Community Board Turns Down Amended Plan for Shearith Israel Synagogue Development

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The Upper West Side community board shut down a request to amend building plans for a proposed development adjacent to a synagogue on the Upper West Side.

The community board ruled Tuesday against a request to amended building plans for a proposed nine-story building adjacent to the Congregation Shearith Israel. The board voted to reject the synagogue's request by a vote of 31 in favor, 2 against and 8 abstaining.

The request was rejected "without prejudice to renewal," which means the congregation will be able to re-submit the application for future community board meetings.

Ultimately, the community board's decision came down to a lack of information provided by the congregation and concerns over doubts cast by the Board of Standards and Appeals on the amended plans for the project.

"We had some questions about the application in our July land use meeting and we received answers to those questions but in the meantime BSA sent the synagogue a list of 40 questions they had about the project and instructed CSI to give us answer to these questions, we haven't received those answers," said board member and land use committee chair Richard Asche.

Asche said that without the answers to the BSA's questions the board couldn't vote to approve the congregation's request.

The congregation's lawyer Zachary Bernstein attempted to downplay the significance of the BSA's 40 questions.

"We are disappointed today that the CB changes its position based on review on what is frankly a very standard notice of comment issued by the BSA," Bernstein said Tuesday night.

Bernstein said that the synagogue is currently in the process of responding to the BSA's list of 40 questions and will copy the community board when it has the relevant information.

The Congregation Shearith Israel on West 70th Street has been trying to build the development next to its landmarked synagogue for years. The new structure would include several floors dedicated to residential use as well as floors reserved for synagogue programming and the ability to make the synagogue disability accessible.

But the project has pitted the community — specifically preservationists — and the congregation against each other.

Preservation groups such as Landmark West have opposed the project saying that the new development would contrast the existing neighborhood feel by sharply contrasting the adjacent synagogue and the neighborhood's many brownstones.

Several members of Landmark West spoke out against the project during Tuesday night's meeting. In an advocacy alert issued by the group Tuesday the project was labelled an "inappropriate development and manipulation of zoning."

Photo: Google Maps street view circa May 2016