I LOCAL NEWS I • B'nai Moshe Makes Final Plea, Heads For Court SUSAN GRANT Staff Writer I MUST® QUARTZ WATCH COLLECTION lee muA de Cartier 0 0 6 JULES R. SCHUBOT jewellers — gemologists 3001 West Big Beaver Road • Suite 112 • Troy, Michigan 48084 • (313) 649-1122 SIDEWALK SALE! CONTINUES THRU SUNDAY 1/21 WOMEN'S CHILDREN'S FALL & WINTER SHOES & BOOTS 14 FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1990 ORCHARD MALL ORCHARD LK. RD. N. OF MAPLE 851-5566 WEST BLOOM Fl ELD EVERGREEN PLAZA 12 MILE & EVERGREEN 559-3580 SOUTH FIELD 990 TABLE $ 2990 1 9 9° TABLE TABLE OFF TABLE 729 pairs re g SHOES Serving the Community for 33 Years- n what seemed more like a courtroom hearing than a township meeting, Congregation B'nai Moshe attorneys made the synagogue's case to the West Bloomfield Township Trustees last week. Although township trustees listened politely to the three-hour presentation Jan. 12, they made no deci- sion. Instead, they will leave that up to Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Hilda Gage who is expected to hear the case within the next few weeks. No court date has been set. B'nai Moshe had filed suit against the township after trustees rejected the con- gregation's proposal Nov. 20 to build a synagogue on Drake Road, south of Maple Road. Trustees later told synagogue leaders they ob- jected to the proposal because it would adversely affect the development of a five-acre parcel south of the proposed synagogue site. Earlier this month, Gage ordered trustees to allow B'nai Moshe leaders to refute the township's objec- tions. Robert Roth, attorney and former B'nai Moshe presi- dent, questioned planning, architectural and engineer- ing experts as they testified that the property to the south, owned by Tony and Marianne Iafrate, could be developed as a single-family subdivision. The Iafrates said that if the synagogue is built, they can not build a subdivision on their proper- ty. As a court reporter typed in notes about the pro- ceedings, planner Gerald Luedtke presented a hypo- thetical site plan showing five homes for the Iafrate property. According to Lued- tke, these homes would marketable and this plan would require no variances from township trustees. But township senior planner Tom Bird said two lots on B'nai Moshe's plans would require variances for lot width. Attorney James Iafrate, representing his parents, said B'nai Moshe's latest plan is worse than others presented. "We would not be able to get any funding for this site," Iafrate said. "It simply is not orderly development." After the meeting, Roth said although it would be nice if his arguments swayed trustees, he did not expect it to happen. Instead, he is counting on Judge Gage to reverse the township's deci- sion. He hopes Gage's decision comes quickly. The synagogue's option to pur- chase the 15-acre site ex- pires Jan. 21. Roth continues to work with the property owners to extend the option, which al- ready has been extended twice at a cost of $6,000 to the synagogue. He also maintains the synagogue is not searching for a new site. Meanwhile, B'nai Moshe has still not completed a deal to sell its building at Ten Mile and Church roads for $1.6 million to United Jewish Charities. Larry Ziffer, Jewish Welfare Federation plann- ing director, said "What's the rush? It's not like they need to get out of the building in a hurry." Nothing is holding up the closing, Ziffer said. Because it involves a lot of money, he never expected the sale to be complete until after the first of the year. As for the soon-to-be empty building, Ziffer said, Temple Emanu-El continues to ex- press the most interest in the site. In addition to B'nai Moshe, the township is discussing an ordinance that will en- danger the Lubavitch Foun- dation's plans to build an educational campus on 40 acres it owns on Maple Road, west of the Jewish Com- munity Center. The West Bloomfield Township Planning Com- mission will hold a hearing at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23 at township hall to discuss an ordinance that would allow colleges and universities only in areas zoned for of- fices and industrial parks. It also would lower the land requirements of colleges from 40 acres to 20 acres and set restrictions on what the buildings can look like. The ordinance is a varia- tion of one township trustees defeated Nov. 20. In the earlier version, colleges would have been moved from areas zoned single-family and placed in areas zoned for apartments. If this latest ordinance is