The Orthodox congregation claims it is the victim of religious hostility
HOWELL TOWNSHIP-- A federal judge has declined to dismiss most counts of a lawsuit filed by an Orthodox Jewish congregation alleging that the township and zoning board discriminated against the group when its application to build a religious education center was denied.
The suit, filed by Congregation Kollel and its land holding company in May, claims the Howell Township Council in 2015 revised land-use requirements in a bid to prevent the center from being built on a 10-acre tract along Ford Road. Additional restrictions were passed in January 2016 that were also intended to derail plans to build the center, according to the congregation's lawyer, Christopher Costa.
The application to build a learning center for future Orthodox leaders, which would include a dormitory and a townhouse for faculty, was ultimately denied by the zoning board. The congregation claims "religious hostility" was the motive, citing the activity of a grassroots campaign, "Howell Strong," allegedly intended to discourage home sales to Orthodox Jews, as well as comments by the public on social media.
In her decision Feb. 16, Judge Freda Wolfson ruled that eight of the suit's 11 counts were "ripe," meaning that all other avenues aside from federal court action had been exhausted and that the defendants potentially faced immediate harm.
Howell argued that because the congregation is in the midst of seeking a variance -- relief from some zoning requirements -- the lawsuit was premature and should be dismissed.
Orthodox community sues over zoning denial
But the lawsuit, filed under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, claims that forcing the congregation to undertake the lengthy variance process would constitute harm.
Wolfson agreed that if the township council and zoning board had discriminated against the congregation, the matter should go before the federal court.
"If true, Defendants' alleged discriminatory conduct has caused an immediate and tangible injury; in that, Plaintiffs were prevented from erecting a yeshiva gedola and mesivta on the Ford Property. In that regard, to subject Plaintiffs to an additional variance process would only seek to amplify the harm," she wrote.
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