ND: After more than a year of hearings, the Southampton Zoning Board of Appeals has granted a special exception permit to a Jewish center to operate as a house of worship in the village. The Southampton Jewish Center, which has been operating for seven years in the house of Rabbi Rafe Konikov……..It is the only Jewish center in the village, and just one of a handful of synagogues in the Hamptons.Konikov and his family moved into their house, a former nursing home at 214 Hill St., about seven years ago, and renovated it so it could be used for services.

But in 2004, village officials suggested that he obtain a formal permit to operate the house of worship in a residential area. Several Hill Street neighbors objected to what they said would be traffic created by the synagogue, and the Zoning Board of Appeals found itself mired in repeated hearings in which simple issues of side-yard setbacks and driveway access were overwhelmed by constitutional issues such as the right of people to worship in their own homes.

Several of the board’s hearings drew more than 100 people – a bigger crowd than could be found at the Chabad House on even the busiest Jewish holiday. Clergy from the 10 churches in Southampton repeatedly came to those meetings to support Konikov.

Like the Chabad House, most of the churches in Southampton are located in residential areas, but they were built before the village adopted its zoning code decades ago.

In granting the special exception, the board issued a 35-page report, which imposed several conditions on the Chabad House that it had already accepted at earlier hearings. The circular driveway in front of the building will be replaced, and 16 parking spaces will be added in the back of the property.