Jewish group in Towson charges bias in zoning case
Organizers of a Jewish outreach center for college students in Towson have launched a campaign against a Baltimore County judge’s order to tear down the center, describing the decision as an act of religious discrimination.
The Hasidic Jewish organization Friends of Lubavitch, which operates the Jewish outreach program Chabad that serves students at Towson Uni- versity and Goucher College, built a large addition to a residence in the Aigburth Manor area of Towson in 2014 and has been locked in a legal battle ever since with neighbors and the county over zoning and land covenants.
This month a county circuit judge affirmed earlier rulings that the center violated zoning rules and must be demolished, at the owners’ expense.
Since then a group called Friends of Towson Chabad — which includes the
rabbi and his wife who live at the center and operate it — has taken the case public with a crowdfunding page on the website Charidy. In addition, a Change.org petition supporting the center had gathered more than 8,000 signatures as of Wednesday.
The court’s order to demolish a “religious hospitality center” is unprecedented, organizers claim on the crowdfunding site: “We cannot let this heartless injustice occur. Not now. Not ever.”
In other documents, organizers liken the opposition to the center and the court rulings to Kristallnacht, the historical event in 1938 in which German Nazis torched synagogues and vandalized Jewish homes. Nearly 100 Jews were killed.
“Eighty years after Kristallnacht, a rabbi’s home and a home for thousands of Jewish students is slated for destruction,” the organizers state. “For a clearly discriminatory ruling like this to be administered in the 21st century is chilling.”
Neighbors including Robin Zoll, who lives next door to the center, vehemently deny that the case has anything to do with religious discrimination. She called it strictly a “land use issue,” and said the comparison to Kristallnacht is especially upsetting.
“I’ve lived in this community for more than 50 years, and I have a very good reputation, and I am not an anti-Semite or an anti-anything,” Zoll said.
Paul Hartman, who is part of the neighborhood umbrella group Towson Communities Alliance, also denied that the opposition has anything to do with religion. He said when he and other neighbors began meeting about the case, he asked them: “Imagine, whatever faith you are, imagine if it were your faith involved in this. What would your opinion be?’
“As far as I’m concerned, I would have the same opinion,” he said.
The Chabad is the latest religious institution to tangle with Baltimore County over zoning regulations.
Four other institutions — Hunt Valley Baptist Church, Hunt Valley Presbyterian Church, Jesus Christ is the Answer Ministries and ARIEL Russian Community Synagogue — are involved in separate federal lawsuits alleging that county officials discriminated against them in violation of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. Theactis designed to protect houses of worship and religious institutions from discrimination in zoning.
In the Towson Chabad case, property records indicate that Friends of Lubavitch bought the Aigburth Road house in 2008.
In 2014, Rabbi Menachem Rivkin and his wife, Sheiny Rivkin, who live there, announced plans to expand the Chabad center, and in 2015 they applied for a permit to build a parsonage on the property. After that was denied, they applied to expand the house, and received a permit to construct a 6,614-square-foot addition to the original 2,200-square-foot home. It was built in 2016.
Neighbors filed legal challenges to the center, saying that while the county approved the addition as a private residence, it was also being used as Chabad of Towson and Goucher, an outreach center providing support and activities for the college campuses’ Jewish community.
The Baltimore County Board of Appeals agreed, and said operating a community center in a residential zone violated county regulations. In its written decision, the board accused Friends of Lubavich of being “insincere” in calling the center a residence.
Zoll and other neighbors also cited 1950 covenants in the Aigburth community requiring buildings to be 115 feet from the street — the addition is less than 60 feet off Aigburth Road. In a Circuit Court hearing in 2017, Rivkin testified he had no knowledge of the setback restriction until after construction of the building had begun, and Friends of Lubavitch called the covenant “unenforceable.”
Judge Susan Souder disagreed, saying it was “undisputed” that the 1950 covenants were still in effect.
After a number of appeals, other court decisions reaffirmed not only the Chabad’s status as a community center, but also the violation of the setbacks.
In the latest decision Nov. 2, Judge Kathleen Cox also ruled out the possibility that the center could be moved farther back on the property, saying that would “authorize the continuation of a commercial use that has been found to be non-compliant with restrictions on the property.”
Cox ordered Chabad to deposit funds to raze the building within 45 days of receiving a final estimate for demolition costs.
The fundraising page calls the building a “religious hospitality center,” and property records show the land is listed as a tax-exempt religious institution. The Rivkins have maintained that the addition’s primary purpose was to provide space for their growing family.
A video on the website describes the facility as a home away from home for Jewish students — one student says it has a “cozy, warm, homey feel,” and others say the Rivkins make them feel welcome and help them maintain their connection to the Jewish faith while attending college.
This week the Rivkins referred inquiries from The Baltimore Sun to spokesman Levi Rabinowitz, who declined to comment.
Friends of Lubavitch has retained Washington attorney Nathan Lewin, whose law firm website lists experience in arguing “religious liberty litigation” before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lewin said the group is exploring its legal options. He said government officials sometimes “use the cover of zoning violations to impede, hinder or obstruct or burden religious exercise,” and thinks the Towson Chabad case — like the others being contested in Baltimore County — might fall under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
Chabad’s fundraising page states a goal of raising $250,000; as of Wednesday it had pledges of about $133,000 from 1,000 donors. Organizers of the online campaign say the funds will be used to chart the “best path forward” — possibly including a settlement with neighbors or razing the structure and rebuilding.
County Councilman David Marks, a Republican who represents Towson, said in an email that he is trying to work with the neighbors and Chabad toward a solution, which could include relocating the center.
“Someoftherhetoric has beenmisleading and unhelpful, and I hope it can be toned down [so that] all parties work together toward a positive outcome,” Marks said.