קרית יטב לב - בלומינגבורג נ.י.

FBI executes search warrants in Bloomingburg

BLOOMINGBURG – FBI agents executed over 20 search warrants at several locations in Bloomingburg Thursday.

An agency spokeswoman said the activities were part of an ongoing law enforcement operation. Sources say it has to do with a public corruption case that is under investigation, specifically dealing with voter fraud.

The US Attorney’s Office had no comment on the investigation.

One property, at 10 Route 17K is reportedly owned by Shalom Lamm, who is involved in building a large Hasidic housing project in the village.

A mikva, a ritual bathing facility, and other locations were also reported to have been searched by the FBI, which had as many as a dozen vehicles on location Thursday

Girls' school back on the agenda in Bloomingburg

Published: 10:10 PM - 03/17/14

BLOOMINGBURG — The messy situation in Bloomingburg just got messier.

Even though the Planning Board of this eastern Sullivan County village in December rejected a proposed private girls' school that would serve Shalom Lamm's 396-home Hasidic development, the project will be back on the agenda at a special Bloomingburg Planning Board meeting Wednesday night.

In a conference about Lamm's lawsuit against the Planning Board, Sullivan County Supreme Court Judge Stephan Schick essentially recommended that the girls' school go back before the board to complete the review process, said a clerk in Schick's office.

The Planning Board voted 3-1 to reject the project. But the vote occurred before a public hearing was held. A hearing is required by law.

"It wasn't ready for a vote yet," said Bloomingburg Planning Board Chairman Russ Wood. "It hadn't gone to a public hearing."

Wednesday's meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. at Mamakating Town Hall. It will not be a public hearing.

The proposed school, in a building owned by Lamm, is apparently allowed by zoning. After the board rejected it, Lamm sued.

"With no legal rationale or explanation, the Village Planning Board bowed to pressure from some residents motivated by blatant and ugly religious bigotry," Lamm said when he sued the board. "The vote went far beyond the scope of the board's review authority, which should have been a simple pro-forma affair, and left us no choice but to seek relief from the courts."

Steve Israel

Modern Orthodox Developer Shalom Lamm Lied To Media About Place Of Residence

Shalom LammControversial Modern Orthodox developer Shalom Lamm told the media yesterday he has lived in the tiny 420-person village of Bloomingburg, New York for two years. Yet a December 30, 2013 court filing specifically says Lamm lives in West Hemstead, New York – a long way away. And that isn't all the Lamm family is doing to try to take over this small upstate New York village

MAMAKATING — A public hearing held Tuesday night by the town Planning Board generated extensive discussion about the use and oversight of a pair of mikvahs — a type of ritual bath used in Judaism — that would serve the controversial 396-unit town house project on Winterton Road.

Presenting the plans were attorneys Terresa Bakner and Tom Olley of the Albany law firm of Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna and Brooklyn Rabbi Kalman Klein, an expert on mikvahs. The trio took numerous questions from the Planning Board and the public on the design and use of the proposed mikvahs.

In fact, while the mikvahs have yet to receive Planning Board approval or required permits, their construction has already begun, leading to a stop-work order and building violations, Building Inspector Mary Grass said.

At what may be the heart of the Planning Board's consideration of the project is the question of the mikvahs' use as "a neighborhood place of worship," as opposed to "a bathhouse facility."

"In light of the fact that this use has never been contemplated by the town, it is my opinion that this project should be reviewed by the Zoning Board of Appeals" before being approved by the Planning Board, said Richard Morris in an open letter; Morris is acting as a Planning Board alternate for board member Edna Fedun, who recused herself from deliberations over the project.

The issue is significant because it will determine whether the project falls under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, commonly known as RLUIPA, which protects religious institutions from exclusionary and discriminatory zoning and land-use policies.

That question aside, however, the board and the public also raised a great deal of issues about the mikvahs' structure and water use.

The project would include seven prep rooms and two mikvahs, which would be used by an average of 12 to 15 Orthodox Jewish women each day, with a capacity for 18 to 22 women a day, said Bakner.

The total modifications would be less than 400 square feet and would include handicap-accessible features, Olley said.

Because the property formerly housed a day spa, the lawyers said, the water supply is adequate to feed the roughly 2,000 gallons a day that would be needed. The mikvahs will use a combination of rainwater, collected in ground-level barrels, and well water; religious code dictates how these two water sources are merged.

Others, including resident Cathy Dawkins, raised the issue of cleaning and wondered about the use of chemicals as well as Department of Health oversight. Bakner and Olley said the mikvahs would be cleaned with an ozonator, a highly effective sanitizing method that uses small amounts of ozone. The Department of Health does not regulate mikvahs, Bakner said.

"The use of the mikvah is really a very modest and very private experience," Bakner said.