In New York, an Orange County Hasidic village has dropped its lawsuit against another village.
Kiryas Joel’s six-year lawsuit had alleged the Village of Woodbury’s comprehensive plan contained exclusionary zoning. In a filing November 30, Kiryas Joel withdrew its suit. Democratic state Assemblyman James Skoufis of Woodbury says the withdrawal is part of a commitment he secured in August among enhancements to an agreement for Kiryas Joel to separate from the Town of Monroe and create a new town called Palm Tree. Voters overwhelmingly approved the new town in November. Skoufis says he secured other commitments, such as making any legislative acceleration of Palm Tree’s timetable contingent upon special state aid for Monroe-Woodbury schools.