By: Matt Chiappardi
ROOSEVELT One lawsuit is being dropped, but the specter of others still hangs like a sword of Damocles above the borough.
And at the center of this legal maelstrom is Yeshiva Me’on Hatorah on Homestead Lane.
Earlier this month, an attorney for Paul Brottman filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that contends the borough’s Planning Board failed to make a decision on whether the house he recently sold was being used as an illegal dormitory for the yeshiva. This came after the state Department of Community affairs forced the yeshiva to close that house and two others on Homestead Lane on July 6 because of fire code violations and because they lacked the appropriate certificates of occupancy.
Meanwhile, borough resident Brian Carduner filed a suit June 11 against a borough zoning ordinance amended in March to allow religious activity as a conditional use in the borough’s residential/agricultural zones, said Borough Administrator Bill Schmeling. Such an ordinance would allow institutions similar to the yeshiva to operate near his home.
Mr. Carduner did not return phone calls seeking comment, and borough Mayor Beth Battel said she will not comment on any pending litigation. However, she did indicate that lawsuits at the federal level from the yeshiva against the borough are a "possibility."
Mr. Liston previously threatened to sue in federal court, alleging that the borough has violated the yeshiva’s First Amendment Rights and the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
Yeshiva Vice President Josh Pruzansky said Wednesday, "We’d like to avoid this issue because it will be costly for the borough to litigate at the federal level, but we have to do what we have to do to protect our civil rights."
The yeshiva is having its existence threatened because of a 6-1 Planning Board decision in 2006 that the yeshiva is a private school and not a religious use. The yeshiva, which is housed at Congregation Anshei Roosevelt Synagogue, sits on property zoned for religious use, but not for school use without a variance, according to borough officials
That decision, memorialized Tuesday by the Planning Board, compels the yeshiva to seek a variance to continue operating. But Mr. Pruzansky said he is, "not accepting that decision on face value," and is committed to its challenge.
"We’ll take it to the next step, if we have to," he said.