During a March 29 celebration held on the proposed site of the Harry and Celia Litwak Chabad Center,
Rabbi Ruvi New recognizes Irving Litwak (right) who donated $2.7 million for the property in his parents’ honor.
The sign in the background anticipates the new Chabad sharing the same street number, 770,
as the Eastern Parkway world headquarters of Chabad Lubavitch in Brooklyn.
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
The north side of the Chabad complex faces Palmetto Park Road.
Rendering provided
Rabbi New dances in celebration with Chaim Shacham, Consul General of Israel to Florida and Puerto Rico,
on the proposed Palmetto Park Road site.
Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Sallie James
A sprawling, two-story, state-of-the-art synagogue with an interactive Israel museum will become the first beachside house of worship in Boca Raton if City Council members approve the plans in mid-April.
The proposal by the orthodox Chabad of East Boca to build an 18,000-square-foot facility at 770 E. Palmetto Park Road is not without controversy: Residents who live near the .84-acre site have voiced concern over parking, traffic patterns and the structure’s height, which is more than 10 feet over the normally allowed 30-foot height restriction.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Board recommended the project for approval after a testy, four-hour March 19 meeting. During the public hearing, numerous residents blasted the city for considering a project that could dump extra traffic into an already congested area that is also affected by the ups and downs of the Palmetto Park Road drawbridge.
On March 29, Boca residents were invited by Chabad to preview plans for the project at the site where it is proposed to be built.
“This is the right fit,” said Rabbi Ruvi New, during the March 19 meeting. “We have put tremendous thought into creating something that is suitable for both residential and commercial residents of the community. I really believe once this is all said and done we will be good neighbors.”
New said the Chabad’s membership is composed of about 75 families, of which 30 to 50 percent walk to worship services.
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 proposed facility would also have a social hall and the high-tech Israel museum.
New, who started his congregation in the living room of his own house 15 years ago, said Chabad of East Boca has outgrown its current home at 120 NE First Ave., and desperately needs to move. The path to finding a new home has not been easy.
In 2008, the Chabad’s plans to move into a 23,000-square-foot building near Mizner Park were scuttled after the City Council approved strict new parking requirements that the Chabad was unable to meet.
The new beachside location, on the south side of Palmetto Park Road where the beloved La Vielle Maison restaurant once stood, includes a traffic pattern that deviates from standard city codes because it funnels traffic onto a residential street, and a height that is 10 feet, 8 inches higher than other buildings in the area.
Homeowners who live in the neighborhood near the proposed project complained that the project is too big for the area, worried that it would create more gridlock in an already congested area, and wondered if the proposed parking was adequate for a facility slated to be home to a world-class museum.
“It’s a beautiful building but it’s in the wrong place,” said Boca Raton resident Chris Fluehr, who lives in the Por La Mar neighborhood nearby and believes the facility will create untold congestion. “What I feel they are trying to do is bring a Trojan horse into our neighborhood. They are describing this one way, with a simple little sanctuary with 75 families, but in all their publications it is not only to be attracting people within the state, but nationally to My Israel (the museum).”
Enid Weinberg, who lives on South Ocean Boulevard, already finds it difficult to get to her home on the east side of the bridge. With the added traffic from Chabad, she fears driving will only get worse, she said.
“Now it’s going to be a total nightmare,” she told the Planning and Zoning Board.
A proposed traffic plan for the Chabad would route worshippers onto the residential street of Southeast Olive Way, and only allow a left turn, directing them toward East Palmetto Park Road. Residents who live in the neighborhood directly south of the proposed synagogue predict that worshipers will be frustrated by traffic backups and instead turn right on East Olive Way — ignoring any posted signage barring right turns — and instead drive through their peaceful neighborhood.
Resident Keith Nelson, who lives on Park Drive East, has lived in the surrounding neighborhood for 13 years and said it’s “nearly impossible” to make a left turn from East Olive Drive onto Palmetto Park Road. He takes an alternate route that involves four right turns on back roads to access westbound Palmetto Park Road.
“It’s crazy. There is no way you are going to make that left,” Nelson said.
But business owner Yaacov Heller, a sculptor who owns Gallery 22 International in Royal Palm Place, said he thinks the synagogue/museum project is a “wonderful thing.” He wasn’t concerned about traffic.
“This will be a great opportunity for people to learn about Israel,” Heller said. “I think it is a marvelous idea. It can serve as a model for people all over the country to set something like this up in their synagogue.”
Cheri Rosen, a Realtor who lives on South Ocean Drive, said property values in the area would skyrocket if the orthodox synagogue were built. The reason? Congregants want to live within walking distance of their place of worship.
“The idea is that people need to live within walking distance of the synagogue,” she said. “They will pay anything to do that. Homes near the Boca Raton Synagogue on Montoya Circle have sold for almost double and triple of what similar homes in other areas were selling for,” she said.
“The value of your home and the quality of your life will not in any way be undermined by Chabad,” she said.
Resident Ronald Rubin wondered if something less amenable might be built on the site if the synagogue is not approved. A restaurant on the site would generate even more traffic, Rubin said.
“For me, it won’t interfere with anything I do. I can’t see it interfering with what most people do,” Rubin said.
The Planning and Zoning Board voted 6-0 to recommend the City Council approve the project’s site plan with the following caveats:
• Usage of the sanctuary, social hall and museum cannot be concurrent, and cannot be converted to another use without city approval.
• To discourage right turns from East Olive Way, the turning radius must be increased and appropriate signage must be posted.
• The facility’s dumpster must be covered.
Rendering provided
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