OAK PARK : Residents Oppose Chabad Expansion

Residents of an Oak Park neighborhood want to halt the expansion of a Jewish worship center, saying they fear it will drive down property values and alter the quaint nature of their neighborhood.

“It’s going to lower our property values in the long run,” neighbor Arlene Fishstein said. “It’s just an inappropriate spot for that type of thing.”

For about the past year, members of Chabad of the Conejo Valley, a conservative sect of Hasidic Jews, have used the 1,700-square-foot house on Conifer Street as a place to pray and conduct business.

They submitted plans March 23 for a 1,300-square-foot expansion that included a second story and a small parking lot in the back yard. Those changes would have required a parking variance and zone change from the Ventura County Planning Department.

The Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council first recommended that the plan be approved but reversed itself when neighbors protested, saying they had been given the impression that the expansion was to be more limited than the plans showed.

To appease neighbors, the Chabad this week eliminated the parking lot from its plans and proposed building out instead of up, a planning official said.

The current plan no longer requires a variance or zone change, according to senior planner Ron Allen. Since neighbors complained, however, Chabad must now apply for a permit to hold religious meetings in a residential area.

Neighbors say they still don’t approve.

“They lost any sort of goodwill they had by doing it on the sly,” said David Winstone, who lives across the street from the Chabad house. The group “said one thing, did another,” Winstone said.

Chabad Rabbi Moshe Bryski declined to comment, saying he wanted to let the issue die and to repair relations with neighbors.

The latest proposal is undergoing a 30-day review by the Planning Department.