Mindy said something magical happened when she and her family stayed at a home on Ramapo Valley Road that serves as a retreat for families with sick children. “Many of our homes are makeshift hospitals,” said the mother of six from Monsey, N.Y., who has two children with muscular dystrophy. The retreat, at 1058 Ramapo Valley Road, was “a fairyland of nature, calm, peace and solitude.”
Mindy, whose last name is being withheld at her request, was the first witness called Wednesday, Oct. 20, by an attorney for the nonprofit Chai Lifeline at a Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing in pursuit of a variance to continue offering the home to such individuals as a respite from their woes.
The hearing follows a two-year debate about the use of the home, which was donated by Craig and Pamela Goldman to Chai Lifeline in 2007. It lies on 4.6 wooded acres, and includes a three-car garage, five bedrooms, a swimming pool and family room overlooking the Ramapo River.
A township zoning officer found that Chai Lifeline’s use of the home constituted a transitional use, contrary to the single-family zoning code. The board upheld that determination in August. Read full story in North Jersey.
Sruli
Your the best, keep it up
I also stayed at that retreat, and it really does wonders after or during an illness or tragedy – the space, the nature, tranquility, luxury, etc. etc. Chailifeline supplies linen, computer, more and more.
There is no doubt that this home does good things, however thats not the issue here.
Towns have zoning requirements as to the proper usage for pariclar zones within the township.You can’t just use the argument that its good for those who need its services. How would you like a factory built next door to you? It could be argued that the workers benifit from that by having a job .
Zoning laws should be upheld and I’m not a big believer in variences because they can be arbitrarily given out and that defeats the whole process.
Ive been there for a few days and my kids are constantly asking me to go back even thought we missed out on half of the fun as we went in the winter. I dont really understand the zoning issue. If chai lifeline would recieve money then you could say it is a hotel or something ,however anyone is allowed to lend out their house for any reason and let people stay there just like i can have relatives or friends live in my basement as long as i dont get paid for it
to been there says
you are sadly mistaken , the home is no longer being used as a single family residance and that is what the zone calls for so it does not meet that standard . If everyone used their own interpertation and not what is actually written as the zoning rules are there would be no sense in having any rules ,i must say that some towns do that and it is a big problem as zoning laws then become unenforceable and we then have uncontrolled mixed usage that creates many problems because of lack of insight on the part of those don’t enforce the rules.