“When does a tepee become a zoning violation?
That point was among those debated Tuesday, when the Ramapough Lenape Nation's trial for multiple alleged zoning violations began in state Superior Court. The tribe is accused of using its 14-acre property in Mahwah as a place of public assembly and campground, complete with tepees, tents, a canvas cabin and a yurt, all of which breach local zoning law.
Since late last year, more than 40 summonses have been issued to the tribe alleging that it failed to obtain zoning permits for "structures and uses of land" on its property and moved soil without permission.
Township engineer and zoning officer Mike Kelly, quoting from the township’s code, defined a structure Tuesday as a “combination of materials to form a construction of occupancy, use, or ornamentation, whether installed on, above, or below the surface of a parcel of land.”
But attorneys for the Ramapoughs have disputed the classification of tepees as structures.”
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