Lakewood's Beth Medrash Govoha is planning yet another building expansion project, FAA News has learned.
Lakewood Avenue between 7th and 8th Street currently contains a facilities maintenance building for Georgian Court University.
Lakewood Avenue between 8th and 9th Street currently contains two residential houses that have been converted into office buildings for Georgian Court University.
Beth Medrash Govoha's plan is to demolish all of these existing buildings and to construct a 5-story dormitory building between 7th and 8th Street, and to construct an additional parking lot between 8th and 9th Street.
The 114,926 sq feet dormitory building will contain 144 bed rooms. The ground floor will contain an 84 space parking lot, 3 of these spaces will be EV make ready.
The parcel between 8th and 9th Street will contain an additional 108 space parking lot.
The properties are located within the Township's R-12 zoning district which only permits detached single family homes. However, Beth Medrash Govoha's expansion will be reviewed as a fully conforming by-right application due to a loophole approved by Lakewood Township's Committee known as the "Planned Educational Campus."
The Planned Educational Campus ordinance permits a "not for profit institution of higher education that is a not for profit entity that is fully accredited and licensed by the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education of the State of New Jersey and one that offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees and is devoted to higher education and no other forms of education" to construct a campus.
Campuses require a minimum of 3 acres of land. The campus may contain a variety of types of housing units, including residential apartment buildings, up to 28 units per acre.
The land and all structures including dwelling units shall be owned and developed only by the institution of higher education and not by or in partnership or in other arrangement with any investor group, construction company, a not for profit entity or any other third party.
An educational campus is intended only for faculty and students who will attend or staff the institution's educational facilities and that is adjoining to or within 500 feet of faculty and student housing so as to create a unified campus setting.
The occupancy of the residential uses in the institution of higher education must be limited to: (a) students, faculty or staff of the institution of higher education, or (b) the immediate families of faculty, staff or students.
These parcels contain less than 3 acres in area, however, BMG is apparently relying on the fact that it is near other properties that they own and all together they contain at least 3 acres.
BMG is represented by Attorney Adam Pfeffer Esq. Engineer Yosef Portnoy of Forward Engineering, PLLC Design and Consulting Services designed the project.
The application was just submitted to the Township's Planning Board. No public hearing date has yet been scheduled.
This new expansion project is near Beth Medrash Govoha's planned major housing expansion project for 600 residential apartments, a child care center and 530 patron capacity banquet hall.
As previously reported here on FAA News, approval for this project has been held up ever since the Ocean County Planning Board realized that BMG quietly failed to mention the tucked away 530 patron capacity banquet hall.
Upon catching the banquet hall, County officials have halted their approval, demanding an accurate traffic study.
This is a very important decision as the County requires applicants to make traffic improvements only if the traffic study indicates improvements are warranted.
The County is specifically looking at westbound left turns from County Line Road onto Forest Avenue and Cedar View Avenue. Those intersections do not yet have dedicated left turning signals.
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