The U.S. Attorney's office has filed a civil lawsuit against Woodcliff Lake claiming the borough improperly denied over the course of nine years an Orthodox Jewish congregation's effort to expand with a larger house of worship.

Valley Chabad is a group affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement, and part of its approach to worship is to host prayer, religious and social events along with bar and bat mitzvahs at a single location, according to the lawsuit. Valley Chabad operated in a 3,194 square foot building on a 1.27-acre site in Woodcliff Lake since 1998. The group held events at off-site rental spaces, moving its Torah for certain events. It dd not have a "mikvah," which is a ritual bath.

The site doesn't meet their needs, the lawsuit claims.

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Valley Chabad began searching for new space in 2005. The lawsuit described three attempts the group to relocate.

Valley Chabad canceled a 2006 contract on a property after a borough council member expressed interest in the borough acquiring it by eminent domain.

The second deal went south when the borough expressed interest in changing zoning to allow the development of townhomes on land Valley Chabad had entered into a contract in 2011 to purchase. The seller of that property canceled the deal with Valley Chabad – the lawsuit claims it was because that seller could get more money from the developers of townhomes. The property now features townhomes.

Valley Chabad entered into a third contract in 2013 to purchase a property that the borough then targeted for use as open space, according to the lawsuit. The borough expressed interest in acquiring the property by eminent domain, Valley Chabad's contract was canceled and the borough bought the property in February.

In 2014, Valley Chabad applied to the borough zoning board to remove its existing building and replace it with a 17,728 square foot house of worship, which included a mikvah and space for community events, the lawsuit shows. The board held 18 hearings and Valley Chabad revised its application four times.

The board suggested six alternative properties: one wasn't in Woodcliff Lake, another wasn't large enough, one was on a wetland where building wasn't permitted, one wasn't suitable for people to walk to religious services and others weren't on the market, the lawsuit said.

The zoning board denied Valley Chabad's application, causing the group to lose money, the lawsuit said.

“Federal law protects all religious communities from discrimination and unlawful barriers when they seek to build a place of worship,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a release. “According to the complaint, the Borough of Woodcliff Lake imposed a substantial burden on Valley Chabad’s religious freedom by repeatedly meddling in its attempts to purchase property in the area and citing subjective and misleading reasons to justify denying its zoning application.”

An attorney for Woodcliff Lake disputed the claims in the lawsuit.

"There is no evidence to support the claim that borough officials did anything to interfere in the attempts by Valley Chabad to purchase other properties," Ronald Dario wrote in an email. "In fact, the borough has attempted to assist Valley Chabad by identifying other larger plots that can easily accommodate their needs. For reasons unknown to the borough, Valley Chabad has walked away from other projects and failed to entertain the idea of building on approved locations within the borough, which were in conformity with the borough's land use regulations."

Andrew Ford: @AndrewFordNews; 732-643-4281; aford3@gannettnj.com