The Township Committee is set to vote tomorrow on an ordinance that will affect many Shuls and Mosdos. A few years ago, an ordinance was established that allowed a Shul or Mosad to change the use of a residential home into a Shul or School without having to go before the Planning and Zoning boards. This saved the non-profit organizations tens of thousands of dollars in fees and costs associated with going before these boards. In almost every case they were approved anyways, so the extra cost burden was superfluous.
Tens of such shuls and schools were done in this fashion, without incident.
Recently, two cases on Massachusetts Avenue have raised the ire of the neighbors. They have asked the committee to review the ordinance and make necessary changes.
The Committee is expected to pass the ordinance tomorrow evening.
“After the recent elections, it seems the committee feels more inclined to accommodate the neighbors than our community”, an official who wishes to remain anonymous tells TLS.
I did not support HH because I feel he is not the right person ,but this is Bob flexing his muscles again . The other members need to be responsive or they might just have to go
Now how come those who endorsed BS cant prevent this from happening? Why did I vote for BS on their reccomendation if this is what we’re getting in return?
Also, which member of township committee who is from our community is voting for this? They need one of them to have a majority!
nothing wrong with this ,no home should be able to change its use without going before the town for approval. I see far to many “single” family homes that have more than one family living in them in zones that are zoned for single family homes. The town turns a blind eye to many abuses here!
““After the recent elections, it seems the committee feels more inclined to accommodate the neighbors than our community”, an official who wishes to remain anonymous tells TLS.”
When you can’t divulge who you are that speaks volumes of your character or should I say lack of it
This is a prime example of “slanting” news to fit a certain viewpoint. Everyone should be aware of the fact that if an existing school or shul wants to make an addition they need to go in front of the planning board. This will only affect those who take a one family house, submit plans for an addition ( without any intention of ever having it as a house) and then when its finished applying for a change of use. Besides being a huge chillul shem shamayim, why should they be able to circumvent a rule that applies to all other established mosdos?
I strongly feel that the Lakewood Scoop in reporting news or opinions should only do so with the person’s name. Only a person who does not believe in his conviction hides under “Anonymous or Blog names
Maybe someday you will realize it….the neighbors are the community
“They were approved ANYWAYS”… who wrote this a first grader?
This issue sems to have 2 very convincing sides. On one side is the enormous cost for the non profits, on the other side is the problem of those few who exploit the system. The way I see it, there is a different issue here at play. A few years ago, this ordinance was instituted for a reason. Why is it being changed? Has there been any consultation with those who are effected? NO. The discussion was held with the neighbors and them alone. The ordinance was not intended to help them, and while they should be part of the discussion, there needs to be an open dialouge on the issue. The Committee is pulling this through “under the radar” because they do not want to discuss this with the non profits, they would rather just talk to the neighbors and make them happy. It is obvious, that after the elections, all they want to do is make the voters who tip the scale, happy. Thank you TLS for exposing this. Rabbosai, we must, for our own sake, close ranks and hold the Committee members responsible for their actions.
As one of the comments alluded to earlier, the primary reason why the rule is being changed is because some people abused the indulgence of the Township without having to go for any approval before the Planning Board.
The original ordinance was passed so that already existing basement shuls and others could, so to speak, come out from underground and operate legitimately with all of the accompanying benefits.
It makes simple sense that extensive changes to such structures should be subject to review of the Planning Board for safety and other issues. Usually these additions are approved but sometimes with sensible changes and accomodations. Yes, this is not only our town and we should not simply railroad our issues over the protests and property rights of our neighbors.
As long as those homes pay their full taxes and not try to avoid them by claiming that their a religious facility, then I’ll tolerate their existence.
we lose a lot of money with all these house becoming schools, other people live here to not only you, learn to live with all
I always though it was the responsibilty of public officials to be fair, impartial and to act on behalf of ALL of the people in their district no matter what race, creed, ethnic backround or social standing.
We saw one horrible consequence of the current ordinance. An innocent man, driving on the road, was killed. Just because he was from Toms River, does that disqualify him from being a neighbor?
Hopefully this ordinance, re. parking along Massachusetts will be adopted. We need this to honor this man who died so needlessly, so that others will not be another statistic.
This directly affects me. Some people have a lot to answer for
The ordinance in question is not about parking on Massachusets. That passed already!
