WHITE PLAINS N.Y.
Several Hasidic rabbis have gone to federal court for the
right to build a rabbinical college that would violate zoning laws in a
suburban village.
In a lawsuit filed late Monday, the rabbis and the
Rabbinical College of Tartikov Inc. claim that zoning regulations in Pomona,
30 miles from New York City, have
been used to exclude the planned college and are “the direct result of
fierce anti-Hasidic opposition in the local community.”
The plaintiffs have not even tried for variances because village
leaders “have made it clear they would never approve construction of this
college,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Paul Savad.
The village, which has about 3,200 residents, recently
refused to allow the sponsors to submit plans without going through the zoning
system.
Village attorney Doris Ulman said the complaint “is
full of innuendo, undocumented statements, misstatements and lies,”
including some about her. She said the plaintiffs have no standing to sue
because they cannot show they’ve been harmed.
Ulman said it was difficult to comment on the planned
rabbinical college because village leaders have yet to see any official plans
or applications. She said the complaint filed Monday, which mentions plans for
“places of worship, religious educational facilities, religious courts,
libraries of Jewish texts and accessory student housing,” is the most
detailed document they have.
