Congregation Rabbinical Coll. of Tartikov, Inc. v. Vill. of Pomona

Decision Date07 December 2017
Docket NumberNo. 07–CV–6304 (KMK),07–CV–6304 (KMK)
Citation280 F.Supp.3d 426
Parties CONGREGATION RABBINICAL COLLEGE OF TARTIKOV, INC., Rabbi Mordechai Babad, Rabbi Wolf Brief, Rabbi Hermen Kahana, Rabbi Meir Margulis, Rabbi Meilech Menczer, Rabbi Jacob Hershkowitz, Rabbi Chaim Rosenberg, and Rabbi David A. Menczer, Plaintiffs, v. VILLAGE OF POMONA, NY, Board of Trustees of the Village of Pomona, NY, Nicholas Sanderson, as Mayor, Ian Banks, Alma Sanders–Roman, Rita Louie, and Brett Yagel, as Trustees and in their Official Capacities, Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

Paul Savad, Esq., Savad, Churgin, Attorneys at Law, Nanuet, New York, Counsel for Plaintiffs

Roman P. Storzer, Esq., Storzer & Greene, P.L.L.C., Washington, D.C., Counsel for Plaintiffs

Donna C. Sobel, Esq., Furgang & Adwar, L.L.P., West Nyack, NY, Counsel for Plaintiffs

Terry A. Rice, Esq., Rice & Amon, Suffern, NY, Counsel for Plaintiffs

John G. Stepanovich, Esq., Stepanovich Law P.L.C., Virginia Beach, VA, Counsel for Plaintiffs

Andrea D. Napp, Esq., John F.X. Peloso, Jr., Esq., Karla Chaffee, Esq., Thomas J. Donlon, Esq., Robinson & Cole LLP, Hartford, CT, Stamford, CT, Boston, MA, New York, NY, Counsel for Defendants

Marci A. Hamilton, Esq., The Law Office of Marci Hamilton, Washington Crossing, PA, Counsel for Defendants

OPINION & ORDER

KENNETH M. KARAS, District Judge:

Plaintiff Rabbinical College of Tartikov, Inc. ("Tartikov") is the owner of an approximately 100–acre parcel of land (the "Subject Property") located within the Village of Pomona (the "Village"), upon which it seeks to build a rabbinical college that, in addition to providing all of the facilities necessary to train rabbinical judges, will include housing for its students and their families. Plaintiffs, which include Tartikov and its future students and faculty, challenge certain zoning and environmental ordinances enacted by the Village, alleging that they are unlawful under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 ("RLUIPA"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc et seq., the Fair Housing Act ("FHA"), 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., §§ 3, 9, and 11 of the New York State Constitution, and New York common law. Specifically, Plaintiffs seek to enjoin the enforcement of portions of the Village of Pomona, New York Code ("Village Code") §§ 130–4 (defining educational institutions and dormitories) (the "Accreditation Law"), § 130–10(F)(12) (limiting the size of dormitories) (together with the definition of "dormitory" in § 130–4, the "Dormitory Law"), and § 126 (establishing wetlands protections) (the "Wetlands Law," and together, the "Challenged Laws").1 Beginning in May and ending in June 2017, the Court conducted a 10–day bench trial. On September 7, 2017, the Court heard closing statements. (See Dkt. (entry for September 7, 2017).) What follows are the Court's findings of fact and conclusions of law.

I. Background
A. Factual Background

The facts leading up to the passage of the Challenged Laws are largely undisputed. The dispute lies in whether the reasons given for their adoption are lawful.

1. The Parties

Plaintiffs are a corporation and individuals affiliated with the Orthodox Jewish community, including various sects of the Hasidic community, all of whom allege an interest in the construction of a rabbinical college on the Subject Property. Plaintiffs Rabbi Mordechai Babad, Rabbi Wolf Brief, Rabbi Hermen Kahana, Rabbi Meir Margulis, Rabbi Meilech Menczer, Rabbi Jacob Hershkowitz, Rabbi Chaim Rosenberg, and Rabbi David A. Menczer (with Chaim Rosenberg, Jacob Hershkowitz, and Meilech Menczer defined as the "Students") are rabbis who seek to live, teach, and/or study at Tartikov's proposed rabbinical college.2

Tartikov was formed in 2004. (See Pl.'s Ex. 1, at RC_00002809.) At the time of incorporation, Tartikov's trustees included Chaim Babad, who indirectly financed Tartikov, Michael Tauber ("Tauber"), and four other individuals. (See id. at RC_00002810.) The corporation was formed, among other reasons, "[t]o promote the religious, intellectual, moral, and social welfare among its members and their families," "[t]o establish, maintain and conduct a school for the [study] of the holy Torah and to maintain classes for the teachings of the customs, traditions and mode of worship of the Jewish Orthodox faith," and "[t]o aid and assist worthy indigent members of the corporation with loans and housing." (Id. at RC_00002807–08.) Tauber explained that Tartikov was formed to "establish[ ] a rabbinical college in Rockland County, New York in order to provide a religious learning and living community to train [a] new generation of students to become full-time rabbinical judges." (Pl.'s Ex. 1500 ("Tauber Decl.") ¶ 11; see also Pl.'s Ex. 1506 ¶ 10).) In August 2004, Tartikov purchased the Subject Property for approximately $13 million dollars. (See Trial Tr. 364, 896.) The Subject Property is the only parcel of land owned by Tartikov, (see Tauber Decl. ¶ 40), but a related entity owns an additional 30 acres of property within the Village, all of which abut the Subject Property, (see Trial Tr. 128.)

