Haverstraw’s supervisor is defending the town’s decision to settle litigation with a homeowner who wants to convert a private home in Thiells into a house of worship. The home’s owners, an Orthodox Jewish congregation, are using the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, known as R-LOOPA, in their quest to convert the Riverglen Drive home into a synagogue. Haverstraw supervisor Howard Phillips says their lawyers said it would be very hard, and costly, to fight the case…
The congregation still faces a court challenge by the home’s neighbors. The settlement reportedly includes the town paying the congregation’s $235,000 in legal fees and a slight reduction in the synagogue’s size. Neither side would admit to any wrongdoing.