Judge rules in favor of Chabad wanting to set up shop in Cooper City business district

COOPER CITY, FL — A federal judge crushed attempts by Cooper City to keep Chabad of Nova out of its business district, ruling against the city on nearly every issue Tuesday and setting the stage for damages that could cost taxpayers more than $1 million.


Miami U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga said the city violated federal religious protection laws when it twice changed its zoning codes to prohibit or restrict religious organizations from opening in business and shopping areas. Altonaga ruled the city’s violations are so blatant that the only questions left are how to fix the zoning code and how much money the Chabad and its lawyers should be paid for their trouble.

“Chabad’s alleged injury in fact is clear — it cannot hold religious services in Cooper City,” Altonaga wrote. “Moreover, the city’s ordinances are the cause of the Chabad’s injuries” and changing them would finally allow the Chabad to open its outreach center, the judge ruled.

In 2005, Rabbi Shmuel Posner rented space at the Timberlake Plaza on Griffin Road for the center, which provides religious and spiritual teachings to teenagers. Almost immediately the city stepped in and told Posner he couldn’t open for business.

A year later, the city changed its zoning laws, but enacted minimum size and frontage restrictions that made it impossible for any religious group to afford enough property to move into the city, Altonaga ruled. Based on real estate estimates filed by the Chabad and used by Altonaga, the cost of buying sufficient property could reach $1.4 million.

“This is a total victory on a case the city should have settled long ago,” said Chabad attorney Franklin Zemel. “For 30 years, they allowed religious organizations in business districts, and suddenly in 2004 they decide to change. All we’ve asked from the beginning is to go back to the pre-2004 rules, but they wouldn’t listen.”

Zemel, who represented the Chabad Lubavitch in a lawsuit against the city of Hollywood in a case that settled for $2 million, said Cooper City could expect similar damages.

The mayor, city attorney and commissioners were attending a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night and were unavailable for comment.

Posner said Tuesday he still wants to bring his outreach center, now operating at Nova Southeastern University, to Cooper City. The spot he rented in the Timberlake Plaza is occupied and there are no suitable vacancies in the city, he said.

A trial scheduled to begin Monday in Miami will go on, even though the zoning code is now ruled illegal. If no settlement is reached, the judge will award damages and legal fees and will write a new zoning code, according to the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

Two weeks ago, the City Commission hurriedly changed the zoning laws in an effort, some said, to show the judge it was complying with her orders. But Altonaga did not rule on the new laws, and Zemel and co-counsel Jason Gordon said they still violate federal regulations.