Several years ago, a property owner in the Town of Mamakating in upstate Sullivan County, New York, proposed to convert the property, which had been used as a day spa, into a mikvah, which is a bath-like structure used for cleansing, bathing and purification in certain Jewish religious practices. The property was located within an area designated as a Village Center zoning district, and the town’s zoning law permitted property in this district to be used for, among other things, “[n]eighborhood places of worship.”

The town’s building inspector issued a written determination that the proposed use conformed with the definition of a neighborhood place of worship and, therefore, that it was a permitted use. Following approval of the property owner’s site plan by the town’s planning board, two individuals asked the town’s zoning board of appeals (ZBA) to reject the building inspector’s determination.