There are about 700 Jewish families, he said.Īnother suit against the village has been filed by Congregation of Echo Ridge. Census, there are 8,500 residents of Airmont. Gestetner noted that according to the 2010 U.S. What you are seeing in Airmont is misuse of the zoning laws to freeze demography and prevent any change in the religious makeup of the community.” He acknowledged that houses of worship “generally are impatient because their finances are such that they can’t wait for years while the zoning process is going on. It smacks of digging in your heels to prevent change rather than a moratorium for reassessment purposes.” Stern pointed out that although the New York Court of Appeals has held that such moratoriums are permitted “for a reasonable period of time, four years goes beyond anything reasonable. The village Planning Board had noted that there were an “ever-increasing number of applications for yeshivas, home houses of worship and other projects.” Gestetner said that although the village entered into that consent decree, the village voted in 2016 to impose a moratorium on all development pending a review and possible changes to the consent decree. Yossi Gestetner, co-founder of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, said village board members have said publicly that their goal in imposing restrictions on development is “to stop Orthodox Jews from utilizing existing law that the village was forced to agree to in 2011.” The village has filed a motion to dismiss the suit. In addition, the suit claims the village threatens religious freedom by issuing building and zoning violations with daily fines of up to $1,000 and threats of jail. They claim the village is hostile toward religious Jews, trying to prevent them from praying and holding services in their homes. In December 2018, several rabbis in the Rockland County village also sued Airmont, alleging that the village has failed to approve any of their requests to establish houses of worship in their private homes. Two year later, the yeshiva sued Airmont, alleging that “anti-chasidic animus” was keeping the village from issuing the requisite zoning permits. It planned to build two yeshiva buildings on the site, which had been used for a camp. In 2016, a chasidic yeshiva bought a 21-acre plot across from Airmont’s Village Hall. The village entered into a consent decree in 2011, but since the decree expired a few years ago the Justice Department has again launched an investigation into allegations that the village has been “engaging in discrimination by, among other things, preventing the operation of home synagogues and a religious school.” attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote to the town. “As you are aware, the United States has sued Airmont on a number of occasions since its incorporation in 1991, and the village has spent a significant portion of its history subject to judicial oversight as a result of its repeated practices of discrimination against Orthodox Jewish residents,” Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. Department of Justice has sued the village for essentially the same thing. “What is happening in Airmont is the latter.”Ī federal lawsuit would mark the third time in nearly 30 years that the U.S. “Sometimes opposition is opposition to change - sometimes it is raw bigotry,” said Marc Stern, general counsel for the American Jewish Committee. He added that a federal court has dismissed “large portions” of the lawsuit.ĪJC’s Marc Stern: “Sometimes opposition is opposition to change - sometimes it is raw bigotry.” He noted that the village had won an earlier lawsuit filed by the United Talmudical Academy in state court. The letter threatens to file the suit no later than September 15, unless Airmont settles the matter before then.Īttorney Brian Sokoloff, partner and co-founder of Sokoloff Stern, LLP, which is representing Airmont, said that it doesn’t comment on pending or threatened litigation. Now, the government argues that Airmont is violating an existing judgment ordering it to “recognize the category of ‘residential place of worship,’ a category which has been removed from the Village’s zoning code.” Shortly after it was incorporated in 1991, the federal government sued it under the Fair Housing Act, claiming that the village had been “incorporated for the purpose of excluding Orthodox Jews through zoning restrictions on their places of worship.” The Village of Airmont is no stranger to allegations that it discriminates against Orthodox Jews. Get The Jewish Standard Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories The village already faces private suits alleging illegal discrimination from several rabbis and a Satmar yeshiva.
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