The Teaneck Zoning Board continued to hear testimony last week as part of a series of meetings to decide the fate of fledgling synagogue Etz Chaim on Queen Anne Road.

The hearings are the culmination of a two-year struggle for the self-identified “nonprofit organization that provides religious and community activities and counseling,” according to testimony last month by the organization’s president, Robert Erlich. The organization has applied for several variances from the zoning board, which would allow Etz Chaim to designate part of the Queen Anne Road property as a house of worship.

In addition, the organization has asked for variances that would excuse it from certain regulations, such as a required number of parking spaces. Under zoning regulations, a singe-family residence zone may be used on a conditional basis as a house of worship.

The board heard testimony from Etz Chaim’s architect and planning consultants last week. Questions focused on plans for the renovation to include six “stacked” parking spots, which would result in cars being blocked in the driveway. Regulations require 21 spots for a house of worship, and Etz Chaim has asked for a variance for the remaining 15. Erlich last month presented a list of neighbors, including the CVS at 375 Queen Anne Road, who had agreed to provide additional parking.

According to the planning and zoning analysis prepared by the Wyckoff firm Kauker & Kauker, Etz Chaim “would not have a negative impact on the surrounding area or Township.”

Michael Kauker, the principal planner, however, was unable to answer questions regarding the impact of traffic from weekday morning services, when members are permitted to drive. According to his testimony, he was aware only of Etz Chaim’s plans to meet Friday nights and Saturdays, when driving was more unlikely because of the group’s Orthodox affiliation.

Etz Chaim purchased the property at 554 Queen Anne Road in October 2007, shortly after incorporation as 554 Queen Anne Road Inc. Later that year, the group employed and rented the property to Rabbi Daniel Feldman. According to Erlich’s testimony, Feldman “provides pastoral counseling, religious law advice.” What has drawn the ire of neighbors is that soon after purchasing the property, Etz Chaim created a family-room addition to the house and “gave the rabbi permission to use that family room at his discretion for prayer services on the Jewish Sabbath and Jewish holidays,” Erlich said.

In November 2007, a group of neighbors submitted a petition with 78 signatures to the township, protesting the renovation and alleging that Etz Chaim had been using the addition as a house of worship, without filing the appropriate permit for the change in zoning.

Teaneck zoning official Steven M. Gluck issued a cease-and-desist order in August 2008, which Etz Chaim appealed. Gluck suggested the organization seek out the appropriate variances that would allow it to continue holding religious services.

“We filed the application for variances tonight in order to become a house of worship because of complexities that the town feels are present relating to our use … of the family room and the residence for private prayer services,” Erlich testified to the board last month.

The board tabled the hearing until next month.

Etz Chaim received approval from Teaneck to turn part of 554 Queen Anne Road into a house of worship. JosH LIPOWSKY

The Teaneck Board of Adjustment voted unanimously last week to grant a series of variances to Etz Chaim that would allow it to use portions of a Queen Anne Road home as a house of worship.

The vote ended more than seven months of hearings and debates with neighbors angry with what they said was the misuse of a residential property at 554 Queen Anne Road, owned by 554 Queen Anne Road Corp., which operates as Etz Chaim. Rabbi Daniel Feldman, who lives in the house with his wife, Leah, and their two children, has held weekly Shabbat services there for more than two years.

“The board, based upon testimony, came to the correct legal decision,” said Ed Trawinski, the lawyer who represented Etz Chaim through the proceedings. “And the board balanced the exercise of freedom of religion with the effort to minimize the impact on a residential neighborhood.”

Under the board’s stipulations, all of which Etz Chaim had agreed to in prior testimony, Etz Chaim is limited to holding only Shabbat and holiday services; no tents or other structures, except a sukkah, may be set up in the yard; no signs may be put up without municipal approval; a six-foot high fence and holly trees must separate Etz Chaim’s property from the western neighbor; no shul catering or cooking may be done in the kitchen; strollers must be kept in a specific area and limited to no more than six, lest they be folded up elsewhere; and a community liaison would be named.

If Etz Chaim sells the property, whether to an individual or another house of worship, the property would revert to a residential zone.

A property tax deduction may be in Etz Chaim’s future, but the organization will have to consult a tax attorney now that a portion of the property has been designated a house of worship, Trawinski said.

“That was an unintended consequence because we were always happy with our status as a prayer group,” said Robert Erlich, the group’s president. “Obviously if there’s a tax benefit, as a congregation we’d be foolish not to take it.”

The board has 45 days from the date of the vote, Aug. 11, to memorialize its decision.

“I am gratified by the decision,” Feldman wrote in an e-mail to The Jewish Standard. “I don’t know all the details of the stipulations, but we will abide by them as we have always complied with all instructions of the township.”

Etz Chaim typically attracts between 20 and 40 people for Shabbat services, said Erlich. The prayer group has no official membership but Etz Chaim has about 25 member-families.

