Plan to turn New City office building into a school

A plan has been submitted to the Town of Clarkstown in Rockland County to covert a three-story office building at 67 North Main St. in New City into a religious school. The applicant is the Prospect Park Yeshiva, which is located in Brooklyn. It purchased the building in 2022 for just over $4 million. The building is on about 1.7 acres and currently is in use with office tenants.

The first floor of the building is approximately 2,837 square feet. The balance of the first floor is open and utilized as covered parking. The second floor is approximately 8,484 square feet and the third floor is approximately 8,924 square feet. The proposal is to enclose the existing first floor covered parking area and make renovations to the second and third floors. The renovations will create classrooms, staff and support spaces, a new stair tower to accommodate the increase in the number of people who will be in the building as well as a new remote exit and a multipurpose room.

There are 65 parking spaces proposed. The existing covered parking area is to be eliminated and the parking area is to be lowered approximately two to three feet to create a taller ceiling for the new interior. At the northern portion of the site, 28 parking spaces will be eliminated to provide 8,125 square of a fenced outdoor play area. Overall, 55 parking spaces are being removed onsite. The Prospect Park Yeshiva says that its proposed plan meets the parking space requirements.

The students attending school at the location would be from nursery school to eighth graders, which generally includes children from the age groups 4 to 13. The current enrollment is 83 students. It is projected that by 2031 the school might grow to a maximum enrollment of 282 students. The school said that approximately 22 students, all of them in nursery school, arrive and depart by car and the remaining students ride on district school buses. The application shows a design that the applicant says will prevent cars from stacking up onto North Main Street.

The classrooms will hold from 18 to 24 students. One large room will be utilized as a lunch area. Students will either bring their own lunch from home or the school will provide a catered lunch, which will be delivered to the school daily. No food will be prepared at the school.

The applicant says during the school day, there will be mechanisms in place for children and staff members to safely access the playground area. The applicant says that its school is closed for 42 days during the school year and that school is in session from September through June. The school does not run a day camp.