January 16, 2014

Dear Fellow Congregant,

You may have heard that the lawsuit "Littman vs Town of Greenwich Planning and Zoning" was not dismissed.  This lawsuit challenges Planning and Zoning's action in permitting our lot-line revision regarding 92 and 96 Orchard, site of our new synagogue, to go forward.  The lawsuit is against the Town of Greenwich, which is defending the suit, although Greenwich Reform Synagogue is named as an (obviously) interested party.

The Town had asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed on the grounds that the plaintiffs should have gone first to the Zoning Board of Appeals.  To make a long story short (and I'm not an attorney so I may have some of the technicalities wrong), the Judge reasoned that the Zoning Board of Appeals reviews P&Z decisions, and P&Z didn't technically make a "decision"-rather, they made a finding that our action was "neither a sub-division nor a re-subdivison", so there was no obstacle to the lot line revision.  Therefore, it's OK for this matter to skip ZBA and go right to court.

As you will recognize, this is not a ruling on the merits of the lot-line revision nor the actions of P&Z, which will be argued at trial and defended by the Town.

As far as GRS and the new synagogue are concerned, everything is still moving forward.  It has been our view, fully informed by counsel, that this suit is not of practical concern to us; regardless of its disposition-that is, if the lot line revision stands or fails, we will be able to build as planned on that site.  I know I've communicated why that is so with many of you previously, and would be happy to do so again, but would rather not in a widely-distributed email for tactical reasons.  While the other side may enjoy something of a psychological lift from this, it's not a setback for us. 

Regards, 

Robert Birnbaum

President, Greenwich Reform Synagogue