Ramapough Lenape Chief Dwaine Perry at the Split Rock Sweetwater Prayer Camp, where the Ramapough Lenape Nation has been ordered by the town of Mahwah to remove teepees from the land, on Saturday, May 20 2017.HACKENSACK – A state Superior Court Judge on Tuesday rejected the Ramapough Lenape Nation’s claim to sovereign and religious immunity from zoning laws in Mahwah, where the tribe is accused of building a tepee colony without local permission.
Judge Roy F. McGeady denied a motion on Tuesday that would have dismissed zoning summonses levied against the tribe by the township, instead calling for a trial to determine if the tepees violate Mahwah’s zoning code.
McGeady did reference a joint resolution from the state legislature that declares the Ramapoughs an official tribe.
Ramapough attorneys have argued that the tribe had already received a zoning permit to use its property for prayer and cultural assembly in 2012, when the tribe sought to build a longhouse.