{"id":600,"date":"2018-06-14T20:23:59","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T20:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newarkspeaks.com\/?p=600"},"modified":"2018-06-18T14:00:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T14:00:34","slug":"unveiling-new-religion-policy-us-goes-to-bat-for-jewish-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newarkspeaks.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/14\/unveiling-new-religion-policy-us-goes-to-bat-for-jewish-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Unveiling New Religion Policy, US Goes to Bat for Jewish Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Nick Rummell<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

NEWARK, N.J. (CN) \u2013 Announcing a new policy to protect religious groups from the biased application of municipal zoning and landmark laws, the Justice Department brought its first\u00a0complaint\u00a0under the initiative on behalf a New Jersey congregation of Orthodox Jews.<\/p>\n

Following an increase in lawsuits over the years related to the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the new \u201cPlace to Worship\u201d initiative will focus on municipalities that use zoning or landmarking statutes to stymie attempts by religious groups to move or expand their houses of worship.<\/p>\n

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, passed in 2000, prohibits unequal treatment among religious groups as it relates to zoning variances and other building permits.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the laws of this country, government cannot discrimination against people based on their religion \u2014 not in law enforcement, not in grant making, not in hiring, and not in local zoning laws,\u201d Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Sessions said the initiative would \u201chelp us bring more civil rights cases, win more cases, and prevent discrimination from happening in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of the new initiative, the Justice Department plans to hold online training for federal prosecutors and a community-outreach event in Newark, N.J.<\/p>\n

Newark is also where the Justice Department brought its first lawsuit under the initiative, taking aim at the nearby town Woodcliff Lake for allegedly using zoning laws to frustrate Orthodox Jews trying to build a house of worship in the community.<\/p>\n

The 17-page federal complaint contends that the borough has spent more than a decade illegally prohibiting Valley Chabad from purchasing or building a new, larger place of worship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe polices and practices of the zoning board and the borough in handling religious land use applications give rise to the likelihood of future unlawful conduct and the imposition of a substantial burden in the handling of future religious land use applications,\u201d the complaint states.<\/p>\n

Since 2005 Valley Chabad has looked to expand its roughly 3,200-square-foot building, which it has owned since 1998. The group conducts Hebrew school classes, holiday services, weddings, and bar and bat mitzvahs, some of which are too large to be held at the current property, prosecutors say.<\/p>\n

When Valley Chabad bought a 2.1-acre property in a residential zone called Galaxy Gardens in 2013, it was immediately opposed by a group of citizens called Concerned Neighbors & Residents of Woodcliff Lake Inc.<\/p>\n

Later that year, the borough mayor and council met to discuss the planned relocation. The complaint quotes one council member as having said, \u201cwe do not want the character of the town to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valley Chabad\u2019s purchase was canceled shortly after, and Woodcliff Lake itself wound up buying the Galaxy Gardens property in early 2018 for $1.65 million.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say the congregation met with similar opposition when it looked into expanding its existing property through zoning variances.<\/p>\n

The variance application that Valley Chabad in October 2014, with an eye toward building a new 17,728-square-foot house of worship on its land, triggered several hearings and at least four demands for revisions.<\/p>\n

Even after the congregation shrank its proposed expansion and removed a proposed deck for a children\u2019s play area,\u00a0 the zoning board denied the application in 2016. Prosecutors say the town determined that the proposed expansion would create a \u201cdetrimental visual impact\u201d on the \u201cresidential character of the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Valley Chabad property had only one resident neighbor adjacent to it, who did not complain about the proposed construction, and the borough had approved similar variances for other public entities, according to the suit.<\/p>\n

Representatives for the borough have not returned requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Other New Jersey towns have clashed with Orthodox Jews in recent years over attempts to build new places of worship or set up other religious structures.<\/p>\n

Toms River\u00a0battled<\/a>\u00a0Orthodox Jews in 2016 over plans to build a religious meeting place, and Mahwah\u00a0settled\u00a0with the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association earlier this year over attempts to build a Jewish eruv near utility poles.<\/p>\n

Also in Mahwah this past May, a Native American tribe\u00a0brought claims\u00a0over open-air ceremonial grounds.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Bernards, the township reached\u00a0a $3.25 million settlement\u00a0last year after the Justice Department claimed that its treatment of Muslims who wanted to build a mosque amounted to discrimination.<\/p>\n

Landmark status related to houses of worship also has become contentious in New Jersey. In April, the state Supreme Court\u00a0ruled\u00a0that a town violated the New Jersey Constitution when it awarded historic preservation grants to churches looking to renovate their buildings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Nick Rummell NEWARK, N.J. (CN) \u2013 Announcing a new policy to protect religious groups from the biased application of municipal zoning and landmark laws, the Justice Department brought its first\u00a0complaint\u00a0under the initiative on behalf a New Jersey congregation of Orthodox Jews. Following an increase in lawsuits over the years related to the Religious Land […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":""},"categories":[23,2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nUnveiling New Religion Policy, US Goes to Bat for Jewish Group - NEWARK SPEAKS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newarkspeaks.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/14\/unveiling-new-religion-policy-us-goes-to-bat-for-jewish-group\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unveiling New Religion Policy, US Goes to Bat for Jewish Group - NEWARK SPEAKS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Nick Rummell NEWARK, N.J. 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