Bloomingburg Jewish Educ. Ctr. v. Vill. of Bloomingburg, 14–cv–7250 (KBF).

• Citation: 111 F.Supp.3d 459
• Decision Date: 09 June 2015
• Docket Number: No. 14–cv–7250 (KBF).,14–cv–7250 (KBF).
• Parties: BLOOMINGBURG JEWISH EDUCATION CENTER et al., Plaintiffs, v. VILLAGE OF BLOOMINGBURG, NEW YORK et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

111 F.Supp.3d 459

BLOOMINGBURG JEWISH EDUCATION CENTER et al., Plaintiffs,

v.VILLAGE OF BLOOMINGBURG, NEW YORK et al., Defendants.

No. 14–cv–7250 (KBF).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

Signed June 9, 2015.

John J. Henry, Robert Stevenson Rosborough, Whiteman Osterman & Hanna L.L.P., Albany, NY, Michael Hun Park, Jeffrey Louis Benner, Dechert LLP, New York, NY, Steven A. Engel, Jamie Rachel Hacker, Dechert, LLP, Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs.

Jody Tamar Cross, Michael David Zarin, Zarin & Steinmetz, White Plains, NY, Matthew Richard Pisciotta, Thompson Wigdor LLP, New York, NY, for Defendants.

OPINION & ORDER

KATHERINE B. FORREST, District Judge:

Bloomingburg is a small, rural village in Sullivan County with a population of about 400 residents. Over the past several years, Hasidic Jews have been moving into the village in increasing numbers. The complaint in this action alleges that this influx of Hasidic Jews has been met with determined and concerted resistance by the local governments and public officials of the Village of Bloomingburg and the Town of Mamakating, who are defendants in this action. Plaintiffs allege that defendants' acts of resistance have violated their rights under the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ("RLUIPA"), the Fair Housing Act ("FHA"), and New York state law. Defendants vigorously deny plaintiffs' assertions. Now pending before the Court are defendants' motions to dismiss. (ECF Nos. 67, 71.)

For the reasons set forth below, those motions are GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. Plaintiffs Malka Rosenbaum and Winterton Properties, LLC have stated plausible claims for relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and 42 U.S.C. § 1985 against defendants the Town of Mamakating, the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Mamakating, and William Herrmann in his official capacity based on these defendants' alleged roles in stymying the conversion of a property in Bloomingburg into a mikvah, a bath used by Hasidic Jews for ritual immersion and purification. Plaintiff Sullivan Farms II, Inc. has stated plausible claims for relief under § 1983, § 1985, and the FHA against defendants the Village of Bloomingburg, New York, the Village Board of Trustees of the Village of Bloomingburg, Frank Gerardi in his official capacity, James Johnson in his official capacity, and Katherine Roemer in her official capacity based on these defendants' alleged roles in obstructing the completion of a housing development project known as Chestnut Ridge. Plaintiffs' other claims are dismissed.

Accordingly the claims of plaintiffs the Bloomingburg Jewish Education Center, Learning Tree Properties, LLC, Sheindel Stein, and Commercial Corner, LLC are dismissed in their entirety, as are all claims against defendants the Planning Board of the Village of Bloomingburg, the Town Board of the Town of Mamakating, the Planning Board of the Town of Mamakating, Andrew Finnema, Ann Heanelt, Joseph B. Roe, and Eileen Rogers. All individual-capacity claims against defendants Frank Gerardi, Katherine Roemer, James Johnson, and William Herrmann are also dismissed on immunity grounds.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND¹

In the First Amended Complaint (ECF No. 43 ("FAC")), plaintiffs allege that defendants are working together to prevent Hasidic Jews from moving into the vicinity of Bloomingburg, New York, a small village in Sullivan County with a population of about 400 (FAC ¶ 72). In particular, the First Amended Complaint alleges that defendants are (a) obstructing the completion of a housing development project known as Chestnut Ridge, which they believe is being marketed to Hasidic home buyers, (b) impeding the opening of the Bloomingburg Jewish Education Center, a private Hasidic religious school that plans to open on Bloomingburg's Main Street, (c) preventing a property in Bloomingburg from being converted to a mikvah, a bath used by Hasidic Jews for ritual immersion and purification, and (d) engaging in a program of harassment and discriminatory building code enforcement aimed at Jewish residents or prospective residents of Bloomingburg.

A. The Parties

The plaintiffs in this action are: Sullivan Farms II, Inc. ("Sullivan Farms"); the Bloomingburg Jewish Education Center; Learning Tree Properties, LLC ("Learning Tree"); Malka Rosenbaum; Sheindel Stein; Winterton Properties, LLC ("Winterton Properties"); and Commercial Corner, LLC ("Commercial Corner").

