Temple Israel seeks subdivision

Temple Israel is looking to divide and sell a little more than half an acre of its front lawn. A public hearing before Lawrence’s Planning Board will be scheduled soon to deal with the subdivision application.

The temple plans to offer the parcel for sale to the Peninsula Public Library for $2.5 million to $3 million. Temple Israel and PPL signed a letter of intent concerning the transaction last September.

Should the subdivision be approved and the sale of the land completed, the library is expected to build a three-story, 30,000-square-foot building on the Central Avenue site to replace the 50-year-old, 13,000-square-foot structure at 280 Central Ave. that it currently occupies.

The purchase would also include two homes owned by the temple on Fulton Street, which the library would demolish to create nearly 60 parking spaces. The Central Avenue facility has only 23 parking stalls.

“We are proceeding in due course, and there is no indication that there is anything adverse to our request,” said Temple Israel President James Rotenberg, who noted that if the transaction with the library falls through for some reason, the temple will seek other buyers.

Last month the temple filed a radius map with the village that shows the names of residents and businesses within 500 feet of the property. “We are in the preliminary stages of the review process,” said Lawrence’s building superintendent, Michael Ryder.

Garrett Gray of the Melville-based Weber Law Group, who is representing the temple, said that he expected to meet with Ryder on Tuesday, as the Herald went to press. “A lot of work has gone into this,” said Gray, a past president of the temple. “The village has been very cooperative and responsive. Every time we have put a submission in, they have acted on it quickly.”