Clifton, NJ – After months of legal wrangling, a state judge on Thursday ordered the Clifton Zoning Board of Adjustment to hear an application by a Passaic-based synagogue on whether its proposal to build a house of worship in Clifton meets zoning parking conditions.

Thursday’s hearing before Superior Court Judge Garry S. Rothstadt in Paterson marked the third time in a long and complicated legal struggle that Clifton appeared before a judge to discuss the Orthodox synagogue’s application to build a house of worship on Dwasline Road.

Shomrei Torah’s plan calls for an addition to the home that will transform it into a temple with a sanctuary that can seat 124 worshipers, a multipurpose room, a mikvah, a warming kitchen and a residence for the rabbi. Plans call for 35 on-site parking spaces.

Shomrei filed its recent application to show cause out of frustration, said synagogue officials prior to the court hearing. “We just want to get an interpretation of the zoning ordinance to determine if our plans should be heard by the zoning board or the Planning Board. Nobody wants to hear us,” said attorney Frank Carlet of Clifton, who represents the synagogue.

This is just the latest of a plethora of legal battles related to the congregation’s quest for a building. The synagogue initially sued the city asserting that the Planning Board denied Shomrei a hearing because its parking plan required variances from the zoning board.

The synagogue, however, maintained its plan met all parking requirements and went before Rothstadt in July, who ruled in its favor. The judge, however, said that the zoning board, not the court, must interpret zoning parking conditions to determine if the synagogue’s proposal conforms.

In October, Ira Weiner, an attorney representing neighbors of the synagogue’s property on Dwasline, filed an appeal as a third-party intervener against that ruling. The Board of Adjustment has since said it cannot hear the synagogue’s latest application pending the outcome of that appeal.

Rothstadt, at Thursday’s hearing, vehemently disagreed. “This has nothing to do with the Board of Adjustment,” he said of the pending appeal, ordering the board to hear the application.

“One thing we’re not going to do is put obstructions in the plaintiff’s way,” Rothstadt added. “I’m going to have a very low tolerance for people who stand in the way of people trying to be heard by boards and tribunals.”

Attorney John D. Pogorelec of Clifton, representing the city, said the zoning board would take up the matter at its earliest February meeting.

The synagogue first came to the city in 2008 with its request to expand a stately house on Dwasline Road and Virginia Avenue into a synagogue and mikvah, a ritual bath. But both the zoning and planning boards refused to hear the application.

(YWN Desk – NYC)