Airmont CDRC asks for recalculation, reclassification of Shulam Shook plan at 245 Cherry Lane

At the Village of Airmont Community Design Review Committee meeting Tuesday, committee members and staff asked the applicant for Shulam Shook to reclassify and recalculate interior square footage and occupancy for a proposal at 245 Cherry Lane that would join a single-family house and a two-story garage and formalize religious use for about 30 congregants.

The question matters because classification under the village code determines allowable occupancy, parking requirements and whether the application qualifies for expedited review and a waiver of a public hearing. Planning staff and the building inspector indicated the project may fit “residential place of worship” standards in Local Law 2 of 2024 but that the submitted measurements and area calculations must be corrected before the committee can finalize an interpretation.

Committee members described the plan as an infill connecting an existing house and a two-story garage to create a single structure: the garage has been used as a house of worship for about a year, the applicant said, and the proposed work would add a small connector and create a mikvah, restrooms and related spaces. The applicant reported an expected congregation size of roughly 30 people; building-inspector review centered on how to translate that number into code-required square footage and whether non-sanctuary spaces must be included in the calculation.

Lou, the building inspector, reviewed the code references aloud and told the applicant the submission should be recalculated. Lou said the relevant code points require counting gross floor area and that sanctuary occupancy is computed at 15 square feet per person when applying the place-of-assembly standard, which would create a mismatch with the applicant’s stated number. Lou told the committee, “It’s gotta be reclassified and recalculated, and I need the actual measurements on here. I can’t guess at the size of the house and the and the size of the new square footage.”

Participants discussed two parallel code categories: the older “residential place of assembly” and the newer “residential place of worship” created in Local Law 2 of 2024. Planning staff and Lou said the newer “residential place of worship” standard may be the correct fit because it allows up to 49 congregants or 49% of a residence’s gross floor area, but that determination depends on precise measurements and on whether ancillary spaces (mikvah, bathrooms, kitchens, lobbies) are included in the gross-floor calculation. The applicant and staff estimated combined building area in the submission at about 2,800 square feet and said the existing house is roughly 2,700 square feet; the garage structure was identified on plans as about 1,041 square feet.

Other technical issues flagged to the applicant included a fire inspector letter noting a required turning radius for emergency vehicles at the driveway entrance and a request to confirm building height (the fire letter asked whether the structure exceeded 30 feet). The committee also raised the mikvah: staff and the building inspector said a previously installed mikvah had been placed without the proper permit and that the application shows the existing feature will be removed and replaced by a new, inspected mikvah inside the revised plan.

Next steps: the committee asked the applicant to submit updated architectural drawings and a corrected floor‑area and occupancy calculation so staff can determine whether the proposal qualifies as a residential place of worship and whether it will require a public hearing. Planning staff set an internal deadline of Feb. 20 for materials to be ready for the CDRC meeting scheduled for March 11.