The head of the port authorities broke the law by voting for a church project

Some residents of the Havenhoofd have taken the village and a local Russian Orthodox monastery to court, alleging the village failed to consider how a proposal to build a church next to the monastery’s historic house would affect the nearby environment, according to reports. according to court documents.

The lawsuit says village officials acted “in violation of the law” when they voted in March to grant a special use permit to the Monastery of Saint Dionysios the Areopagite to build a house of worship in a residential area.

The lawsuit seeks to overturn the trustees’ decision in March to approve the special-use permit, along with their conclusion that the project would not have a harmful impact on the surrounding area under state environmental law.

Mayor Michael Utevsky, who was elected shortly after the permit vote, said in an interview that the church project could still move forward, but the lawsuit could delay the process.

Utevsky, who has publicly opposed the project in the past, said he would decline further comment on the lawsuit until the village’s legal counsel advised him on the matter.

The lawsuit, filed April 12 in Suffolk County State Supreme Court, alleges that in approving the special use permit, the trustees “failed to exercise their discretionary authority to determine” whether the permit met the requirements of the village code. It adds that “the use of the property for religious services would have a negative impact on the existing character of the neighborhood.”

The monastery, also known as Monastery of the Glorious Assumption, must still submit site plans and receive architectural approval from the village’s planning and management boards before construction can begin, according to village officials and an attorney for the monastery.

Monastery officials plan to build a 3,000-square-foot church on their 4.6-acre property on North Country Road, according to data submitted for the special permitting process.

The property is listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places. The monastery where monks live and worship is located in Timothy House, a 19th century residence that once housed descendants of the family that founded Smithtown.

Christopher Murray, a Uniondale attorney representing the seven residents who filed the lawsuit, said in an interview that one of his clients owns property adjacent to Timothy House, while the others live within a few hundred feet. He said the village “has not properly considered the impact on the community.”

Murray added: “Is it going to lower the value of the surrounding houses? Will this open the door to more non-residential applications? They have to think about those questions and they haven’t done that.”

The lawsuit further alleges that the trustees “acted on the mistaken belief that they had no choice” under the federal law that protects people, houses of worship and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning regulations “but to issue the special use permit, otherwise they face possible personal liability. ”

Joseph Buzzell, an attorney for the monastery, said he was confident the project could move forward despite the lawsuits. He added in an interview that his clients had not “specifically highlighted” the trustees or threatened to sue the trustees individually during discussions with the village in the application process.

“We indicated what the claims were and that the monastery was willing to submit them. And there were several, and not all of them were seeking damages,” Buzzell said.

After the special permit vote in March, Buzzell had told Newsday that his clients were “prepared to go to court” if the village ultimately denies their application, citing the monastery’s religious rights and issues related to zoning plans.

Doug Dahlgard, the village’s mayor at the time, said in a Newsday interview after the special permit vote that although Buzzell told the village that, it was “not the primary reason” for approving the permit.