Eruv Variance Request Before Zoning Board of Appeals

Members of the public will have a second chance to have their thoughts heard on a request by the East End Eruv Association for a variance from the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.

The ZBA is set to hold a hearing on the association's application to attach 28 lechis on 15 utility poles  — under town code, attaching anything to utility poles is prohibited.

The Eruv Association is also asking the ZBA to reverse a decision by the town's building inspector, which determined that lechis are not considered signs under the town's ordinance.

The case and request before the ZBA is part of an ongoing battle and federal lawsuit launched by the East End Eruv Association in 2011 to create an eruv, an area marked by thin wire strung around utility poles, where orthodox Jews can carry things they normally couldn't on the Sabbath, such as keys, and to push strollers.

The association is also trying to string the lechis around portions of the villages of Quogue and Westhampton Beach, however, Westhampton Beach has no ordinance for them to file a request under and Quogue, in May 2012, voted not to allow them.

The Quogue Village Board voted to side with members of the Jewish People for the Betterment of Westhampton Beach, who argued that if Quogue approves the eruv, they are symbolically endorsing "an interpretation of Jewish law that they don't agree with.”

In its denial,  the Quogue board wrote, "We do not wish to be in a position of having to make distinctions without a clear basis for doing so or to expose the Village to claims of discriminatory treatment, expensive litigation and potential liability for allowing one type of device and message and not another. On that basis denial of the application is appropriate."

The decision came after the East End Eruv Association filed a federal lawsuit against Southampton Town and the villages of Quogue and Westhampton Beach in January 2011, claiming discrimination. LIPA and Verizon have also filed a suit, asking the courts for "clarification" on who has the authority to regulate what is placed on poles they own. The power authorities had granted approval to use their poles for an eruv, but their effort was thwarted when the municipalities stepped in and said they hold regulatory powers because the poles are in their right-of-way.

A third suit was filed by Jewish People for the Betterment of Westhampton Beach in July 2012, claiming that if a symbolic religious boundary, known as an eruv, is erected, it will be a direct violation of the First Amendment. That suit was dismissed by Judge Leonard D. Wexler.