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Page 16 VoL. 101 No. 52
DECEMBER 19 - 25, 2024
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All the news of the Five Towns
Chabad renews suit against Atlantic Beach “We realized that there was a need to service the people that liked the Chabad way of The Chabad of the Beaches, education and outreach,” Goodof Long Beach, has rejected a man said at the time, “and that settlement offered by the Vil- we needed to have a place over lage of Atlantic Beach that here that the people of Atlantic would have ended a legal dis- Beach could call home.” G o o d m a n pute over the worked with archiChabad’s 2021 purtects, engineers chase of property and the village in the village, and planning departthe Jewish organiment for a year, zation has filed an but was ultimately amended lawsuit denied all but once in federal court. zoning variance by The announcethe Atlantic Beach ment of the new Board of Zoning legal complication Appeals on Oct. 10. was made at a vil“The biggest lage board meeting permit they on Dec. 9 that denied was the erupted in chaos, variance to use the with residents property for relishouting at Mayor JEREMy DyS gious use,” Jeremy George Pappas and Senior counsel, First Dys, senior counone another about Liberty Institute sel at First Liberty the village’s accruInstitute, a law ing more legal debt and the ongoing Chabad litiga- firm that is representing the Chabad, said on Dec. 12. “Even tion. At a hearing in Atlantic if they were able to enter the Beach in August, the Chabad’s building right now, they can’t director, Rabbi Eli Goodman, use it for religious purposes,” presented plans for a religious he added of the empty former community center with an Capital One Bank that occupies accessory café at 2025 and 2035 the property. “That’s a real Park St., which the Chabad purContinued on page 8 chased three years ago.
By MELISSA BERMAN
mberman@liherald.com
Alice Moreno/Herald Photo
Deck the halls, support the Scouts Boy Scout Troop 20 of the Five Towns hosted its annual Holiday Wreath Sale at the Parish of Saint Joachim, in Cedarhurst, and Trinity St. John’s, in Hewlett, on Dec. 7 and 8. Scouts Christian Restifo, 16, far left, Conor Corless, 16, Thomas Aguilar, 11, and Patryk Zienkiewicz, 16, braved the cold to sell the handmade creations.
Woodmere Club standstill continues By PARKER SCHUG pschug@liherald.com
There has been no progress in the Woodmere Club redevelopment approval process, despite a three-month hold on a decision regarding redrawn lot lines, and further discussion of the project at a Woodsburgh village meeting on Monday. At a meeting on Sept. 23, Efrem Gerszberg, co-owner of the property with Robert Weiss, had urged Woodsburgh residents and the village board to push the Town of Hempstead to approve their development plan, because the town is the only municipality from which the developers are waiting for a go-ahead.
The latest plan for the club’s redevelopment, proposed in late July, includes the construction of 160 condominiums for seniors on the Woodmere portion of the club property and conservation areas on the other parcels, which are spread among the villages of Lawrence and Woodsburgh and the Town of Hempstead. Gerszberg and Weiss purchased the club in 2017, and controversy arose over residents’ disapproval of their initial plans for the property, and a federal lawsuit from the owners in response. In September, Gerszberg also asked the Woodsburgh village board to approve the redrawn lot lines on the village’s portion of the property. Those lines were initially proposed at Continued on page 7
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illage leadership has been driven by blatant, openly expressed religious animus against their Jewish neighbors.