Some Waverly Township residents say they will fight a zoning permit issued to the Chabad of the Abingtons to stop the rabbi’s efforts to build 12 cabins for religious use.
WVIA News found out that information just a few hours before the township was supposed to hold its third hearing on the project. The township announced the permit was passed less than three hours before Monday’s planned hearing and called the matter “moot.”
Rapoport's lawyer, Matthew Barrett, withdrew his client's request for a special exception to build the retreat the prior Friday on Nov. 28.
Margaret Neville is leading the appeal against the project. Neville said in a Tuesday phone interview with WVIA News she is “disappointed that the rabbi is not respecting” the township’s rules “by further developing his property.”
She was one of the parties to the October and November zoning hearings on whether places of worship can accommodate overnight religious retreats. Waverly’s zoning ordinance only allows places of worship to have two homes on the property to accommodate “full-time religious leaders and their families.”
“We feel this is not a substantial burden [to practicing Judaism] to not allow 72 people to stay on the property,” Neville said on Tuesday.
The concerned citizens’ group has not been formed yet, but Neville said it will be created in the coming days and will have a Facebook page for interested residents.
WVIA News left three voicemail messages and sent an email for Waverly Township Manager and Zoning Officer Christine Capozzi from Monday to Tuesday and has not received a response.
WVIA also reached out to township solicitor Malcolm MacGregor and zoning board solicitor Matthew Boyd and did not receive a response.
Recap: What is the Chabad project and what are residents’ concerns?
He runs the Chabad and its Jewish Discovery Center at 216 Miller Road. Chabad teaches Hasidism, which is a type of Orthodox Jewish philosophy. Hasidic and Orthodox Jews do not drive during religious holidays like Shabbat. Rapoport has argued the cabins will help observant Jews disconnect from secular life during religious holidays.
Neville said Tuesday she feels she and her neighbors are being “discriminated against” because Rapoport is “taking advantage of RLUIPA (The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000)” by arguing he has a right to receive special exemptions from zoning code so he can develop his property for religious purposes.
RLUIPA protects individuals, houses of worship and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning and other land use laws.
Neville said her planned concerned residents’ group would protect the township against “mission creep” from the local Chabad. Mission creep refers to the broadening of an organization’s original objectives.
In other words, Neville is arguing that Rapoport is expanding the Chabad’s uses beyond what is reasonable for a religious organization by building overnight housing for guests.
Kim Barrows lives about 1/3 of a mile away from the Chabad. She said in a Tuesday interview with WVIA she would be willing to join Neville's citizens group if it would help fight the project.
She said she worries the expansion will burst Waverly's "rural bubble." Her family first moved to the area in 1963 and she hopes it will maintain its low-density character.
Barrows and Neville are also concerned about the rabbi’s personal shooting range. Neville said she frequently hears guns “go off” from the property which frighten her and her son, who has autism.
Has the Chabad of the Abingtons changed over time? Will it continue to change?
Short answer: yes.
Before Rapoport and his family moved to Waverly and opened the Chabad in 2012, it was not used for any religious purposes. A few years after opening the Chabad, Rapoport also built three tiny homes on the property with sewer and electricity, to which he disconnected from municipal services following township orders, according to the November hearing.
Rapoport was the sole witness during that three-hour hearing. Neville, her husband Terence and their lawyer, Kevin Walsh, were not able to make their arguments against the project in November — or at Monday’s planned hearing — since the township already issued the permit.
Neville said she expects there to be additional changes to the Chabad’s property over time. She said she and her husband met with Rapoport and his wife with their lawyers after the initial October hearing to talk about the proposed project.
She said she told the rabbi she and her husband were “reasonable people” and asked him to limit the number of people at the cabins and how long they would stay. She also asked him to add a covenant on his property that would require him and future owners to not develop on the property’s remaining 10 acres of land.
Neville said Rapoport refused to not build on his property in the future.
Barrows also commented on Rapoport's statements on how he would run his cabins during the Tuesday interview with WVIA News.
She said the rabbi "was excellent at evading questions and not giving information that was relevant" during the November hearing.
Rapoport was asked several times to describe how the cabins would be built and how many people currently live on the property, which he either referred to his legal counsel, his engineer or did not answer, depending on the question.
Several residents and lawyers asked Rapoport for the length of time guests would stay at the cabins, which Rapoport also did not give a definitive answer, other than they could stay for a few days for religious holidays or programs.
What’s next for Chabad?
The Chabad now has approval to build cabins for religious purposes, but it still needs approval from the Waverly Township Planning Commission to start construction on the project and to receive other relevant building permits.
