News

By Sallie James

    A standing-room-only crowd of nearly 300 staunch supporters and fierce opponents of a controversial beachside synagogue packed Boca Raton City Hall last month for a showdown about the project’s site plan.
    But they left without resolution after City Council members stunned some and delighted others by deferring action on Chabad of East Boca’s proposal, citing questions about the project’s calculated footage.
    “Obviously it’s very disappointing,” said Rabbi Ruvi New, as he exited the council chambers, flanked by a crush of congregants. “It’s not what we expected at all since we had unanimous approval by the Planning and Zoning Board. I don’t think anyone expected this. We were completely blind-sided.”
    A sprawling, two-story, 18,000-square-foot synagogue with an interactive Israel museum is proposed for 770 E. Palmetto Park Road where La Vieille Maison restaurant once stood.
    Questions also swirled about a parking garage clearance issue, and a turning radius for buses.
    New said questions about the proposed synagogue’s ratio of square building footage to square property footage cropped up that afternoon, but he thought they had all been answered.
    “There are factors that staff has not yet had an opportunity to fully absorb and make a recommendation to the council,” City Attorney Dana Grub Frieser explained during the meeting.
    The Planning and Zoning Board will re-examine the project’s site plan on May 7, and City Council will reconsider the issue on May 27.
    Questions about traffic patterns and the proposed structure’s height — which is more than 10 feet over the normally allowed 30-foot height restriction — also remain contentious.
    Proponents claim the .84-acre site on East Palmetto Park Road is the perfect spot for Chabad of East Boca’s proposed state-of-the-art synagogue and world-class, interactive Israel museum.
    Opponents insist that such a facility will drive extra traffic into an already congested area that is also critically affected by the ups and downs of the Palmetto Park Road drawbridge.
    “I’m happy about the continuance because it allows everyone to have further discussion,” said 20-year resident Julie Holzworth, who lives on Northeast Spanish Trail in the Riviera neighborhood nearby. “My biggest concern is traffic. It’s hard to get in and out of my little neighborhood and I’m concerned about the amount of traffic this project will generate because it will be a cultural center.”
    New has said the Chabad’s membership is composed of only about 75 families, of which 30 to 50 percent walk to worship services. But residents in the area fear the worship center and museum will create gridlock in an area already plagued by congestion.
    Deputy City Manager George Brown said a continuance was necessary so city staff could clarify some ambiguities about the site plan regarding the square footage of the proposed building as it relates to the square footage of the property.
    The square footage of a building cannot exceed 50 percent of the total land area eligible for development, Brown explained. The Chabad calculations appeared to include a small, residentially zoned parcel along with the main parcel, which is zoned for business, putting the total percentage over 50 percent, he said.
    “The developer has explained that the actual building area is less than is shown in the tabular data but staff has not had time to verify what they were saying,” Brown said after the meeting.
    Mayor Susan Haynie said she is concerned the project design does not allow an adequate turning radius for buses. “Can a bus actually make a turn there?” Haynie wondered after the meeting.
    The proposed synagogue is slated to have a 156-seat sanctuary, a basement parking area with 56 spaces and a 25-space ground-level lot. In addition, the project would have a social hall and a high-tech Israel museum.