KIRYAS JOEL, N.Y. – Kiryas Joel is a fast-growing community of ultra-Orthodox Satmar Hasidic Jews in a suburban stretch of New York’s Hudson Valley.
Now a petition to expand the village by annexing 500 acres of leafy lots nearby has heightened tensions with some suburban neighbors. There are fears it would lead to unwanted increases in people, homes and traffic.
Kiryas Joel was founded within the town of Monroe in the mid-1970s by members of the Satmar sect seeking a more tranquil setting than Brooklyn.
Some of them live just outside the village, where there is more restrictive zoning. A number of these out-of-village Satmar signed a petition requesting that their land become part of the village. An environmental review must be conducted before the village and the town can consider the residents’ petition.
