Toms River officials served with subpoenas in shul lawsuit

TOMS RIVER – Current and former township officials were hit with wide-ranging subpoenas last week, the latest development in a pair of two-year-old legal cases regarding Orthodox Jewish synagogues.

Assistant Township Attorney Anthony Merlino said the township was engaged in ongoing settlement discussions with Khal Anshei Tallymawr and Bais Brucha, which the zoning board rejected in January 2021, but said those discussions were "going nowhere."

"These subpoenas were threatened but neither I, nor any of the attorneys representing the township or the land use boards, were given advance notice that they were being served," Merlino said in a statement. "Such intrusive demands are a common tactic in RLUIPA-related cases.

"The township has waded through such fishing expeditions in prior cases and these, like those, will come up empty."

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The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA, is a 2000 federal law that prohibits municipalities from placing overly burdensome land regulations on religious groups. The law has been cited in lawsuits across New Jersey involving Jewish and other religious groups.

According to Patch, which first reported the subpoenas, 19 current and former officials were served with subpoenas requesting any emails, text messages and complete social media histories that mention the Orthodox Jewish community.

Sieglinde K. Rath, an attorney representing both Khal Anshei and Bais Brucha, did not return a request for comment.

Two years of litigation

Both lawsuits were filed in March 2021, each alleging that the township had "engaged in an orchestrated campaign" to prevent the Orthodox Jewish community in Toms River from growing. Khal Anshei and Bais Brucha were both rejected outright by the township's zoning officer because houses of worship weren't allowed in the township's rural residential zone. The zoning board upheld that denial in January 2021.

In June 2021, the township reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which alleged the township had spent more than a decade passing new zoning laws aimed at limiting potential locations for houses of worship, especially for the growing Orthodox Jewish community. That settlement established houses of worship as conditional uses in the rural residential zone and loosened requirements, including a new two-acre minimum lot size (instead of the previous 10 acres).

But neither synagogue, also known as a shul, applied for zoning board approval after the settlement. Instead, they filed amended complaints alleging that, even with the changes, they were at a disadvantage compared to other developments.

The biggest issue is parking. The ordinance approved as part of the Justice Department settlement changed the criteria for houses of worship from one parking space for every three seats to one space for every 100 square feet. That change significantly increases the amount of parking spaces required for both shuls, requiring enough parking for the whole synagogue — even though other parts of the building, such as a social hall, aren't in operation during prayer services, the complaint states.

And on the Sabbath and other holidays, practicing community members walk to shul services.

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Both shuls also allege that houses of worship are subject to more stringent standards, such as lot width, setbacks, height requirements and maximum lot building coverage, than other potential projects, according to the complaints.

For example, community centers and libraries require one parking space for every 300 square feet.

Merlino said the allegations were "fairly crazy" because the newer ordinances complied with the terms of the township's settlement with the Justice Department.

"They brought this case just under the gun, under the old ordinance, and then amended it to attack the new ordinance," he said.

The Bais Brucha and Khal Anshei cases are the first religious land use cases filed against Toms River since 2016, when Rabbi Moshe Gourarie sued the town after he was required to apply for a variance to keep running the Chabad of Toms River out of his Church Road home. A federal judge ruled against the township in 2018, allowing Gourarie to continue operating the Chabad and awarding him over $120,000, mostly for legal fees.

The neighboring town of Jackson has spent the better part of a decade litigating numerous lawsuits alleging that township officials targeted its Orthodox Jewish community. The township recently settled its oldest case with Agudath Israel, an Orthodox Jewish advocacy group, after previously agreeing to settlements with the Justice Department, New Jersey Attorney General's Office and a housing developer.

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and a little bit of everything else. He's won a few awards that make his parents very proud. Contact him at mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Toms River NJ: Subpoenas for officials in Orthodox Jewish shul suit