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PROPOSED BANQUET HALL ORDINANCE IS NOT IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAKEWOOD TOWNSHIP'S OWN MASTER PLAN, ARGUES INDUSTRIAL PARK BUSINESS OWNERS


Property owners of Lakewood's industrial park, who are being represented by Attorney Rob Shea and Engineer Gordon Gemma, have submitted a comprehensive report to the Township's Planning Board which makes clear the following message: "urge the Township Committee to kill their proposed banquet hall in schools ordinance".


These property owners are currently suing Lake Terrace and Bnos Brocha as their banquet halls are not a permitted use in the Township, and they stand a lot to lose if the Township legalizes banquet halls.


As introduced by the Township Committee, the proposed Ordinance formally permits catering facilities and banquet halls in schools in all zones where schools are permitted uses (which is everywhere in Lakewood besides for in or adjacent to the senior housing developments), with extremely minimal parking requirements.

The New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law requires the Township Committee to forward all proposed land use ordinances to the Planning Board and to grant them 35 days to review the Ordinance before the Committee can adopt the Ordinance on final reading.


The relevant portion of the law (NJSA 40:55D-62(a) states:


The governing body may adopt or amend a zoning ordinance relating to the nature and extent of the uses of land and of buildings and structures thereon. Such ordinance shall be adopted after the planning board has adopted the land use plan element and the housing plan element of a master plan, and all of the provisions of such zoning ordinance or any amendment or revision thereto shall either be substantially consistent with the land use plan element and the housing plan element of the master plan or designed to effectuate such plan elements; provided that the governing body may adopt a zoning ordinance or amendment or revision thereto which in whole or part is inconsistent with or not designed to effectuate the land use plan element and the housing plan element, but only by affirmative vote of a majority of the full authorized membership of the governing body, with the reasons of the governing body for so acting set forth in a resolution and recorded in its minutes when adopting such a zoning ordinance...


The zoning ordinance shall be drawn with reasonable consideration to the character of each district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses and to encourage the most appropriate use of land...


In essence, the Planning Board's task is to review the land use plan element and the housing plan element of the Township's most recent Master Plan  and to report back to the Committee whether or not the Ordinance as introduced is consistent with the Master Plan.


If the Planning Board reports that the proposed Ordinance is inconsistent with the Master Plan, the Township Committee may adopt the Ordinance anyways, but only by affirmative vote of a majority of the full authorized membership of the Township Committee, and they need to state for the record their reasons for voting against the Planning Board's report.


Additionally, the Municipal Land Use Law provides that "the zoning ordinance shall be drawn with reasonable consideration to the character of each district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses and to encourage the most appropriate use of land".


Therefore, the industrial park business owners have embarked on making the case to the Planning Board that the proposed ordinance is inconsistent with the Master Plan, and that it does not take into account "reasonable consideration to the character of each district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses".


Their attorney Rob Shea and their engineer Gordon Gemma represented their case at the Planning Board's previous hearing. Mr. Gemma has now laid out his case in a comprehensively written report.


The report notes that the proposed ordinance would make banquet halls a permitted use in 97% of Lakewood. As schools are currently permitted with setbacks of 20 feet from a residential use and only 10 feet from a non-residential use, adding banquet halls as a permitted use in all schools, with no additional setback requirements would mean that banquet halls which are used late at night, with all their traffic, lights, and noise, could be that close to all residential homes. (I.e. schools are already permitted with those setbacks, however schools are only used during the day and adding banquet halls would mean that the use would take place at night as well).


The report also notes that just last year the Township Committee - at the urging of the Planning Board - enacted an Ordinance permitting banquet halls in hotels in the Cedabridge Corporate Campus, but at a ratio of 1 parking space per 1 patron of banquet hall capacity. "This Ordinance was adopted with particular suitability for the zone... The currently proposed Ordinance which requires only minimal parking is not even consistent with other Ordinances in Lakewood for the same zone".


Mr. Gemma noted that the Master Plan recommends to "minimize land use conflicts" and to "preserve and protect existing viable residential neighborhoods", and to "discourage deviations from established land use patterns that would permit incompatibility and/or conflicting land uses being developed adjacent to one another".


"The specific language of the Master Plan is clear. Further, there is no overriding goal and objective which could reasonably be used to justify allowing banquet facilities in residential zones", wrote Mr. Gemma.


The report also highlights that the Master Plan specifically mentions that "there has been an ongoing encroachment of incompatible uses in the industrial park. Development of certain non-industrial uses that generate a high volume of traffic should be discouraged in order to: mitigate the potential for land use conflicts; and, ensure adequate and suitable space for industrial development within the township and therewith, promote the overall economic development of the Township".


"Banquet halls are just those types of uses which generate high volumes of traffic that the Master Plan clearly indicated are incompatible", stressed Mr. Gemma.


The report also quotes a paragraph from the Master Plan which recommends that banquet halls in shuls should be designated as a separate, conditionally permitted use, but only with adequate lot area, appropriate parking, setbacks, and buffers.


Mr. Gemma noted that on the one hand, the Master Plan recommends permitting banquet halls in shuls, but not in schools; at the same time, the only recommendation to permit banquet halls is with provisions for adequate lot area, appropriate parking, setbacks, and buffers - none of which are proposed in the current proposed ordinance.


"Finally, any consideration of consistency has to take place in the context of what type of impact it may have within the Township. When such an Ordinance may allow uses that generate noise, trash, and traffic within over 97% of the Township that includes single family residential zones, the failure to consider the character of each district is apparent.


"For the reasons set forth, the proposed Ordinance is not consistent with any element of the Township's 2017 Master Plan", Mr. Gemma concludes.


The Planning Board is scheduled to continue reviewing the proposed ordinance at their upcoming meeting this Tuesday at 6:00pm at Town Hall. The meeting is open to the public.


The Township Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing and final vote on the proposed ordinance at their upcoming meeting on Thursday, December 8th.








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