Sullivan Farms is a New York corporation, and the record owner of the Chestnut Ridge properties. (FAC ¶ 23.) The Bloomingburg Jewish Education Center is a not-for-profit religious trust that seeks to open and operate a private Hasidic religious school (also named the Bloomingburg Jewish Education Center, to which the Court will refer as the "BJEC" or the "religious school") at 132 Main Street in Bloomingburg. (FAC ¶¶ 4, 22.) Learning Tree, a New York limited liability company, is the record owner of the BJEC property. (FAC ¶ 24.) Malka Rosenbaum and Sheindel Stein are Jewish residents of Bloomingburg who would like to send their children to school at the BJEC. (FAC ¶¶ 25–26.) Winterton Properties is a New York liability company that is the record owner of a property on which it seeks to build and operate a mikvah. (FAC ¶ 28.) Commercial Corner is a New York limited liability company that is the record owner of a retail building located at 79 Main Street in Bloomingburg, at which a hardware store plans to open. (FAC ¶¶ 27, 157.)

The defendants in this action can be separated into two groups. The first consists of entities and individuals associated with the Village of Bloomingburg (the "Village Defendants"). The second consists of entities and individuals associated with the Town of Mamakating (the "Town Defendants.")

The Village Defendants consist of the Village of Bloomingburg and constituent local municipal entities (the "Village Municipal Defendants") and several individuals who have held positions in the Village government (the "Village Individual Defendants"). The Village Municipal Defendants are: the Village of Bloomingburg, New York (the "Village"), a political subdivision of the State of New York (FAC ¶ 29); the Village Board of Trustees of the Village of Bloomingburg (the "Village Board of Trustees"), the Village's legislative body (FAC ¶ 30); and the Planning Board of the Village of Bloomingburg (the "Village Planning Board"), which was dissolved by Village Local Law No. 4 of 2014 (FAC ¶ 33).

The Village Individual Defendants are Frank Gerardi, Eileen Rogers, Katherine Roemer, James Johnson, Andrew Finnema, Ann Heanelt, and Joseph B. Roe. Gerardi is the mayor of Bloomingburg. (FAC ¶ 12, 31.) He was elected in 2014 after allegedly campaigning on a platform that openly opposed Hasidic Jews moving into Bloomingburg. (FAC ¶ 12.) He is alleged to have made several anti-Semitic statements and to have verbally harassed members of the Hasidic community. (FAC ¶ 133.) Rogers is the Village Clerk. (FAC ¶¶ 16, 32.) She is alleged to have acted in concert with Gerardi to direct the Village's building inspector to engage in the discriminatory enforcement of Village regulations against Hasidic Jewish property owners and residents. (FAC ¶ 16.) Roemer and Johnson are Village trustees. (FAC ¶¶ 20, 41–42.) Finnema, Heanelt, and Roe were members of the Village Planning Board at the time the site plan application for the religious school was denied. (FAC ¶¶ 34–36.)

The Town defendants are: the Town of Mamakating, New York (the "Town"), a political subdivision of the State of New York (FAC ¶ 37); the Town Board of the Town of Mamakating (the "Town Board"), the Town's legislative body, which assumed the authority of the Village Planning Board following the passage of Village Local Law No. 4 of 2014 (FAC ¶ 38); the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Mamakating (the "Town ZBA") (FAC ¶ 39); the Planning Board of the Town of Mamakating (the "Town Planning Board") (FAC ¶ 40); and William Herrmann, the Town Supervisor (FAC ¶ 43). Herrmann and the Village Individual Defendants have each been sued in both their individual and official capacities.

Another entity that figures prominently in the First Amended Complaint, but which is neither a plaintiff nor a defendant in this action, is the Rural Community Coalition (the "RCC"). The RCC is an advocacy organization co-founded by Herrmann and several other area residents. (FAC ¶ 59.) The First Amended Complaint alleges that the RCC's publicly stated advocacy positions are in fact fig leaf justifications for their true agenda: blocking Hasidic Jews from moving into Bloomingburg, and making life difficult for those who already live there. (See FAC ¶¶ 59, 61, 65.) Several of the public officials named as defendants in this action, specifically Gerardi, Johnson, Roemer, and Herrmann, were elected with RCC support. (See FAC ¶¶ 72–73.) The First Amended Complaint also alleges that Herrmann has sought to advance the RCC's cause by appointing "a number of vocal opponents of the Jewish community" to "various town boards," including an appointee to the Town Planning Board and the chair of the Town ZBA. (FAC ¶¶ 139, 147.)

B. Chestnut Ridge

Plaintiff Sullivan Farms is currently developing Chestnut Ridge,² a subdivision located about a half-mile from the center of Bloomingburg consisting of 396 townhomes, a community clubhouse, and recreational amenities. (FAC ¶ 47.) Chestnut Ridge has been in development since 2006, when the Village annexed the 198–acre property on which it is being built from the Town following a public meeting. (FAC ¶¶ 49–51.) The plans were made public in 2008, after which Sullivan Farms began the lengthy multi-year process required for gaining the necessary initial regulatory approvals for building the development, including approval of the site plan and subdivision and an environmental review. (FAC ¶¶ 51–52.) Each of these steps was completed between July 2009 and June 2010. (FAC ¶¶ 52, 54–55.)

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