Proposed religious college in Sterling Forest raises concern
Warwick. Residents urge town planners to do a full environmental impact statement on the Beth Medrash Meor Yitzchok proposal.
| 28 Apr 2025 | 12:43
About 100 people attend the Warwick Town Planning Board meeting April 16 for a public hearing about a rabbinical studies project in Sterling Forest. (Photo by Peter Lyons Hall)
About 100 residents attended the April 16 meeting of the Warwick Town Planning Board, most to express concern about a proposed 200-student religious college in Sterling Forest at the former site of an New York University research facility.
Old Forge Road LLC has applied for site plan approval and a special use permit to turn an existing 87,000-square-foot building into the Beth Medrash Meor Yitzchok school.
Beth Medrash Meor Yitzchok College is a private institution of higher learning based in Monsey. The most popular bachelor’s degree concentration there is Talmudic studies, according to an online profile of the school published by DATAUSA.
If approved, the site will house about 200 students with overnight accommodations as well as 12 to 18 professors and administrators on the southeastern side of Old Forge Road adjacent to Sterling Pines Road. The college plans to disturb only 0.3 acres in its renovation of the seven-acre property.
The Planning Board took no action on the application but listened to about two dozen residents voice concerns about the project.
Speakers asked the board to issue a positive declaration of the State Environmental Quality Review Act and subject the project to a full EIS environmental review.
Asking for due diligence
The character of the applicants was raised, with four speakers asked about the good will of the religious community.
Board chairman Ben Astorino shot down these questions. “Discrimination does enter the minds of the board,” he said.
Resident Jim Mehling said, “A lot of people here tonight are supporting you to do your due diligence.”
Astorino responded: “This board always does its due diligence.”
Resident Chris Keelty said, “This is not about who these people are. We still have religious freedom. But this seems like a step in the wrong direction.”
The plan is for the students to be bused in and out monthly. The site would have 78 parking spaces.
It was purchased from NYU in 2021 and the application was filed in January 2024.
In November, the board reviewed its EAF Part 2. The bar for a full EIS environmental review is one adverse impact.
Residents suggested that the impacts on wildlife, traffic and water could be triggers for the EIS.