By Angela Marshall
Town board upholds covenant
Congregacion DeMita's covenant removal request was unanimously denied by the Town of Hempstead Board during their Tuesday, September 12, meeting. The church, which has faced road block after road block in its bid to build a temple on Church Street,may file a civil rights suit.
The restrictive covenant, which was placed on the Church Street building back in 1984, states that the property will only used as a warehouse. It was in place when the church purchased the property in 1997, however, their council, William Cohn, believes that the church has a constitutional right, under the first amendment, to build wherever it wants.
If the covenant had been removed, the decision would have ended any hope of community members winning their Nassau County Supreme Court case asking for the covenant to be upheld.
"I'm very, very pleased with the decision," said Attorney Jill Sandhaas Martinez, who is representing three residents in the case. "It looks like we will proceed with the Supreme Court case."
"I didn't know that," was Pastor Virma Robles response to questions about the decision and referred all calls to Mr. Cohn. However, after the hearing last April, Pastor
Robles said that if the board came back with a negative decision, she would consider a civil rights suit citing "discrimination."
"We certainly were disappointed with the decision and the church is considering an appeal," Mr. Cohn said.
Town board members offered no reasoning behind their decision and when questioned some members and their spokesperson said it was because they feared a lawsuit.
