An Orthodox Jewish sect is challenging Hollywood's denial of
its request to continue worshipping in a Hollywood Hills neighborhood.
The appeal, filed on July 14 in Broward Circuit Court, says city commissioners
erred last month when they denied a request by Chabad Lubavitch for a special
permit to use two homes in Hollywood Hills as a house of worship.
The synagogue still hopes to negotiate a solution with the city, Chabad
attorney Franklin Zemel said in a phone interview on Thursday.
"My experience is the city manages to do the right thing," Zemel
said. "If not, we're more than prepared to file [a lawsuit] in federal
court."
But on Thursday, Commissioner Sal Oliveri, whose district includes Hollywood
Hills, said the only true solution was for the Chabad to move.
"The only way they are going to have an amicable solution is they are
going to have to vacate the premises," Oliveri said. "There's not
going to be any compromise. They are not suited for the place. They just don't
fit."
The city's zoning code allows houses of worship in residential neighborhoods as
long as they are compatible with the neighborhood, City Attorney Dan Abbott said
on Thursday.
In the appeal, Zemel cited 11 houses of worship that have been allowed to
operate in the same Hollywood Hills neighborhood where the Chabad is located.
"Many of those churches [cited in the appeal] are on big parcels of
land," Abbott said. "They are many, many feet away from the next
structure."
Zemel questioned whether the city's denial had to do with zoning laws or
neighborhood complaints about noise, traffic and garbage.
"That some neighbors do not like the proposed religious use is not a valid
reason to deny a constitutionally protected religious use," he wrote.
The commission's vote was not based on neighborhood complaints, Abbott said,
but on the city's zoning code.
Abbott contends the city's zoning code is consistent with federal law, while
the appeal argues the city failed to apply the federal Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA. Passed by Congress in 2000, the law
aims to give religious groups power to fight local zoning laws.
The controversy began in May 2001, when the synagogue applied for a permit to
operate out of two homes at 2215 and 2221 North 46 Ave. The city's Development
Review Board gave conditional approval.
In September 2001, commissioners granted the synagogue permission to stay with
the condition it find a new home within the year, Oliveri said. The city's
Development Review Board, however, granted the synagogue a permanent permit in
March. The commission reversed the board's decision on June 4.
Meanwhile, the Chabad has continued to conduct services.
"There is no deadline [to move out]," Zemel said. "We have not
given an ultimatum to the city. They have not given an ultimatum to us."