In 2011, Airmont and the federal government reached a settlement and Airmont agreed to amend its zoning code to allow Mischknois Lavier Yakov to build a school with student housing. federal government filed a civil rights lawsuit accusing Airmont of discriminating on the basis of religion and violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and the Fair Housing Act by banning boarding houses. Town residents opposed this, causing legal action including meetings and lawsuits. A federal judge ruled that the code was discriminatory and ordered Airmont to revise the code the legal case continued by 1997.Īround 2005, Congregation Mischknois Lavier Yakov proposed building a yeshiva and a boarding school with a 70-adult student dormitory (with provisions for their families, which could result in a population of several hundred individuals) on 19 acres (77,000 m 2) of land. Airmont's zoning restricted synagogues to 2-acre (8,100 m 2) lots, which were too costly for most Orthodox congregations. As a result of the suit Airmont revised its zoning code to allow religious sites. The Spring Valley Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had opposed the creation of Airmont. The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith supported the suit. The plaintiffs said that, because many Orthodox do not travel by car on Saturdays, preventing the creation of a synagogue would exclude Orthodox from the community. Obermaier, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, filed a suit against Airmont and the town of Ramapo Barr and Obermaier said that Airmont created a zoning plan intended to exclude Orthodox Jews from living in the village and "that other individuals acting at the behest of the defendants have engaged in a pattern of harassment against Orthodox Jews in the village." The officials cited the Fair Housing Act as the relevant law. Barr, the United States Attorney General, and Otto G. The founders of the town said that they intended for "strong zoning" to preserve the character of the community. Airmont had 9,500 people, including around 250 Orthodox Jews and many non-Orthodox Jews. In April 1991, creation of the village of Airmont was allowed in the town. Joseph Berger of The New York Times wrote in a 1997 article that Airmont was one of several Ramapo villages formed "to preserve the sparse Better Homes and Garden ambiance that attracted them to Rockland County." In 2005, Peter Applebome of The New York Times said that Airmont was "slapped around enough by the courts to be something other than a virginal player in any discrimination case" since it ran into legal resistance to its development laws. The village of Airmont, incorporated in 1991, is a consolidation of the hamlets of Tallman, Airmont and South Monsey. The population was 8,628 at the 2010 census. The elementary serves much of Airmont.Īirmont is a village in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of the state of New Jersey, east of Suffern, south of Montebello, and west of Chestnut Ridge. Cherry Lane Elementary, one of the five elementary schools within the Suffern Central School District, was awarded the National Blue Ribbon of Excellence award in 2013.
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