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BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF PASCACK PRESS
MONTVALE, NEW JERSEY —— Despite reservations, the borough council unanimously approved a two-year legal settlement with a New York-based Orthodox Jewish association on Feb. 13 that will allow expansion of a religious boundary – known as an eruv – into the northern part of the borough on public roads.
Approximately 30 residents attended the meeting and several voiced displeasure with the settlement. In October, the borough was sued by the association, which previously filed lawsuits against Mahwah and Upper Saddle River, who opposed expansion of an eruv.
An eruv is a religious boundary marked by lechis – often PVC pipes on poles – that allow Orthodox Jews to conduct common outdoor activities such as pushing a stroller or carrying car keys on Sabbath and other Jewish holidays.
The agreement – officially approved Feb. 14 by the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association – pays attorneys for the association $10,000, and protects the borough from lawsuits from the association for two years.
In late January, the borough got permission from the association to extend its deadline for settling the lawsuit until Feb. 13.
The agreement allows the eruv association to expand its 26 mile-long Rockland County eruv – marked by white PVC pipes on utility poles – through Montvale via Upper Saddle River Road, Fox Hill Road, Lark Lane and Wren Way before crossing the border into New York. Another portion includes parts of Spring Valley Road to North Avenue, to Summit Avenue to the New York border.
An alternate eruv route that involved less borough land but required local officials to get private homeowner agreements to allow construction did not work out due to complications, said Mayor Michael Ghassali.
The mayor said “there were some holdouts” among homeowners who wanted fences or posts but if someone took down part of the eruv, the settlement would fall apart.
“It’s off the table now,” said Ghassali.
Residents object
Greg March, Raven Road, suggested that the borough could fund Orange & Rockland to put utilities underground and force them to go around Montvale. However, Borough Attorney Joseph Voytus said the borough would likely encounter resistance from the state attorney general should Montvale attempt to do that.
Several criticized the two-year commitment the association was making not to sue the borough, noting it was not enough after all the effort expended.
One Bradley Lane resident called the two-year settlement agreement “ill-advised” and said the council was simply “punting the ball down the road. You’re just going to be in the same boat and seeing the same faces two years from now,” he said.
“It shows a stark lack of good faith … for such a short duration of time,” he said.
Another 30-year resident, who never attended a meeting before, said “most people are not worried about the eruv … The fact is people are afraid that eventually these people will come in and dominate the town and take over and make sure there’s no money for schools.”
He suggested “the people of Montvale can vote as a bloc … That’s the way to stop them.”
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Council comments
Councilman Michael Weaver said two hot-button issues – affordable housing and the eruv – have concerned and provoked conversations with residents.
“And the conversation has come back to one thing: it’s a constitutional right that has no defense in a court of law. As we’ve seen from Mahwah and Upper Saddle River, it’s a pointless fight and it’s not money well spent from a logical perspective,” he said.
Weaver said a two-year settlement “is meaningless. Anyone can come in tomorrow and ask for it be extended down Upper Saddle River Road to Summit to Spring Valley [Road]; there’s no one stopping anyone.”
Council President Rose Curry said asking homeowners to allow construction of an eruv across private property was unlikely to succeed.
“From the beginning I couldn’t see us asking any resident to put a deed restriction on their homes and to spend that money to have something disappear in two years or if someone wanted to sell their homes and they didn’t want to have a fence line, they didn’t want to have the wire going across. I understand that. People want to buy a house, people want to buy a house. That’s all there is to it,” she said.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Gloeggler said that “countless hours” were spent meeting with residents and lawyers to try to resolve the eruv lawsuit.
“I think this is the best deal after negotiations and this is what we need to do to move forward,” Gloeggler said.
Councilman Timothy Lane said the settlement was “not all we were hoping for, but it’s better than what was proposed.”
Lane said while another religious freedom lawsuit may arise again, “it’s pretty hard in this country to fight against somebody’s right to practice religion.”
He said what Montvale “can do is enforce zoning and code enforcement laws. And in my view this is something we’re going to continue to face.”
“This is just the reality of where we stand in this day and age,” Lane said. “What we have to look at is the concerns that residents have, rightly so, that a group will come in and then flout the laws of the community.”
“If you don’t want your schools affected by some future entity, all of us have to vote according to our conscience to protect our town. This is something that is going to affect the whole town,” Lane said.
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No ‘take over’ seen
Ghassali said the settlement came about because Montvale residents did not criticize the association on social media.
“That was very helpful and recognized by the association. That’s the reason we got what we got,” he said.
Ghassali said after dealing directly with the eruv association, and Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, he said he believed there was not “any master plan from the community there to move into Montvale.”
He said a house for sale on Fox Hill Road had “many, many showings” and “there’s no sign of a master plan that they’re [Orthodox Jews] going to walk into Montvale to take over the schools and take over the town.”
“In 10 years, who knows what’s going to happen. But I don’t see that,” said Ghassali.
Ongoing litigation
The association and seven Orthodox Jewish Rockland County residents sued the borough in October for blocking an eruv expansion into Montvale that infringed its right to “fully and freely” practice its religion.
The Monsey, N.Y.-based eruv association tried to extend a 26-mile eruv from Rockland County into Mahwah, Upper Saddle River and Montvale last summer – with all three towns taking actions to halt the expansion.
Mahwah approved an eruv settlement agreement Jan. 30 and Upper Saddle River is in negotiations to settle.
Ghassali issued a “stop work” order in July to prevent lechis from being installed on local utility poles, saying the eruv markers violated Montvale’s litter ordinance.
Over the past month, Montvale’s borough attorney and mayor were negotiating out of court directly with association representatives to settle the litigation.
Underlying public resistance is fear that an influx of Orthodox Jews from Rockland County may follow expansion of an eruv, leading to issues with schools, housing and overcrowding.
Photo courtesy Montvale Borough Attorney Joseph Voytus