Old Westbury to pay $19M over allegations it blocked new synagogue

The Village of Old Westbury has agreed to pay $19 million to settle claims that a rabbi was wrongly blocked from building a synagogue on his property, capping a legal battle that stretched nearly two decades.

Attorneys for Rabbi Aaron Konikov said the village approved a place of worship law in 2001 that prevented him from establishing a Chabad-Lubavitch temple on Glen Cove Road. Konikov and his organization, the Lubavitch of Old Westbury, sued the village in federal court in December 2008. The plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in 2016, after they said the village denied their plan.

The village has agreed to pay the plaintiffs $19 million as part of a consent decree, federal court filings show. U.S. District Judge Gary Brown signed the decree on March 18.

In an Oct. 30 summary judgment ruling, Brown wrote that the 2001 ordinance "unconstitutionally discriminates against the free exercise of religion and is therefore facially invalid." 

The village, he said, "enacted a discriminatory law in violation of the United States Constitution."

Chabad has until Jan. 15, 2027, to apply for a special-use permit from the village to build the temple. Preliminary plans call for a 20,875-square-foot synagogue and an adjacent parking lot.

Old Westbury Mayor Marina Chimerine declined to comment. Mark Lesko, an attorney representing the village, also declined to comment. 

Yearslong effort

For years, Konikov had tried to build the temple on his property. He initially had a 5-acre plot but later purchased surrounding properties, spanning just over 9 acres. A white menorah stands at the entrance to the driveway. 

The facility did not "provide the space or physical facilities necessary to fulfill Plaintiffs' religious and spiritual mission," the 2008 complaint stated. 

One week before a scheduled dedication ceremony for the synagogue in November 1999, the village intervened, court filings show. A village notice stated that "religious activity at the Property would be a violation" of its laws, the complaint said.

In March 2001, Old Westbury approved a new law governing places of worship, making it difficult for the synagogue to proceed with its plans, Konikov's complaint said. Part of the law required houses of worship to be sited on 12-acre properties. 

OId Westbury alleged in court documents that Chabad had improperly filed an application with the village's building department. It was supposed to submit a special-use application to the board of trustees, the village alleged.

Then, in 2015, after conversations between the village and Chabad, along with the submission of revised plans, "the Village categorically and summarily rejected" a special-exception application, according to an amended complaint filed in 2016. The village refused to give the denial letter to Konikov, according to the complaint.

The village has also cited "controlling interests in 'traffic, parking, noise [and] crowds,' " Brown wrote in the October memo. Those conclusions, the judge said, "seem removed from reality."  

2001 law scrutinized

The synagogue is to submit an application for a special-use permit, and the village is barred from applying the standards of its 2001 law, the decree states.

The village's 2001 law set stricter land use rules for houses of worship. The legislation also   empowered the village's board of trustees to approve religious land-use requests, shifting power from the zoning board.

Also, Brown wrote, the village established setback requirements that were “substantially more burdensome than those for non-religious uses." Under the village's law, the front of the house of worship has to be at least 200 feet from the street, more than the 40 feet or 75 feet required in two residential zoning districts. For commercial establishments, the requirement is 25 feet.

Places of worship are subject to 25-foot height limits. The law is "far more generous" to other developments, including horse stables and golf courses, Brown said.

The village's law, he concluded, was “facially invalid under the United States Constitution.”

Brown last fall urged the village and rabbi to work toward a resolution. It was the oldest matter on the court’s docket, he said in the October memo.

The payment will come from the village’s insurance providers, not from the village directly, the consent decree states.

Chabad-Lubavitch is a branch of Hasidic Judaism that dates back 250 years, according to the movement’s website, and is guided by the teachings of its seven rebbes, or rabbis. There are more than 40 Chabads on Long Island, including in Roslyn Heights, Woodbury and Mineola.