The Ballad of Rock Ridge, next verse
/
From 1900 to 1971, 270 Lake Avenue, in Rock Ridge, was the home of the private girls school Rosemary Hall, perhaps best known for its history of co-ed activities between students and faculty. In 1971 the school loaded its girls into limousines and returned them to Wallingford, to merge with the male scions of the Masters of the Universe, and a succession of schools, from Christian Scientists, to Japanese, to those of the Hebraic faith, operated the campus within the Rock Ridge Association. Squabbles over operating hours and traffic arose each time a different institution took over, but they were always resolved, usually after mild battles supervised by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Simmering tensions between Rock Ridge residents and the current tenant flared up when Chabad Lubavitch, which had been running a daycare center on the property, announced that it would be buying the entire campus from its owner, the Japanese School, and applied to the P&Z for permission to expand its operations to a full school, up to Grade 9, and, according to its attorney, “possibly build a synagogue”. Whoo boy.
Noisy parties on school grounds and excessive traffic had already generated consternation, and matters weren’t improved when the director of the school sent a letter to the next-door Greenwich Field Club, reminding its members that the school was private property, and neither the members nor their children were to trespass on the lawns or use the playground. Someone at Chabad obviously skipped class the day “goodwill and neighborliness during pending zoning applications” was discussed.
So I’m guessing that some mouths dropped when, just before last night’s hearing on the application, an announcement was made: The Rock Ridge Association has exercised its right of first refusal on the property, granted by deed long ago, and the Association, not the Chabad, will be buying the land.
Greenwich Free Press has the story:
Monday’s P&Z briefing before the main event, Tuesday’s full P&Z meeting, featured a bit of a surprise about Chabad Lubavitch’s application at 270 Lake Ave.
Chabad was, before Monday’s briefing, the contract purchaser of the 16+ acre property from Carmel Academy.
The 16+ acre property is owned by Carmel Academy, who closed their own school last year, but have leased to Chabad and the Japanese School, who plan to depart in March 2022.
The property has been home to private schools for a century. It is unique in that it is part of the private Rock Ridge Association.
P&Z director Katie DeLuca said the new purchaser was a resident of Rock Ridge [Former First Selectman Sherry Breed’s son, Alan].
In an email after the briefing, Rabbi Yosi Deren said, “Chabad Lubavitch of Greenwich has learned that Carmel Academy has signed a contract to sell the property at 270 Lake Avenue to Alan Breed. We are speaking with our advisors, community partners, and supporters to evaluate alternatives in light of our prior agreements with Carmel. We remain focused on our goal of – G-d willing – establishing a permanent home for Jewish education in Greenwich, on this campus.”
Yeah, well, good luck with that, Rabbi. I don’t know whether the Rock Ridge Association is itself buying the place or Alan Breed himself, but the chances are, the campus is headed back to its original 16-acres of meadow, or something else, far more tightly controlled by the Association, will be coming in. That’s just my guess, based on absolutely nothing except my hunch that, after decades of headaches arising from the schools here, the neighbors have decided to deal with it the way all proper billionaires do with problems: bring out the wallet and make it go away.
Whether or not Alan Breed will be the actual buyer, or is just the named designee for the Association itself, I expect to see him next on Greenwich Avenue, dressed in buckskin and cowboy hat and wearing a sheriff’s badge on his chest. Black Bart has ridden to Rocks Ridge’s rescue.
