E. Ramapo Looks to Use Money from Hillcrest School Sale to Improve Schools

While the Hillcrest Elementary School is now a thing of the past, the East Ramapo Board of Education president hopes the money garnered from its sale will allow the district to build toward a better future.

The board accepted a bid Wednesday night to sell the recently closed Hillcrest school, in New City, to the Congregation Yeshiva Avir Yakov for $3.1 million. The 7-1 vote – with Suzanne Young-Mercer the lone dissenter – came after an hour-long discussion in executive session about the four bids the district received for the property earlier this month.

"I understand why the board made its decision," said board president Nathan Rothschild.

As part of the discussions about the bids, Rothschild secured an amendment to the bid acceptance that says the money from the sale must be used toward the acquisition of real estate to build new schools for the district, which he said are desperately needed.

"This money will be the seed money for my dream project of building new buildings for the school district," Rothschild said.

He said the board has discussed on several occasions in the past few years the need for newer schools and "I'm going to make sure it does get done."

While some would argue that during a time of staff and program cutbacks in the midst of a recession where spending is frowned upon and taxes are at the forefront of people's minds would not be the time to consider large capital projects, such as new schools, Rothschild disagrees, and believes the district's focus must be that of a big-picture view.

"If the community sees we're using this money to build a better future, then they'll get on board," he said.

The yeshiva's bid was not the highest for the Hillcrest school property. ZD Realty, of Monsey, offered $4.3 million, but that was contingent upon district financing and the board was uncomfortable with the bid's structure, Rothschild said.

The other bids were for $1.65 million and a bid by the yeshiva to rent the property for five years, starting at $200,000 the first year and increasing $100,000 a year for each of the next four years for a total of $2 million. The potential complications from being a landlord did not appeal to the board, Rothschild said.

Arthur Fisher, director of secondary education for the East Ramapo Central School District, said he would have liked to have seen more bids for the land, but the district did what it had to do in these difficult economic times.

"We were disappointed with the market," he said. "The bids were lower than we would have liked. We had a need to sell the building."

Board member Suzanne Young-Mercer said the district should have waited to sell the building until the sagging real estate market improves and a higher price could have been realized.

Rothschild said Young-Mercer's point of view has validity, but if the district plans on using the money to buy land for new buildings, the district does not gain anything by waiting. That's because while it may be selling low now, it also can buy low now whereas if its waits, it may get more money for Hillcrest but land also will have increased in value so there's no net gain.

The property is assessed for taxes at about $3.16 million but that's based on the last town assessment done in 1985. Its 2010 market value based on the town assessor's office equalization rate calculator is about $10.2 million. Yet, a recent independent appraisal placed its value at about $3.2 million, Rothschild said, so the board believed the yeshiva bid represented fair value. 

The yeshiva's plans for the property were not divulged to the school board. The yeshiva is about five minutes from Hillcrest. Eluzer Moshel, an official with the yeshiva, referred questions to New Square Deputy Mayor Israel Spitzer, who did not return calls seeking comment.

Hillcrest school, which opened in 1960, is a one-story, 54,000-square-foot building on about 12 acres located at 32 Addison Boyce Drive. It is located between state Route 45 and West Clarkstown Road. The school, which was for grades four through six, has 30 classrooms, two gymnasiums, a cafeteria, a library, a kitchen and comes partially furnished. It was closed after this school year due to budget cuts.

The property is residentially zoned for single-family homes on a minimum of 1 acre, which means it could fit 10 or 11 homes maximum on the property. No commercial businesses or multi-family residences would be allowed unless a variance or zoning change was granted. The town of Clarkstown has indicated in the past it likely would not approve a variance.

The closing and sale of the school has created a controversy among many in the area and school district. One local resident had been circulating a petition to stop the sale of the school, requesting the decision to be put up for a districtwide vote.