Central UTA

FIRST LIBERTY LEGAL ACTION

First Liberty Institute partnered with Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP to file a federal lawsuit on behalf of an Orthodox Jewish day school, Central UTA of Monsey, alleging that government officials in the Village of Airmont, New York and the Suffern Central School District are engaged in a deliberate effort to dissuade Orthodox Jewish residents from staying in or moving to the Village of Airmont.

“Our clients just want to be treated fairly,” Hiram Sasser, General Counsel of First Liberty Institute said. “As Airmont officials should know by now, federal law prevents government officials from using discriminatory zoning schemes to drive people of faith away from, or underground in, the community.”

CASE HISTORY

The Village of Airmont was incorporated in 1991. The same year of its incorporation, the United States filed suit against the Village alleging that the town had been incorporated for the purpose of excluding Orthodox Jewish citizens through zoning restrictions on their places of worship. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second District agreed. Then in 2008, the United States and different private plaintiffs sued the Village again. The dispute between the United States and the Village ended in a Consent Decree in which the Village promised the federal government that it would not use zoning laws to disrupt the religious exercise of the Orthodox Jewish community. That Consent Decree expired in 2011 and since then, the Village has returned to its old habits.

Central UTA owns 21 acres of property within the Village of Airmont that for nearly 20 years served as both a children’s school and day camp. The Village repeatedly granted approvals for the private, non-Orthodox groups to operate. However, since Central UTA purchased the property in 2016 and advised the Village of its plans to build new buildings, Village officials have repeatedly used discriminatory zoning tactics to prevent Central UTA from operating.

In a similar effort, the local school district, Suffern Central, denied Central UTA children transportation and special education services even though it provided these same services to the previous school.

Read more about our efforts in Airmont.

MOVING FORWARD

In January 2020, a federal judge released his opinion allowing our lawsuit on behalf of Central UTA of Monsey, against the Village of Airmont, NY and the Suffern Central School District to move forward.

In December 2020, a settlement was reached.

“The Central UTA of Monsey Plaintiffs and the Village of Airmont have agreed to resolve the pending state and federal litigation amicably. The Parties agreed to a roadmap for Central UTA to apply for updated approvals for its school projects and operations. Under the terms of the settlement, the Village agreed to fairly review Central UTA’s project applications within reasonable deadlines, and Central UTA agreed to work with the Village’s land use review process to ensure compliance with state and local law. The Parties agreed that each would bear its own costs incurred in the litigation.”