Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

SPRING VALLEY — The village has agreed Park View Condominiums has a constitutional right to have a synagogue and other ritual uses at the 61-home complex on Main Street and Maple Avenue, which may lead to the dismissal of pending building violations, village lawyers said.

As a private business, the government cannot restrict Park View owners from having a house of worship or other religious uses inside the complex, as long as all zoning and safety regulations are met, the village's legal counsel, Dennis Lynch, said Wednesday.

"The government cannot dictate what happens on private property," Lynch said. "To impose a condition on private property is unconstitutional."

The condo complex had threatened a civil rights lawsuit against the village if the violations notices and objections to the ritual baths and synagogue-school were not dropped.

Lynch said the village Urban Renewal Board and Planning Board recently removed the religious prohibition on the property. The restriction was part of the complex's site plan approval, which had specified "the community room may not be used for religious purposes unless all religions are permitted to use the space equally and further provided that any religious use shall not occupy the entire space ..."

The prohibition had been added when the village used federal money for the urban renewal housing development. The federal money was withdrawn, however, after a federal audit found errors in how the village spent the money.

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The townhouse development had been cited by the village for violating its site plan approval by converting the community area into the school and synagogue and adding the two religious baths — called mikvahs — at the site. Chief Building Inspector Walter Booker had issued the violation notices last summer.

Village prosecutor Lawrence Weissmann said Wednesday the fact the village has lifted the prohibitions could lead to the violations being dropped in court. Weissmann said he would discuss the situation with Booker, who could not be reached for comment.

"We would treat them like anyone else," Weissmann said. "If you put something in compliance, it doesn't erase the violation. We will take the fact they made it legal into account and they could get a lesser fine, if any fine at all."

He said the complex's owners are set to appear in Justice Court later this month. The complex's attorneys couldn't be reached for comment.

Both the Planning Board and Urban Renewal Board modified the site plan approval to allow a place of worship and other religious uses.

The Rockland Department of Planning had opposed the modification, citing the use of federal funds and the federal Fair Housing Act. The negative recommendation meant the village agencies needed a super-majority to lift the restrictions. Lynch said both boards voted unanimously to do so, overriding the county's objection.

Mayor Demeza Delhomme, chairman of the Urban Renewal Board, couldn't be reached for comment.

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In another matter involving the same development, the NAACP and Park View Condominiums reached a financial settlement in February on the civil rights organization's 2013 allegations that only religious Jews had been offered housing in the complex on Main Street and Maple Avenue.

The agreement, reached through HUD under the Fair Housing Act, mandated that the townhouse complex pay the NAACP branch $60,000, with $35,000 going into escrow for people denied access to the housing based on discrimination, according to the agreement. At least two individuals will get $3,000 and $12,000 respectively.

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