Miami Beach agrees to pay $1.3 million to settle Jewish group’s discrimination claims

Miami Beach officials have agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit by an Orthodox Jewish congregation that was set to go to trial Monday.

The deal resolves Congregation Bais Yeshaya D’Kerestir’s claims of code enforcement harassment and First Amendment violations by the city. And it resolves the city’s counterclaim that the property at 3401 Prairie Ave., a single-family home zoned for residential use, is being illegally used as a religious institution.

The settlement will go to the city commission for final approval later this month.

“Even if we had gone to trial and won, it wouldn’t have felt like we had won anything,” Mayor Dan Gelber said. “Ultimately, we do support the celebration of faith in our community.”

Prior to the agreement, which was struck Friday, the city had spent approximately $1.7 million on legal fees for the case — meaning the overall cost of the litigation to taxpayers could exceed $3 million.

Activity at the property has drawn complaints from neighbors who say people park in the swale area outside the home and make noise early each morning. According to court filings, the city installed a surveillance camera to monitor the property and sent officials there 126 times in about two years.

Under the terms of the settlement, the congregation must limit the number of cars parked in the swale along 34th Street and Prairie Avenue, according to a person familiar with the agreement. The congregation also agreed to improve the condition of its driveway and the swale area and to not use outdoor speakers for prayer activities.

The city agreed to a unique process for any future code violations at the property, under which the city and the congregation will jointly select a special magistrate to review whether the city has probable cause to proceed.

The congregation also pledged not to seek a religious tax exemption at the property in the future. The home received a nearly $1.6 million exemption in 2022, Miami-Dade property records show.

Representatives for the congregation could not immediately be reached for comment. Miami Beach City Attorney Rafael Paz declined to comment, citing the pending commission vote.

The congregation still has open building code cases that were not resolved by the settlement, according to the person familiar with the deal. In July 2021, city officials found that the home’s ceiling had “collapsed” and said the building should not be occupied.

Private prayer or religious institution?

People pray at the home daily, including for a minyan that requires at least 10 Jewish men to be present, according to the congregation. The congregation and its rabbi, Arie Wohl, argued that those prayer sessions — which sometimes include dozens of people, according to the city — are invitation-only and therefore constitute “private prayer.”

“Just as any homeowner may invite friends for a Cub Scout meeting or a book club, Plaintiff and the full-time resident invite friends and family to join them for private prayer in their home,” the federal lawsuit says.

But the city says activity at the home went beyond private prayer. Code enforcement officers, using body-worn cameras, said they found evidence the house was operating as a synagogue, including an industrial-size coffee urn, a community bulletin board and benches for up to 30 people.

“We respectfully disagree with the premise that the city discriminates against any person or religion, simply because the city enforces the city code,” Paz told Axios earlier this year.

In a second lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the congregation claimed that Gelber directed the city’s code enforcement actions, which ramped up during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit suggested Gelber, who is Jewish, should be removed from office for religious discrimination against residents.

Gelber has denied directing the enforcement actions. Friday’s settlement also resolves the Circuit Court case.

‘A complete fiasco’

Miami Beach Commissioner Ricky Arriola has criticized the city’s handling of the matter, telling the Miami Herald in a text message last week that city officials “should have just worked cooperatively with them to come to an agreement,” rather than conducting surveillance and issuing code violations that “provoked the situation.”

“It’s a complete fiasco,” he said.

Disputes at the property date back to the 1980s, when the city cracked down on its use as a small synagogue and a rabbi sued the city unsuccessfully.

The property was sold to another entity in 2012 and used as a school, dormitory and gift shop under a different rabbi, according to court filings. In 2020, the Bais Yeshaya D’Kerestir congregation bought the four-bedroom property for $1.2 million as a home for its rabbi, Wohl.

The city now has 45 days to get commission approval of the settlement. A vote is expected at a June 28 meeting.