Two weeks ago, a stop work order was reportedly issued for a house
renovation on Slinn Avenue after neighbors complained that renovation
was really meant to illegally convert the home to a haredi girls school. But construction continued unabated, and the Town of Ramapo has done little to stop it.
Illegal Haredi Yeshiva Construction Continues In Ramapo, Despite Stop Work Order
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
It is par for the course in the Town of Ramapo.
Two weeks ago, a stop work order was reportedly issued for a house renovation on Slinn Avenue after neighbors complained that renovation was really meant to illegally convert the home to a haredi girls school.
However, despite the stop work order and neighbors complaints, construction work on the home continues illegally.
News 12 reported that a Ramapo fire inspector was at the house yesterday and told workers to stop work immediately. It is unclear if the workers complied.
Neighbors want work at the site to stop until proper permits are applied for and granted. They are also opposed to having the school at the site because of the increase in traffic it would cause in the already crowded residential area.
Ramapo’s building inspector reportedly said the home’s owners originally got a permit for a simple home renovation but have now filed an application to convert the small single family house into a 16,000-square-foot haredi school for 200 girls.
Under the law, fines can be issued for ignoring a stop work order.
But as is de rigueur in Ramapo, no fines have been levied.
Ramapo is rife with illegal home conversions, often to illegal yeshivas but sometimes to illegal boarding houses and illegal multi-family dwellings.
While Ramapo’s courts, prosecutors and police have done little to curb this, firefighters have banded together to try to force the town and the county to enforce the law. Illegal home conversions are often dangerous, and firefighters report encountering illegal walls and blocked exits when fighting fires. At one point, firefighters refused to answer fire calls in the hasidic Village of New Square because so many homes had these problems. That forced New Square leadership to promise to make changes. But because not answering fire calls in all of the Town of Ramapo is not an option for firefighters, Ramapo’s problems with illegal home conversions have continued unabated.