FORESTBURGH — In the wake of thirty-plus comments submitted unanimously against the implementation of Forestburgh’s proposed Local Law #2 of 2024, the Town Board voted to table the legislation at its regular monthly meetingon  Thursday evening.

Those comments, along with a handful of the dissenting comments voiced before the board in August, swayed the board to make its decision. 

As previously reported by the Democrat, the local law was poised to alter the minimum acreage required for houses of worship within residential and commercial zoning districts to five acres. Despite accusations of attempts to heighten restrictions on places of worship, town officials said the local law is intended to make the law less restrictive than the legislation passed in the 1970’s that is currently in place.

Town Supervisor Dan Hogue Jr. said that the board took notice of the public’s negative opinion on the legislation, and moved to have it tabled, saying that it was “no longer needed.” 

In addition to pointing out that there are currently zero applications submitted to construct a house of worship in the town, he also restated that the local law “reduces setbacks in residential zones and reduces lot size requirements in the business district.”

According to a number of the public commenters and correspondents who opposed the legislation, their issues with the local law lie mainly with the increasing of minimum acreage also comes difficulty mobility, as members of the Hasidic Jewish faith are disallowed to drive vehicles on the Sabbath.