The Associated Press (Jul. 31) presents a very strange case of zoning law dispute:
The long-running legal battle between Congregation Kol Ami and Abington Township moved to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 29, as a three-judge panel peppered lawyers with questions on equal protection issues.
The case may later test the constitutionality of the 2000 Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, designed to outlaw religious bias in zoning decisions. The law is being challenged in more than 30 cases around the country, but none have yet reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
Congregation Kol Ami, with about 210 families, wants to buy a 10.9-acre parcel in a residential neighborhood. The property, which boasts a large main house and chapel, has been used over the years as a family estate, a monastery and a convent. Its current owner, an order of Catholic nuns, wants to sell to Kol Ami, but the sale has been held up by the zoning fight.
Some neighbors oppose the sale, fearing increased noise and traffic.
In court July 29, Kol Ami's lawyer argued that a synagogue could have a similar impact on the neighborhood as a country club, which would be allowed to apply for a zoning exception in a residential neighborhood. Under Abington's 1992 zoning plan, country clubs, dog kennels and certain other entities can apply for the waivers, but churches, hospitals and schools are restricted to nonresidential areas.
"We can't have Talmud lessons, but we could have tennis lessons on Sundays," said Anthony R. Picarello Jr., a lawyer with the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, arguing on Kol Ami's behalf.
OK, are synagogues loud? They don't have anything like church bells chiming. Jews are incessent talkers, but they're not going to be overrunning the grounds of a Reform synagogue at all hours, are they?
Maybe the residents will get lucky, and end up with a half-way house instead...
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