Tensions cause Hasidic community to vote to create 1st new town in New York in 35 years

A resolution to a years-long conflict between two New York state communities has been approved, as residents of the Orange County, New York Town of Monroe voted to separate from the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel last Tuesday.

The vote allows for the Village of Kiryas Joel to become an officially recognized town by 2020. It will be the first new town created in New York state in 35 years.

The community formerly known as Kiryas Joel will now be known as the Town of Palm Tree, named after the Hasidic group’s Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, whose surname translates to “date palm tree.”

Residents of Kiryas Joel maintain a strict Hasidic lifestyle. It has the highest proportion of its population living under the poverty line of any American village, town or city with a population over 10,000, and its population has been expanding at a rate of roughly 5 percent per year since 2000.

This rapid population growth has led to attempts from the village to annex more land for their community, an issue that was addressed in the referendum that will split Kiryas Joel from the Town of Monroe.

“Last spring, we sat down and negotiated with Kiryas Joel leaders, and agreed on (about) 55 acres in exchange for separating,” said Emily Convers, the chairwoman of United Monroe, a grassroots organization that advocated for the separation.

Kiryas Joel annexed 164 acres of land in 2015, a decision that Convers attributed to a town board that was elected thanks to the majority voting bloc the Hasidic community created. This bloc led to the election of many Kiryas Joel-backed local officials, prompting a number of lawsuits from Monroe residents regarding the group’s land-grab attempts. As part of the separation agreement, all lawsuits will be dropped.

The 56 acres agreed upon between Monroe and Kiryas Joel residents will be included in the referendum, although the new Town of Palm Tree will not be able to annex any additional land for at least 10 years.

“The reason we opposed these attempts is because the land would be changed from rural density to high density, meaning many apartments and a real change in the landscape,” Convers said. “Many of us moved to this area for the rural character.”

The vote to separate will give residents of both towns agency in their local elections, and many hope this will ease tensions between the two sides.

“For today, or 2020, it does provide a measure of relief from the friction between the two sides, and that’s an unquestionably good thing,” said David Myers, president and CEO of the Center for Jewish History.

Myers said the peace might be short-lived, especially because of Kiryas Joel’s growing population.

“Kiryas Joel is going to continue to grow, and I suspect that there will be future tensions over resources: land, water, sewage,” Myers said. “For the time being, this provides for a well-deserved peace for the two sides, which have been at each other’s throats with some degree of ferocity over the last three years.”

In a statement, Kiryas Joel Village Administrator Gedalye Szegedin said the split will restore peace and stability for Monroe residents.

“(Monroe voters) chose a better path forward, one of diplomacy and compromise instead of angry rhetoric and litigation,” Szegedin said.