With multiple lawsuits against discriminatory actions by Jackson Township underway, another town in our region learned the hard way that it is a losing battle to ban Eruvs, Shuls, Yeshivas and Yeshiva Dorms. Sadly, that other town’s taxpayers will be reeling for years to come from wasted legal fees and punitive damages imposed by the court in that case.
On December 7, 2017, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a thorough and extensive opinion ruling that the Village of Pomona had engaged in discrimination that targeted members of the Orthodox Hasidic community when it enacted ordinances that barred construction of a rabbinical college in Pomona. The Court ruled that the Village violated the Equal Protection and Free Exercise Clauses of the United States Constitution, several provisions of the New York Constitution, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”), and the Fair Housing Act.
The Rabbinical College of Tartikov sought to build a religious school on its parcel of over 100 acres to train rabbinical judges for Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities. The school will provide students with specialized and intense religious training necessary to become full-time rabbinical judges, allowing them to render decisions according to Jewish Law based on centuries of religious laws and traditions. Although schools were permitted by right on the property, shortly after Tartikov acquired the land the Village of Pomona began to adopt ordinances that imposed a ban on multifamily housing, restrictions on construction near wetlands in Pomona, accreditation requirements for colleges and schools to build there, and limitations on student housing and other features of educational institutions. The Court concluded in its decision: “Collectively, the Challenged Laws prevent the construction of Tartikov’s rabbinical college in the Village.”
To date, the decision by elected officials in the tiny Pomona village of about 3,000 residents to pursue this lengthy legal battle cost taxpayers approximately $1.5 million in legal fees, and the Village may also need to reimburse Tartikov for as much as $4 million of its legal fees. Property taxes in Pomona rose by about 70% in 2008, and continued to see double digit increases in subsequent years – with no end in sight.
The Plaintiffs in Pomona were represented by a legal team consisting of Paul Savad, lead attorney and Donna Sobel, Esq. of Nanuet, NY litigators Savad Churgin; John G. Stepanovich, a national civil rights trial lawyer based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Roman Storzer, a First Amendment and RLUIPA attorney based in Washington DC, and Terry Rice, Esq. a New York zoning attorney based in Suffern, NY.
Attorney Roman Storzer is also representing Agudath Israel and other Orthodox community plaintiffs in the multiple lawsuits against Jackson Township, which have striking similarities to the Pomona suit. Attorney Storzer was also victorious on similar grounds last summer, when he represented Yeshiva Gedola Naos Yaakov in its suit against Ocean Township, NJ whose bid to ban the Yeshiva and its dormitory was overturned. In the Ocean case too the township had to pay extensive damages on top of paying for the legal fees of the Yeshiva Gedola Naos Yaakov.
Regarding the Pomona case, Mr. Storzer said: “Tartikov and its students are grateful for the court’s decision, which represents a watershed moment in the application of RLUIPA, passed by Congress in 2000 to prevent exactly this type of discrimination. The Court’s decision is critically important in the fight to prevent municipalities from attempting to keep out people toward whom some bear irrational and religion-based hostility. In the United States of America, everyone has the right to live, worship and learn free from discrimination.”
We can only hope that Jackson Township will take heed of this precedent and avoid the continuation of its costly, acrimonious – and ultimately fruitless – battle which is sure to bankrupt Jackson’s taxpayers when they have to pay for hateful and discriminatory actions to keep Orthodox Jews out of their town.
[TLS – M.K.]
Mayor & Council please just settle..your political careers should not come before our wallets and our constitution
Jackson needs a leader..anyone awake? The current administration knows whats right but are cowardly ….afraid for selfish reasons..SHAME ON THEM
As the court ruled, this is America. Jews are not confined to ghettos anymore. If you don’t like the living arrangements that this country provides, if you don’t like the fact that even Jews have a right to live where they wish, may I suggest you move to North Korea, or Iran? Over there the Government dictates who lives where and why. Over there the Government disallows certain religions. Interestingly enough, the UN just had a summit on a similar issue seemingly going on in other countries, against other religions. Certain other countries aren’t outright banning a religion, rather they are trying to make them feel unwelcome through zoning laws and ordinances specifically drafted to send a message to that particular group that they are persona non grata in those countries. Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, is what was needed. Unfortunately, Jackson absolutely refused to have ANY dialogue with the Orthodox community, thereby forcing the current lawsuit.
I picked up my daughter from studying at her friend’s house in Jackson at 9:00 pm. It was like a return to real town America!
The was not a single car on the street, no people walking, no honking, no lights. Everyone was home and quiet. The minute we were back crossed the Lakewood line, it was as if we were back in Manhattan.
The real pity here is that most of Jackson don’t want this (including non-Jews). Its a personal vendetta of a few elected officials, problem is – they are the ones with the township credit card.
Imagine an elected official needs to do some renovations on his house, but can’t afford it, so he just pulls out the township credit card to pay for it.
That’s exactly whats going on here – a few anti-semitic public officials don’t have enough money to sustain their hatred against the Jews, so they just pull out the township credit card.
The sad thing is that citizens of Jackson are being suckered in to pay for a few peoples personal desires.
Mayor and council..please head the voices of the good majority and not the vocal minority… do what YOU know is right
I just hope and pray that this Township backs off this stupidity and not drag us taxpayers into this. We have enough problems in our town and don’t need another battler, which is bound to be lost. Enough is enough.
A Goy from Jackson.
And all of this for the right to hang some clear, thin fishing line that u hardly see, for an eruv? Come on Jackson…