<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1kvw1B_0wBhrKl000" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1kvw1B_0wBhrKl000" width="930" height="620" ><figcaption>The properties at 90 and 100 Bellingham Road that Chabad Center at Chestnut Hill is seeking to demolish. Photo by Sam Mintz</figcaption></figure>A flurry of legal filings on Thursday ended with victory for a South Brookline synagogue that has been fighting with its neighbors and the town for the right to demolish two homes it owns on property where it plans to build a new synagogue.After the Chabad Center at Chestnut Hill filed a lawsuit against the town in state land court on Thursday, the town quickly responded by agreeing not to challenge the central claim. In its response, the town acknowledged that a demolition delay put in place by the Preservation Commission, a town board, likely violated a federal law against religious discrimination.The Chabad center’s complaint marked an escalation of a land-use dispute that has been simmering for months. The center, which operates a synagogue on Bellingham Road, has been seeking a demolition permit to raze two homes it owns at the other end of Bellingham Road in preparation to build a larger facility there.The town’s Preservation Commission, however, repeatedly voted to declare that the homes are historically significant, thus triggering a town bylaw that forces the property owner to wait a year before demolition.Neighbors and abutters of the proposed project have challenged it and argued that it would have a negative impact on their neighborhood. Around 40 of them have signed a petition opposing the project, and more than a dozen have lobbied the Preservation Commission to enforce the demolition delay.The complaint filed Thursday argues that the demolition delay is a violation of a federal law called the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The complaint mirrors the claim that Chabad and its attorney, Jeffrey Allen, have been making repeatedly during Preservation Commission meetings over the past few months. Jonathan Simpson, an assistant town counsel, had also told the commission that its delay may violate the law. Neighbors who oppose the project have questioned the legitimacy of Chabad’s claim.The federal law states that, with some exceptions, no government land use regulations can “impose a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person, including a religious assembly or institution.”Filings by town attorneys on Thursday signaled that they don’t plan to contest the Chabad Center’s claim.In a lengthy statement, Select Board chair Bernard Greene said that town leaders instructed their attorneys not to challenge the lawsuit.But he said he believes the Preservation Commission “acted in good faith and without religious animus” when it voted to delay the demolition.“We agreed with Town Counsel that the Commission’s good-faith decision would not survive a legal challenge,” Greene wrote. “Instead, the result would have been costly, time-consuming, and embarrassing litigation that would have led to substantial damages while impugning the members of the Commission and neighborhood advocates with allegations of religious bias.”Once a judge approves a proposed order with terms on which the town and Chabad have already agreed, the synagogue can resume the process of obtaining a demolition permit, according to Greene and Allen.“In our society, laws aren’t optional,” Allen said. “They apply to Preservation Commission members the same way they apply to presidents.”Preservation Commission Chair Elizabeth Armstrong did not respond to a request for comment. Members of the seven-person commission are appointed by the Select Board.The Chabad center’s rabbi, Mendy Uminer, could not be reached for comment Thursday, but he previously told Brookline.News that the 20-year-old congregation has outgrown its currently cramped synagogue. It bought the two additional Bellingham Road properties last year to build a larger space for religious services, administrative offices and Jewish education.Neighbors who have opposed the project could not be reached for comment.</div></body>

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Synagogue’s lawsuit over demolition delay leads to swift concession from town

A flurry of legal filings on Thursday ended with victory for a South Brookline synagogue that has been fighting with its neighbors and the town for the right to demolish two homes it owns on property where it plans to build a new synagogue. After the Chabad Center at Chestnut...