Appeal heard in case of Citrus Square and Beis Medrash
ORAH DEDICATION WAS held in September 2025 in front of the home at 200 N. Orange Dr. in Citrus Square.
Years of disagreement between a group of many residents in Citrus Square and Beis Medrash Synagogue’s—regarding the latter’s growing assembly use on a residential block in the historic district—have come to a conclusion, pending the release of a Letter of Determination.
The Central Los Angeles Area Planning Commission granted in part the neighborhood appeal of the Conditional Use Permit for 200/202 South Orange Dr., voting 4 to 1 shortly before midnight on Aug. 25, after a hearing that ran nearly eight hours.
As adopted at the hearing, it limited the occupancy of the unit on the 8,000-square-foot lot to 75 people, and to 30 children in the converted garage used for childcare. The occupancy, a source of long-standing safety, noise, and parking concerns for nearby residents, was cut from what the original Conditional Use Permit had allowed, citing the square footage of the space, the residential design of the buildings, and the impacts documented by neighbors.
The Commission also required the synagogue to obtain a Replacement Unit Determination (RUD) from the Los Angeles Housing Department, the ruling that decides how rental units removed from the market must be replaced. Failure to meet that deadline would be a violation of the permit.
The synagogue prevailed on other points: the Commission sustained the underlying approval and declined several conditions the appellants had sought. A compliance review will follow 18 to 24 months after the determination takes effect.
Neighbors credit Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky and her staff, whose written conditions the Commission adopted for the large majority of contested items, as well as the residents who wrote letters, attended hearings, and funded the appeal. The decision is not yet in writing: the Zoning Administrator is rewriting the Letter of Determination, expected in 45 to 60 days, and the conditions take effect when that letter is delivered to all parties.
The Citrus Square Neighbors Association’s goal has been a workable set of conditions that allows the synagogue to operate while minimizing negative impacts on its neighbors and protecting the residential character of a National Register historic district.
Capacity is the whole point, they argued. “The most important thing the Commission did was tie the permit to the actual capacity of the property and the effect it has on the neighborhood. Everything else follows from that. Now the written determination has to reflect what the commissioners decided,” a spokesman for the Citrus Square Neighbors Association said.
Rabbi Kalmennson of Beis Medrash did not respond for comment.
In October 2024, Kalmennson, the owner of the property, applied for a Conditional Use Permit to convert the existing building on the 8,000-square-foot lot into a house of worship for Modern Orthodox Jews.
After City Planning approved the CUP in April, the Citrus Square Neighborhood Association and three neighbors appealed.
Category: Real Estate
