The Glendale yeshiva, located at 74-10 88th Street, has been a source of contention for years. Neighbors have long complained that the site was lodging hundreds of children overnight in violation of the M1 zoning, which prohibits student dorms. On October 16th, the Department of Buildings – after having visited the site several times and reportedly finding nothing amiss – cited the school for having an illegal dorm. On November 6th, the school was issued a vacate order by the DOB. DOB Commissioner Rick Chandler wrote in a statement, “During a recent inspection of 74-10 88th St., we discovered the presence of 392 beds on site with little or no required life-safety protections, including sprinkler systems that had been disabled or covered over, obstructed building exits, and significant alterations to the building that had been performed without permits. To protect the property’s occupants, the Department took immediate action to vacate the premises last week.”

The yeshiva is in the midst of applying for a variance from the board of standards and appeals to expand the dorm to a capacity of 700. The community board has rejected the idea, as the dorm is illegal to begin with. The children being schooled here are from Rockland County and Brooklyn and we have to wonder why this congregation doesn’t build schools closer to where they live, which would avoid the need to dorm all together.