobianco agreed that the new facility would produce an upward effect on the neighborhood’s market value.

“People would want to move into the community knowing that it has a school with these facilities,” Capobianco said. “Just by virtue of its location and where it is, next to Beth Sholom and with the Brandeis School behind it, it’s in an area where it’s commensurate with the space.”