After reading the posts for this article I have come to the conclusion that we can save many tax dollars by the eliminating the Planning Board and the Inspection Department. All you do is complain about them doing their jobs and find ways to circumvent the rules they are charged with enforcing. When caught in violation you complain you are being picked on. This town has no master plan, yes there is a 5 year plan, but we have always “built by variance” to see how far we can bend the rules. Enough! either play by the rules or just eliminate the rules and let chaos be our guide.
I agree with the process, so let’s just lower the fees so it won’t be too painful for the nonprofits
What about all the parking that there isn’t when people just switch without proper parking it causes hazerdous situations
What is good for one is good for all. If Everyone has to go before the board then so should your community. No one person or community is above any other. The entire township of lakewood needs to start realizing this
i love this,till now a school can open next door to you and you have no say whats so ever this just gives us a chance to voice our opinion>>>imagine a school of 50 teenage boys just pops up next door to you and you have no say !!!what if you have teenage girls?what do you do when they start playing in your yard or garbage
What about us? I understand that a school with busing and busy traffic in and out, should need this. But small neighborhood shules? especially were people only only daven on shabbos?!
These types of shules, were 40 to 50 people congregate on shabbos
“WITH THE SOLE INTENTION OF RELIGIOUS PRAYER ” will exist even without the zoning boards approval. This is our irrevocable right, granted to us in the United States Constitution. ” A Law cannot be past prohibiting the free exercise of religion”
The only fallout will be, that these shules/churches will need to pay FULL REAL ESTATE TAX. because they cannot afford/ don’t know how to go before the zoning board.
Message to township committeemen: WHICHEVER ONE OF YOU VOTES FOR THIS CHANGE, WILL BE PUBLIC RECORD. If you do not provision this law to accommodate BOTH the jewish and non jewish communities, this will LIKELY be used against you on election day.
After the recent elections, it seems the committee feels more inclined to accommodate the neighbors than our community
But you of course feel that ‘our community’ has to be accommodated before the neighbors.
Why?
Who was there first?
Who is Golus and who isn’t?etc.
to comment 23
Who was here first? you mean in this town? in america? in golus?
Does this mean we should be happy when a law is passed against us?
are you happy ?
are you against yourself?
do you not fight an unjust parking ticket because of “golus”?
Why are these matters dealt with in an underhanded way. There are legitimate concerns that a neighbor may have re; parking and the like. The Mosdos & Shuls should be required to submit plans to the zoning & planing boards.
the biggest boosha is people get tax exemptions for no reason,just because they have an in.why should someone get a full tax break when he lives in the same house as a shul?this is stealing from the oilam and communiy.
since when is it your community, did you buy it from the gov., it is mine to I pay taxs and live here to, so share or you dont know how to.
are u afraid to put in my comment.the truth hurts?
to # 16.
The no parking on Massachusetts ordinance has not yet been adopted.There are 2 readings of an ordinance before it becomes official.
Tonight will be the 2nd hearing, and if it gets a majority, then the “no parking” on Massa. will become a law.
I don’t know which of the ordn. on first reading refers to your concerns, as they only mention generalities. I guess you got word ahead of time to be prepared to fight it tonight. There will only be a first reading, and yes, there could be some action which may affect its ultimate outcome.
Being recently new to Lakewood (and yes, I did learn in BMG as a bochur and yungerman), the whole idea of yeshivos and shuls popping up in strictly residential neighborhoods is absolutely insane. Most normal people with regular mishpachos do not want such a mosod opening up next to or very near their homes. It directly effects the peace and quiet of what a residential neighborhood has to offer, besides for probably lowering the value of their homes. Constant traffic, at all hours of the day and night, the inconsideration for people’s property (walking across front lawns or parking in/blocking driveways) are all by products of these mosdos. In addition, very often the noise from such mosdos, whether from inside or outside, can be extremely annoying. At the very least, a shailah should be asked to a competent Bais Horaah as to whether this goes into the category of Hezaik R’eeyah, and perhaps a Rov should be consulted as to upon whom the chiyuv of “v’asisa hayashar v’hatov” falls upon. In my opinion, it is not the achrayus of the residents to allow the mosod to come in to being, rather, the mosod should be considerate of the shechunah.
Doesn’t every body realize that all these people saying that there shouldn’t be shuls popping up all over town, only mean that OTHERS shouldn’t have shuls but when it comes to their own neighborhood shul let’s see what happens when somebody tries stopping them!