Settlement Order Entered In Chabad's Dispute With New Jersey Town

After lengthy mediation, a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed in 2016 by Chabad Jewish Center of Toms River, New Jersey and Rabbi Moshe Gourarie challenging Toms River's refusal to allow a Chabad Center to operate out of a large home and garage on 8 acres purchased by Gourarie in 2011. (See prior posting.)  An Order reflecting the settlement was entered in February (Chabad Jewish Center of Toms River, Inc. v. Township of Toms River, (D NJ, Feb. 5, 2018), but the settlement is just now being publicized.  As reported by Toms River Patch:

Rabbi Moshe Gourarie will be permitted to continue to hold religious gatherings at the Chabad's Church Road location, with certain stipulations.... Toms River Township must pay $122,500 to cover the Chabad's attorneys' fees, and an investigation by the federal Department of Justice into the township's zoning practices has been dropped.

Among the stipulations in the settlement are a limit of 35 individuals (in addition to family members) for most gatherings at the Center, with that number going up to 49 for six specific holidays each year.