Mahwah Township Excluded Orthodox Jews, State Claims In Lawsuit

MAHWAH, NJ — The New Jersey State Attorney General's office has filed a lawsuit against the Mahwah Township Council and the town for an alleged attempt to restrict Orthodox Jews from the township, including in its parks.

The nine-count complaint stems from two ordinances the council approved recently. One of them prohibits non-New Jersey residents from using Mahwah public parks, the State alleges.

The other — an ordinance amendment approved in July — is discriminatory because it bans the posting on utility poles of boundaries of the eruv used by Orthodox Jews, including those from neighboring Rockland County, New York, the suit says. The complaint also challenges actions the town has taken to have an existing eruv removed.

Watch: Mahwah Township Excluded Orthodox Jews, State Claims In Lawsuit

Eruvs symbolically extend the private domain of Jewish households into public areas. Jewish households within an eruv are allowed to participate in activities that are normally banned on the Sabbath.

In a statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Attorney General Christopher Porrino likened the township's conduct to "1950s-era 'white flight' suburbanites who sought to keep African-Americans from moving into their neighborhoods."

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“In addition to being on the wrong side of history, the conduct of Mahwah’s township council is legally wrong, and we intend to hold them accountable for it,” said Porrino. “To think that there are local governments here in New Jersey, in 2017, making laws on the basis of some archaic, fear-driven and discriminatory mindset, is deeply disappointing and shocking to many, but it is exactly what we are alleging in this case.

The nine-count complaint was filed in Bergen County Superior Court on behalf of Porrino, the state Division on Civil Rights, Department of Environmental (DEP) Protection Commissioner Bob Martin and the DEP. It charges that the Township Council was largely influenced by "vocal anti-Orthodox-Jewish sentiment" expressed by people at public meetings and on social media.

The state is also seeking the return of more than $3.4 million in DEP Green Acres grants the township used to purchase and maintain parks. The ordinance banning non-New Jersey residents from using those parks breaches those funding contracts, Porrino said.

The Green Acres Act provides that the use of any lands acquired under the program cannot be restricted on the basis of religion or residency.

Martin called the alleged concerted effort of Mahwah to block non-New Jersey-residents from using public parks "regrettable."

“What’s been happening in Mahwah with respect to the township’s parks ordinance is not in accordance with the original intent of the Green Acres Program," Martin said. "As such, it is unacceptable, and it cannot be allowed to stand.”

The complaint also notes that, upon approving the parks ordinance, the township created proposed signs for posting in its parks explaining that the facilities were only open to New Jersey residents, but including such disclaimers as “GUESTS OF A RESIDENT ARE PERMITTED USE” and “EMPLOYEES OF LOCAL BUSINESSES ARE PERMITTED USE," Porrino said.

Porrino contends in the complaint that the parks ordinance abuses the municipal power by the council in violation of the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Enforcing the ordinance would require "Constitutional overreach" by Mahwah Police officers seeking to determine if someone using a park lived in town. The complaint contends that aside from any evidence of suspicious or unlawful conduct by someone, a police officer would require someone to provide "appropriate documentation" in order to use the park — an unreasonable search.

Eruv Border

In 2015, the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association sought to extend an existing eruv in Rockland County, New York to cover the full southern part of Rockland County. The proposed path of the extension included areas in Mahwah Township near the New York border.

The South Monsey Eruv Fund of Spring Valley, New York installed the eruv on Orange & Rockland utility poles. PVC pipes were used as markers.

Officials have said the eruv is prohibited. Michael J. Kelly, the township's zoning officer, sent a letter to the fund stating that installing the eruv "constitutes a prohibited activity and is therefore a violation" of town law.

As amended, the sign ordinance — which previously banned only “signs” on utility poles — now includes expanded language prohibiting the posting of “any … device or other matter” on a utility pole, shade tree, lamp post, curbstone, sidewalk or upon any public structure or building in Mahwah.

A month after initiating efforts to amend the sign ordinance language, the council authorized Michael Kelly, Mahwah’s zoning officer, to issue summonses against the Bergen Rockland Eruv Association for violating the existing ordinance. The State’s lawsuit observes that, prior to the sign ordinance being amended, the Eruv Association had worked cooperatively with Orange & Rockland Utilities, the Mahwah township administration and the Mahwah police department in creating the eruv.

Residents have spoken out against the eruv online and at council meetings.

Police have been investigating damage to eruv markers in four locations. The matter is being investigated as a hate or bias crime because the crime targeted a class of people based on their religion or ethnicity.

Mayor Mayor William Laforet did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

RELATED: Town Tells Jewish Organization To Remove Eruv Markers

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RELATED: Eruv Markers Vandalized, Mahwah Police Launch Bias Crime Investigation

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