Source: The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/nyregion/26towns.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print
On June 26, 2005 The New York Times reported, "There are many issues buzzing like shrapnel around the dispute between current residents and Congregation Mischknois Lavier Yakov. Some are hard to divorce from allegations, present since Airmont was founded in 1991, that the village is hostile to the growth of Orthodox communities. At issue is a law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (known as Rluipa and pronounced ar-LOO-pah), enacted, Congress said, 'to protect religious liberty, and for other purposes.'" The Orthodox congregation of Airmont has written a proposal which "calls for a dormitory housing 170 single students and 30 town houses that the village says could house 300 people... After an application was turned down in 2002, the Orthodox congregation turned around and filed suit, citing Rluipa, and the village reluctantly agreed to a settlement that allows the planning process to go forward. A welter of lawsuits have followed, including a federal suit accusing the village of discriminating on the basis of religion because its zoning code prevents religious boarding schools from operating."