CLIFTON

Congregation to sue Clifton for $12.5 million for hampering temple plans

Matt Fagan
NorthJersey

CLIFTON — Congregation Shomrei Torah has filed a notice that it intends to sue the city for $12.5 million, alleging it illegally hindered attempts to build a temple at Virginia Avenue and Dwas Line Road.

Site of the proposed 12,000 square foot religious structure located at the corner of Dwas Line Road and Virginia Avenue in Clifton

It is the latest salvo in a dispute that has been going on for years and that prompted a lawsuit by the congregation in 2015. Last summer, in a legal victory for the congregation, both sides agreed to a 12,250-square-foot structure as part of a settlement. Clifton had previously approved a much smaller building. 

Portion of Dwasline Road where the proposed Shomrei Torah temple will be built in Clifton.

In a March 22 letter, Shomrei's law firm, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, put the city on notice that it had violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act by preventing the congregation from constructing a 14,007-square-foot temple and mikvah — a ritual bath — on the site.

The congregation's lawyers are contending that the city, because it made the congregation "jump through countless hoops" for roughly 10 years, owes it relief.

"The congregation has incurred substantial costs in its effort to construct its house of worship and mikvah, exacerbated by decade-long delays, resultant excess construction costs and lost opportunities from which the congregation could have otherwise benefitted," states the letter, signed by Weil attorney Yehudah Buchweitz.  

In the letter, Buchweitz argues that Shomrei had to appear before the Planning Board 25 times between March 2013 and October 2015 and before the zoning board seven times between November 2008 and January 2013. 

It also contends that the city was more amenable to other houses of worship, such as churches, which faced far fewer hurdles.

What's next

City officials have rejected the claims and plan to hire a lawyer with expertise in the religious land-use law known by the acronym RLUIPA, City Manager Nick Villano said. 

Residents in the Dwas Line neighborhood have contended that they were not opposed to the use of the property, but rather the size of the synagogue and the number of worshipers it will attract. They have also expressed concerns about the city's water and sewer capabilities in the neighborhood. 

The setting, in a residential neighborhood, was chosen so that members of the congregation can walk to services on the Sabbath and other holy days.

Longtime Dwas Line Road resident Gail Yamner, outspoken in her opposition to the application for several years, was among about 30 city residents at last August's Clifton City Council meeting to urge the governing body to protect residents from a potentially devastating temple fire.

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"We're not against the building of a building, we're against the building of an unsafe building," Yamner said at that time.

Dwas Line Road resident Thomas Hilberth, who is also an attorney, said he has a lawsuit against the congregation, which just completed the discovery process, and he hopes to seek a summary judgment.

It involves a deed restriction requiring a 30-foot buffer for 170 properties in the Dwas Line/Rosemawr area, he said. Shomrei would have to adhere to the 30-foot restriction on both Dwas Line and Virginia, he said. Deed restrictions are not the purview of municipal boards on planning or zoning, he said. 

If successful, it may force yet another change in plans for the new temple and cause futher delays. 

In October 2015, the Clifton Planning Board approved a 7,000-square-foot structure on the site. Two months later the congregation filed suit against the Planning Board and the city. The settlement in that case was reached last July and approved by a Superior Court judge. 

Email: fagan@northjersey.com