By Joe Filippazzo
Special to Brooklyn Daily Eagle

MANHATTAN BEACH -- If you can’t join ’em, beat ’em. That’s the mantra of some Manhattan Beach residents after a long-standing community group slammed the door on renters.

A splinter civic association broke from the Manhattan Beach Community Group last month after renters were barred from joining the 67-year-old organization. The split, which includes defections from the senior group’s leadership, could set the stage for clashes over the development in the affluent southern Brooklyn enclave.

“They’re free to start a group, but their only goal is to change the zoning and build a development,� Dr. Ira Zalcman, president of the Manhattan Beach Community Group, charged. “I want to maintain the beauty and character of Manhattan Beach.�

Dr. Alan Ditchek, leader of the newly formed Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association, said his group also wants to protect the neighborhood – but is willing to let newcomers who rent apartments have a say.

“There’s plenty of two-family homes and apartments, and we welcome them to our meetings,� said Ditchek, whose group’s first meeting is slated for April 7 at Public School 195.

The split came after months of infighting and hard feelings snowballed into a lawsuit in December.

Three months ago, Zalcman wrested the presidency from Dr. Ronald Biondo in a landslide election amid a controversy over Biondo’s stance on development.

In 2006, Biondo wrote Borough President Marty Markowitz, asking him to clarify the area’s zoning with a study, purportedly on behalf of the community group. But many members said their names appeared on the letter without their approval.

Biondo chalked it up to a misunderstanding, and said his intention was to merely inform homeowners that they could build bigger homes under existing zoning regulations.

“The old group says that study shouldn’t have been conducted because it was based upon a fraudulent petition,� said Biondo. “My response was that the zoning study was conducted so why not pay attention to it and spend some time reviewing it and discussing it? I don’t see the harm in that.�

But the move impacted the election, which was plagued by accusations of dirty tricks on both sides.

In the run-up to the vote, Zalcman accused Biondo of trying to stack the community group with supporters – including newcomers who rent in the neighborhood. Zalcman, then the group’s vice president, nixed the membership applications, saying the deadline had passed.

Biondo sued Zalcman and several others, citing illegal election practices. “There’s no cut-off date in the by-laws. It’s not there and this was reviewed by attorneys,� Biondo said. “Now, of course, they’re scrambling to put one in there but it’s certainly after the fact.�

The lawsuit was recently dropped, but the bad feelings persist. The dispute prompted the Manhattan Beach Community Group to “clarify� its by-laws last week to exclude renters from joining. Current members who are renters are grandfathered in.

The group also changed its bylaws to make each household – not each resident – count as one vote. There are approximately 400 member households in Manhattan Beach.

The only thing the two groups can agree on is that they may be willing to strike alliances on some issues of shared interest.

“If they want to help us get a traffic light on Oriental Boulevard and Irwin Street, fine. If they want to help us start a charter school, fine. If they want to help us get more police, fine. There’s enough work that everybody can do good,� Zalcman said.

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