Lawsuit looks to stop Saddle Rock Minyan from rebuilding after Yom Kippur fire

A group of Saddle Rock residents are suing the village over what it calls unlawful approvals to rebuild a synagogue that was badly damaged during a fire in 2024 on Yom Kippur.

The plaintiffs say the village erred by granting the Saddle Rock Minyan site plan approval and a special use permit to operate in a residential district, according to a new lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court.

The synagogue sustained damage in a fire caused by unattended candles, Newsday has reported, and has not been used since. The lawsuit was filed by Sigalit Sanilevich, who ran unsuccessfully for a trustee spot last month, as well as Concerned Citizens of Saddle Rock LLC, which comprises several residents. Two of the group's members also ran unsuccessfully for trustee positions in last month's village election.

The village approved the special use permit, site plan approval and parking determination for Saddle Rock Minyan in February. The sign-off followed a protracted fight between the synagogue and some residents that played out over a series of public hearings.

"There are procedural and substantive issues with how the village has proceeded, and that would be regardless of whether we're talking about a house of worship, or some other permitted use," Kenneth Allan Brown, the residents' East Meadow-based attorney, said in an interview. 

Saddle Rock Mayor Dan Levy did not respond to a request for comment.

The synagogue, which is also listed as a defendant, "acted lawfully, transparently, and in good-faith cooperation with the Village throughout an extensive permitting process while asserting their rights under federal and state law," Muhammad Faridi, the synagogue's Manhattan-based attorney, said in a statement.

The board granted the synagogue a special use permit, site plan approvals and off-street parking in a Feb. 4 resolution. 

The complaint said the board did not comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act. The village, according to the lawsuit, did not conduct a traffic impact study and failed to provide the public a "meaningful opportunity" to review its environmental analysis. The board did not require the synagogue to obtain required variances for its "existing nonconforming front yard, rear yard and side yard setbacks," according to the complaint.

Concerned Citizens of Saddle Rock and Sanilevich have requested that the court annul, vacate and set aside the synagogue's approvals, and halt all construction and permits. 

Sanilevich ran unsuccessfully for a village trustee spot last month, allied with a slate opposed to the plan to rebuild the synagogue. Martine Alter and Vivian Kollenscher, who also ran for trustee spots and lost, are listed as members of the LLC in court filings.

Saddle Rock Minyan had operated out of a single-family home on Greenleaf Hill since about 2019 or 2020, according to the lawsuit. It had never obtained a special use permit from the village or a certificate of occupancy, the complaint alleges. Levy, the complaint says, allowed "unlawful assembly uses to proceed without required approvals." 

Saddle Rock is zoned "strictly residential," according to the village's code, with houses of worship requiring "prior permission of the Board of Trustees."

After the October 2024 fire, services were moved to a private residence on Keats Lane. The synagogue submitted a plan to rebuild the structure with a second story, according to court papers. The 5,923-square-foot structure would maintain the same ground-floor blueprint but add a second story, the lawsuit stated.  

Last fall, Faridi wrote in a letter to Saddle Rock officials that the village was at risk of violating the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act if it did not approve the synagogue. 

Faridi's firm, Linklaters, represents mosques whose expansion plans were denied by the towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay. Masjid Al-Baqi, in Bethpage, settled with the Town of Oyster Bay last year on a smaller build-out. 

"The law prohibits exactly this kind of burdensome, inconsistent, and disparate treatment of religious institutions," Faridi wrote in that letter. "The Minyan continues to hope that the Village will correct course and allow this rebuilding process to move forward transparently, lawfully, and without further obstacles."

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.