Defendants consist of the Village, its Board of Trustees (or "Board"), its current Mayor Brett Yagel ("Yagel"), (see Trial Tr. 707), its former mayor and Trustee Nicholas Sanderson ("Sanderson"), and other current and former members of its Board of TrusteesIan Banks ("Banks"), Alma Sanders Roman ("Roman"), and Rita Louie ("Louie")—each sued in his or her official capacity.3 Each of the individual Defendants voted to amend or adopt one or more of the Challenged Laws.

2. Individual Plaintiffs' Religious Beliefs & Tartikov's Proposed College

According to Orthodox Jewish belief, Orthodox Jews are not permitted to resolve conflicts in the secular court system, but rather must have their conflicts adjudicated in rabbinical courts (bais din) before rabbinical judges (dayanim or dayan) applying Jewish law. (See Pls.' Post–Trial Proposed Findings of Fact ("Pls.' FOF") ¶¶ 31, 33, 34 (Dkt. No. 326).) Presently, however, Plaintiffs have observed that the rabbinical courts in the United States are overburdened because there are not enough qualified rabbinical judges, forcing Orthodox/Hasidic Jews to go to secular courts to resolve their disputes. (See id. ¶¶ 38, 40.) To help alleviate this backlog, the Students are seeking to become full-time rabbinical judges trained in all four books of the Shulchan Aruch, a compilation of Jewish laws of the Orthodox Hasidic tradition, also known as the Code of Jewish Law. (See id. ¶¶ 20, 42.) They currently are enrolled at Kollel Belz in Monsey, New York, (see id. ¶¶ 21–23), but Kollel Belz does not offer a "complete" program on the Shulchan Aruch, (Pl.'s Ex. 1503 ("Jacob Hershkowitz Decl.") ¶ 38), leading to their desire to enroll at Tartikov's rabbinical college.

Tartikov's rabbinical program will focus specifically on all four books of the Shulchan Aruch, (see Pls.' FOF ¶ 41), which means that Tartikov will be considered a "specialized kollel," (id. ¶ 44 (internal quotation marks omitted)). Compared to a regular kollel, where students spend their time studying anything related to Jewish law, students at Tartikov will specialize in a "directed and intense study" of the Shulchan Aruch. (Pls.' Ex. 1502 ("Mordechai Babad Decl.") ¶ 49.) Tartikov estimates that its proposed program will take approximately 13 to 15 years to complete because its students must master thousands of religious texts and commentaries, and certain aspects of secular law. (See Pls.' FOF ¶¶ 48, 53, 57.) During this period of study, the students will be required to "spend their days from about 6 a.m. until about 10 p.m. ... in study, in observation of judges, [and] in collegial examination of the issues that are presented by their studies." (Tauber Decl. ¶ 69.) Students will break from their studies only "as is required to fulfill the other religious obligations in daily life for an Orthodox Jew." (See id. ) No other rabbinical college in the United States offers this type of program, (see Pls.' FOF ¶ 51), but one institution in Israel offers one similar to it, (see id. ¶ 52).

Admission to the program will be based on interviews conducted by Tartikov's future dean, Mordechai Babad, who will review the applicants' backgrounds and assess their knowledge of Jewish law. (See id. ¶ 94; Tauber Decl. ¶ 60.) Admission will also be conditioned on completing a high school level program in the Talmud. (See Tauber Decl. ¶ 60.) The Students and David Menczer have satisfied these conditions and will be admitted into the college when it opens. (See Mordechai Babad Decl. ¶ 50.)

Student progress will be measured by regular testing. (See Tauber Decl. ¶ 51.) Some students also may undergo an oral examination to determine whether they are qualified to serve as rabbinical judges. (See id. ) If a student passed that examination, the rabbi conducting it will give the student a smicha, which signifies that the student has accomplished proficiency in an area of Jewish law. (See Pls.' FOF ¶¶ 88, 91.) The smicha is not a degree recognized by the New York State Board of Regents (the "Board of Regents"), (see id. ¶ 90), and Tartikov does not plan on offering any degree recognized by that body, (see Pls.' Ex. 1507 ("Kinser Decl.") ¶ 29).

As part of the program, Tartikov plans to construct and foster the development of a Torah community, i.e., on-campus housing where its students and their families can live, so that the students can study from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., (see Tauber Decl. ¶ 69), and also meet their religious obligations to their families. (See id. ¶ 19; Pls.' Ex. 1501 ("Chaim Rosenberg Decl.") ¶ 52; Pls.' FOF ¶ 62.) Jewish law requires that Tartikov's students live with their families, (see Chaim Rosenberg Decl. ¶ 55; Jacob Hershkowitz Decl. ¶ 86(n); Pls.' Ex. 1504 ("Meilech Menczer Decl.") ¶ 38(n)), and teach their children the Torah, (see Trial Tr. 197). Jewish...

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