“From an organizational standpoint, nothing has changed,” Erlich said. “Once we get out certificate of occupancy, instead of operating as a prayer group, we will operate as a house of worship.”

The Feldmans rent the property from Etz Chaim, which bought the house in October 2007. The corporation hired Feldman as rabbi that fall. In 2008, Griggs Avenue residents Raphael Campeas and Janet Abbot and some 70 neighbors filed a petition alleging a “change of use” of the property. Such a change requires a permit from the township.

That August, Teaneck’s construction official and zoning officer, Steven M. Gluck, wrote to Feldman, the group’s president, calling on the members to “cease and desist from using the premises as a house of worship/place of public assembly.”

Late last year, Etz Chaim applied to the board of adjustment for variances to allow it to operate as a house of worship inside the home.

From the beginning, Etz Chaim did not properly communicate with its neighbors about their intentions, which led to bad feelings, said board of adjustment chair Warren Hodges.

“If the congregation now starts communicating with the neighbors, the relationship can be fine,” Hodges said. “The resolution brought a balance for the neighborhood and the congregation. Both should be able to be good neighbors to each other.”

Campeas said an appeal of the decision remains an option, but he and the other neighbors will wait to see what happens.

“It entirely depends on how Etz Chaim behaves,” he said. “If they obey the restrictions, I think that there should not be any issues. If they don’t, obviously there will be.”

“My hope is Etz Chaim and the residents will move forward and put this behind them,” Trawinski said.

The Teaneck Jewish organization that last year won approval from the township’s board of adjustment to partially turn a private home into a house of worship filed suit against the board last month, challenging the “offensive conditions” placed on the synagogue.

According to the lawsuit, filed in mid-December in New Jersey Superior Court, the modern Orthodox congregation Etz Chaim “is not able to proceed as a fully-operational Orthodox Jewish house of worship” and requests that the court overturn the BoA’s conditions on the variances, which the suit argues are ambiguous and restrictive.

The BoA imposed more than two dozen conditions on Etz Chaim when it granted the requested variances in August. While Etz Chaim accepts the stipulations related to maintaining good relations with its neighbors, according to the suit, the organization takes issue with limitations on how often the group may use the house and how much of it may be used.

The conditions violate Etz Chaim’s First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, as well as the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, according to the lawsuit, as they “impose a substantial burden” on Etz Chaim’s rights to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and due process.

“This can be resolved very quickly if the board realizes their errors in judgment and fixes them,” Robert Erlich, Etz Chaim’s president, told The Jewish Standard.

Approximately 40 families attend weekly services at 554 Queen Anne Road, while Etz Chaim has a membership of about 35 families.

Rabbi Daniel Feldman and his family rent the property from 554 Corp., which operates as Etz Chaim and bought the house in October 2007. The corporation hired Feldman as rabbi that fall. Feldman soon began holding Shabbat prayer services in the home. In May 2008, Etz Chaim finished a renovation of the house’s living room, which included conversion of a garage into a kitchenette. According to the complaint, Feldman and Etz Chaim’s leadership informed the township of the plans and received the necessary permits.

Shortly after, Griggs Avenue resident Raphael Campeas and some 70 neighbors filed a petition alleging a “change of use” of the property.

That summer, Teaneck’s construction official and zoning officer sent a notice to Etz Chaim to “cease and desist from using the premises as a house of worship/place of public assembly.”

After several often heated hearings, the board granted the variances in August with several conditions limiting use of the property, to which Etz Chaim at the time agreed.

“Those stipulations that were agreed to during testimony were done after intense pressure from the board,” said Akiva Shapiro, the attorney representing Etz Chaim.

Shapiro’s New York firm, Gibson Dunn, has taken on the case pro bono.

Etz Chaim would be open to an out-of-court settlement, added Shapiro, who is also a member of the synagogue.

The township insisted Etz Chaim seek out the variances to become a house of worship, and the synagogue has embarked on this path solely because of that insistence, according to Shapiro.

“Etz Chaim was and has always remained quite happy to have their prayer services be a private prayer group hosted by Rabbi Feldman in his house,” he said.

The synagogue is not asking to expand beyond the house’s living room and wants only fair treatment, according to Erlich.

“Since they made us go through the process of being a house of worship,” he said, “we expect to be treated as a house of worship is treated.”

Campeas, who led opposition during the adjustment hearings, told the Standard that he has seen “no evidence” that Etz Chaim is trying to cooperate with the township.

His own children are awakened Saturday mornings by noise from Etz Chaim children playing in the yard, he said, and the lawsuit is proof the synagogue’s leaders are not being open about their intentions.

“They wasted a lot of time and money on the part of Teaneck and any attempt of an out-of-court settlement on this ridiculous suit is just an encouragement for other people who don’t get what they want,” he said.

A call Tuesday to township attorney Harold Ritvo was not returned by press time.

Teaneck has 30 days to respond from the time the suit was served.

Josh Lipowsky can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).