Document Type
Brief
Case Name
Lost Lake Holdings, LLC v. Town of Forestburgh
Publication Date
12-15-2025
Abstract
No. 25-2191
Lost Lake Holdings, LLC v. Town of Forestburgh
On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 22-cv-10656-VB (Hon. Vincent L. Briccetti)
From the Summary of the Argument
As the district court seemed to recognize early on, JA-1506, the Town of Forestburgh is not going to allow Appellants to build a residential community for Hasidic Jews. Once the developers purchased a shovel-ready property for that purpose, the Town—in the words of one prominent resident and former member of the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee—“circle[d] the wagons.” JA-1570. That former committee member (along with other residents) stoked fears that Hasidic Jews would “take over, like locusts—killing everything they encounter, draining every last resource, bleeding the beast.” Id.; see also JA-57. A member of the Town Board wrote to reassure him, “[Y]our concerns are my concerns and I will advocate for any measures that protect our town.” JA-1572. The Chair of the Town’s Planning Board, shortly before his appointment, had encouraged another resident not to worry about “the hasidic threat” seen elsewhere because, unlike other towns, “we’re energized and have the cash to fight and make their lives miserable.” JA-1558. According to the allegations here, that is exactly what the Town has since done: preventing the developers from building, shifting demands, delaying permits, and arbitrarily increasing project costs by more than $3 million. Opening Br. 8–14.
Recommended Citation
Meiser, John A. and Kessler, Meredith Holland, "Brief of Agudath Israel of America, the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, the National Council of Young Israel, and the Jewish Community Council of Sullivan County as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellants" (2025). Court Briefs. 95.
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/sct_briefs/95
Included in
Courts Commons, Jewish Studies Commons, Land Use Law Commons
Comments
Amici curiae are four organizations devoted to promoting the interests and protecting the rights of Jewish communities in the United States. They submit this brief to address an issue of grave concern to Jewish people within this Circuit and across the nation: the anti-Semitism exhibited by many local zoning boards and land-use commissions, which often wield their power to pressure Jewish residents to leave their communities or to bar them from ever moving into such communities in the first place.