Temple Israel Brings Lawrence to Court Over Subdivision Request

has served legal documents to the , alleging that the building department has been stonewalling the temple’s request to subdivide its land.

“The village has been following a delaying tactic,” said James Rotenberg, president of Temple Israel. “They say we need this, then this. They’ve had everything for a month.”

The temple to subdivide its land in December, with intention to sell. One potential buyer is the , which has been looking for a bigger lot to accommodate a growing library population. The temple and library into an agreement on a $2.5 to $3 million real estate last September.

Since the filing of the subdivision, Lawrence’s building department has requested more information, as typical in these kinds of requests, and the temple has obliged.

However, Rotenberg said that the village is holding on to a letter of denial, which would send the case to the Board of Zoning Appeals. The issue is, he said, is that the BZA has infrequent meetings during the summer. “The whole process would get deferred,” Rotenberg said.

Temple Israel filed the papers on Monday in New York State Supreme Court. The village was served late Tuesday afternoon. The village has until June 8 to respond to the Article 78 proceeding.

Mayor Martin Oliner, who has repeatedly expressed about moving the library to Temple Israel’s land, said the village has acted properly. “Everything was responded to in a timely fashion,” he said. “They turned it into litigation and I have no idea why. The building department acted totally properly.”

In neighboring Cedarhurst, a recent subdivision request to split a smaller parcel into two took four months, which was a relatively “smooth process,” according to Wayne Yarnell, Cedarhurst’s building superintendent.

“Once you get into something bigger, it gets more complicated,” said Yarnell, who has not worked with a commercial subdivision during his years with the village. “It could take quite a long time depending on the size of the project.”