An eruv is a defined space that permits Jews with certain religious beliefs to push and carry objects within its bounds during the Sabbath and Yom Kippur. Photo courtesy of Wiki.

The township of Mahwah has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the state last year alleging that the Bergen County municipality adopted two discriminatory ordinances: one that banned nonresidents from using the town's public parks, and the other that prohibited the posting of “lechis” on utility poles.

According to a statement released Monday by Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, Mahwah has repealed the two ordinances at issue in the original complaint and has agreed to refrain from adopting any future ordinances imposing similar restrictions. The settlement is still subject to final court review and approval, Grewal said.

Mahwah agreed to a suspended payment to the state of $350,000, a liability that will be vacated within four years if the township complies with the settlement's terms, Grewal said.

During that period, the township must provide the state Division on Civil Rights with at least 30 days' advance notice of any vote on a proposed ordinance affecting public access to parks and recreational facilities, the settlement provides. The same notice would be required for any ordinance concerning placement of “signs, devices or any material whatsoever” on utility poles, Grewal said.

The township also agreed to investigate criminally incidents of damage to lechis placed on utility poles unless there is good cause to believe the damages is weather-related or accidental.

Lechis are plastic strips placed on utility poles that denote the boundaries of an “eruv,” a geographic area through which Orthodox Jews may move while still observing the Sabbath's movement restrictions.

The township's attorney, Brian Chewkaski of Fort Lee's Gittleman, Muhlstock & Chewkaski, was away from his office and could not be reached.

The October 2017 lawsuit alleged that the township enacted the ordinances with the intent of staving off a perceived influx of Orthodox Jews.

Then-Attorney General Christopher Porrino at the time likened the conduct of Mahwah's elected officials to those of 1950s “white flight” suburbanites who sought to keep African-Americans out of their towns. “In addition to being on the wrong side of history, the conduct of Mahwah's township council is legally wrong, and we intend to hold them accountable for it,” Porrino said.

According to media reports at the time, local council meetings had turned raucous as local residents complained about an influx of Orthodox Jewish citizens from adjacent Rockland County, New York. The complaint, filed in Bergen County, alleged that many of the public comments offered during meetings were “overtly anti-Semitic” in nature, and that around the same time, Mahwah police began receiving “multiple calls” from residents reporting that people who appeared to be Orthodox Jews were using the parks, although the callers did not allege any problematic conduct.

The complaint alleged the Mahwah township council's actions violated the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.