Youth Performing Arts School Seeks Zoning Approval On Toxic Site

Long Beach, NY — A youth theater school and a sister dance school have been collecting petitions and seeking community support ahead of Thursday night's zoning board meeting for approval of variances needed to construct a new home for a combined youth arts center. The site of the proposed building is currently a closed, toxic former cleaning business at the corner of Park Avenue and Long Beach Road.

The zoning meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at City Hall. Co-owner of Professional Youth Theatre Erica Ascher told Patch that they have received a lot of community support.

"Considering it's been a toxic site, people are happy we will be cleaning it up. People are really excited about the possibility of the new location."

The theater and dance schools serve children and some adults from the local community as well as surrounding towns who take classes and stage performances. Because of the toxic nature of the site the current building has to be demolished along with ten feet of ground removed.

Ascher noted that some residents have expressed concerns about traffic and double parking at the new location but that as parents, she and her partner plan to direct parents to drop students off in a back parking lot. She's also heard some confusion about if the new arts center is somehow related to or financed by the city itself but the project is a totally private venture.