The Shul, the small Chabad Lubavitch synagogue that has been operating for the past five years out of a storefront in the Audubon Court strip mall on the Fox Point-Bayside border, has successfully surmounted the first legal requirement toward erecting its own building.
On May 26, the Bayside village plan commission recommended by a 3-2 vote that The Shul’s request to build on a site in that village should be considered and approved by the full village board, “contingent on creation of a development agreement acceptable to the village,” according to commission member and village trustee Robb DeGraff, who made the motion.
“We’re extremely pleased” by the plan commission’s action, said Rabbi Shmaya Shmotkin, spiritual leader of The Shul, whose officially incorporated name is Congregation Ahavat Yisrael.
“The next step is for us to work with neighbors to see that everything from lighting to landscaping is done in a way that is considerate and respectful of the neighborhood environment,” he said.
This building would be located where three houses now stand on a section on the north side of E. Brown Deer Rd. between N. Rexleigh Dr. and N. Pelham Parkway, across from a North Shore Fire Department building. Shmotkin said last week that offers to purchase those houses have been accepted but the purchases have not yet been closed.
‘Civil exchange’
At the public hearing prior to the vote, some village residents living close to the properties expressed concerns about what the synagogue building and its parking lot would do to the visual and residential character of the neighborhood.
If constructed, The Shul would be Bayside’s first synagogue and second religious institution. One resident wondered why such a building was needed when “there are five synagogues within a ten-mile area of Bayside.”
Because the three houses would be taken off the village’s property tax rolls when replaced by a religious institution, The Shul’s officials offered to “enter into a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement” that would give the village “a sum equal to the village’s share” of the property taxes.
However, plan commission member Lester Maresh, who cast one of the two votes against the proposal, pointed out that this share amounts to only about 20 percent of the total property tax bill.
Nevertheless, both Shmotkin and The Shul’s attorney, Bruce Block, said that the discussions at the hearing and commission meeting were “a good dialogue” and “a civil exchange” that raised “fair questions,” said Block.
Above all, the “overwhelming majority” of the speakers at the public hearing favored the proposal, said Shmotkin. “It is clear that the neighborhood as a whole is extremely supportive.”
According to village manager Andrew K. Pederson, the earliest the village board could consider the request probably will be the meeting on July 7. At that time, the board conceivably could approve the conditional use permit that would enable the project to go forward.
As explained in the booklet that The Shul officials and Block prepared about the plans, the area occupied by the homes is in a residential district.
However, under the village zoning code, conditional use permits for religious institutions can be granted for properties that have frontage on Brown Deer Road without needing to rezone those properties.
The plans call for construction of a 28,000 sq. ft., one-floor building and a 47-car parking lot. The building would include a 400-seat sanctuary, classrooms, a social area, a kitchen, a mikvah (ritual bath) and offices.
The plan also would allow for a possible later addition of 10,000 to 12,000 sq. ft. as a second floor atop the first building that would consist primarily of additional classrooms.
In his presentation to the commission, Block said that The Shul is “a small congregation” whose prospects for growth are “not unlimited.” He said about 50 people attend the Saturday morning services now, which could rise to at most 100 with the new building.
Moreover, he said that the few events that might attract larger crowds, such as Friday night dinners, bar/bat mitzvah celebrations and High Holiday services, would bring at most about 250 people to the building.
Shmotkin said he didn’t know when building might begin or how much the project might cost. Should the village approve the plans, funds will have to be raised, and The Shul officials promised that the houses on the site would not be torn down until construction would begin.
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