Congregation Anshei Roosevelt v. Planning & Zoning Board of the Borough of Roosevelt

338 F. App'x 214
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJuly 22, 2009
DocketNo. 08-3907
StatusPublished

This text of 338 F. App'x 214 (Congregation Anshei Roosevelt v. Planning & Zoning Board of the Borough of Roosevelt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Congregation Anshei Roosevelt v. Planning & Zoning Board of the Borough of Roosevelt, 338 F. App'x 214 (3d Cir. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

AMBRO, Circuit Judge.

Appellants Congregation Anshei Roosevelt (the “Congregation”) and Congregation Yeshivas Me’On Hatorah (the “Yeshiva”) filed a complaint in the District Court of New Jersey against, among others, the Borough of Roosevelt, New Jersey, its Mayor and Council, and its Planning and Zoning Board. The complaint asserted violations of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (“RLUIPA”), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc et seq., and various claims arising under state law. The Borough, the Mayor, the Council, and the Zoning Board moved to dismiss the complaint as not ripe for judicial review. The District Court granted the motion and this appeal followed.1 We conclude as well that the federal claims are not ripe for our review, and thus affirm the District Court’s dismissal.

Because we write solely for the parties, we recount only the facts relevant to our analysis. The Congregation is located within the Borough, a small New Deal resettlement community. The synagogue housing the Congregation was constructed before the Borough adopted any zoning regulations, but subsequent zoning ordinances designated the area as an R-40 Zone, in which houses of worship are permitted as conditional uses. The synagogue does not meet all the necessary conditions for use. However, under the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law, a pre-existing structure may continue in use notwithstanding its failure to comply with an after-enacted zoning ordinance. See N.J. Stat. Ann. § 40:55D-68.

In 2005, the Congregation entered into an agreement with the Yeshiva. Pursuant to the agreement, the Yeshiva would provide the Congregation with needed rabbinical services, and the Congregation would allow the Yeshiva to conduct study and worship activities at the synagogue. After the Yeshiva began operating on the property, a neighbor complained to the zoning officer that the synagogue property was being used for a private school in violation of the local ordinance. The zoning officer consulted with the Borough attorney, who provided a written opinion that the Yeshiva’s use was comprehended within the existing synagogue use. The zoning officer thereafter ruled that the Yeshiva could continue to operate on the property.

The Roosevelt Preservation Association, a concerned citizen’s group, appealed the zoning officer’s decision to the Board, which subsequently held hearings.2 Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, an expert on Jewish religious practice, testified that: a Yeshiva is a place where people congregate to study Torah and worship; a synagogue may not necessarily be a Yeshiva, but a Yeshiva is [216]*216part of a synagogue; and a synagogue serves as a house of worship and of study. The Temple President testified that the residence on the property was housing six rabbis in training. Objecting neighbors testified that there were about 34 students enrolled in the Yeshiva and living in buildings throughout the Borough, the students congregate on the property and the street in the evenings, and there are numerous vehicles traveling to and from the synagogue on a daily basis.

On July 24, 2007, the Board adopted a resolution overturning the decision of the zoning officer. It accepted Rabbi Char-lop’s testimony that a Yeshiva can be a synagogue, but went on as follows:

The argument that the Yeshiva is a function of a Jewish house of worship may be accurate. The problem is that from a land use perspective, the Yeshiva has resulted in a significant increase in the intensity of the use. A variance is necessary since the Yeshiva is an expansion of an already nonconforming use.

The Board noted that although a house of worship may have religious classes, in this instance the students were outside late at night, an activity that was not a religious exercise. It determined that the Yeshiva was now a boarding school, with six junior rabbis living in the residence and students residing in a home on another property. The Board took note that the lease between the Yeshiva and the Congregation contained provisions allowing for further expansion, and determined that “[mjunicipal overview of such a proposal is necessary to protect the public health and safety and the integrity of the zone plan.”

The Board determined that filing a variance application would not substantially burden the Congregation and the Yeshiva. It noted that “[njothing in the [ ] decision on this appeal should be interpreted as being opposed to the establishment of the Yeshiva on the property.” It concluded that “[t]he sole decision rendered is that land use approval is required and the Zoning Officer erred in allowing the Yeshiva to be established without such approvals.... [T]he Zoning Officer erred in that the proposal is a significant intensification of the non-conforming use and should not have been allowed as of right without any municipal review or approval.”

On appeal, the Congregation and the Yeshiva urge that the matter is ripe for review because the Board’s decision was a final determination on: (1) the issue of whether the Yeshiva is a house of worship use, and therefore is permitted as a preexisting conditional use; and (2) the application of the zoning regulations to the property.3

Ripeness is a jurisdictional inquiry, rooted in both the case or controversy requirement of our Constitution’s Article III and judge-made prudential limitations on the exercise of judicial authority. Murphy v. New Milford Zoning Comm’n, 402 F.3d 342, 347 (2d Cir.2005) (citing Suitum v. Tahoe Reg’l Planning Agency, 520 U.S. 725, 733 n. 7, 117 S.Ct. 1659, 137 L.Ed.2d 980 (1997)). The ripeness doctrine’s “basic rationale is to prevent the courts, through avoidance of premature adjudication, from entangling themselves in abstract disagreements. ...” Abbott Labs. v. Gardner, [217]*217387 U.S. 136, 148, 87 S.Ct. 1507, 18 L.Ed.2d 681 (1967), overruled on other grounds, Califano v. Sanders, 430 U.S. 99, 97 S.Ct. 980, 51 L.Ed.2d 192 (1977).

In Williamson County Regional Planning Comm’n v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172, 105 S.Ct. 3108, 87 L.Ed.2d 126 (1985), the Supreme Court developed specific ripeness requirements for land use disputes. It held that the takings claim at issue was “not ripe until the government entity charged with implementing the regulations has reached a final decision regarding the application of the regulations to the property at issue.” Id. at 186, 105 S.Ct. 3108. Subsequent decisions applied this ripeness requirement to land use disputes implicating other constitutional claims. See Murphy, 402 F.3d at 350 (Free Exercise Clause and RLUI-PA claims); Taylor Inv., Ltd. v. Upper Darby Twp., 983 F.2d 1285 (3d Cir.1993) (due process and equal protection action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983).

The Court in Murphy

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338 F. App'x 214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/congregation-anshei-roosevelt-v-planning-zoning-board-of-the-borough-of-ca3-2009.