Lakewood Township's Planning Board previously conditioned their approval on a block of residential homes on that the developer would be required to construct a shul. To ascertain that the shul would actually get built, the Board further conditioned their approval on that the developer could not obtain Certificate of Occupancies until the shul is constructed.
18 months ago, the Township Engineering Department turned a blind eye and gave the go-ahead for the developer to receive Temporary Certificate of Occupancies to permit the home buyers to close on their new homes even without constructing the required shul.
At that point, the Township lost all assurances that the shul will ever be built. The promised shul still remains nowhere in sight.
There are 3 residential subdivisions located along Route 9 southbound between Hearthstone (Finchley Boulevard) and Elmwood Village (Elmhurst Boulevard).
The northernmost is Chevy Lane.
In the center is Basswood Drive.
The third subdivision is the northern side of Elmhurst Boulevard.
These final 2 subdivisions were at one point going to be part of the Satmar (R' Zalman Leib) developments which are nearby off Cross Street. They are now known as The Maplewoods.
On February 19, 2002, the Board approved Chevy Lane with 43 townhomes with no basements at all, and a playground.
The developers stated that they did not propose a shul because, "there are sufficient community facilities available."
In 2007, the Board approved a revised plan with 41 townhomes, with 3 bedrooms and basements "for storage space only."
Basswood Drive was presented for 26 duplex units along the new cul-de-sac bulb road. Subsequently, due to environmental constraints, the NJDEP required the number of units to be reduced to 18.
No shul or playground was provided with this application.
The northern side of Elmhurst Blvd was presented to the Planning Board as 20 duplex units. Subsequently, due to environmental constraints, the NJDEP required the development to be reduced to 13 duplex units.
This application was also proposed with no shul and no playground.
At this point, taking note of all the other homes which would be built next door, the Board declared it was high time for a shul, and conditioned the approval that one unit needed to be used for a shul, and that the applicant should provide "as much parking as possible for the shul." To ensure that the shul actually gets built, the Board restricted the applicant from receiving Certificate of Occupancies on any of these residential homes until the Shul is constructed.
The Basswood Drive application was submitted by Times Square Holdings LLC (which is owned by Sharon Dachs). The Elmhurst Boulevard application was submitted by Berkshire Investments Holdings (which is also owned by Sharon Dachs).
Back in February 2023, the developer closed on the homes, despite that construction on the shul had not yet even begun!
Huh? Isn't there a Planning Board condition of approval which requires construction of a shul prior to any Certificate of Occupancy being granted?
Turns out... the Township Engineering Department simply turned a blind eye and gave the go-ahead for the developer to obtain Temporary Certificate of Occupancies on the homes!
By granting these Temporary Certificate of Occupancies, the sales of the homes have been able to be closed and the Township has no more holding over the developer to ensure that the shul will indeed be constructed.
It is now 18 months since then and the shul lot remains vacant.
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3 comments:
Sunset grove is another Dachs development where the promise of a shul never materialized. Instead, the homeowners are mired in litigation and Dachs continues to play cat and mouse with the Bais hvadd.
This story is very true we also took Dachs to bais din and he’s simply claiming that he has no money to build now. Such a liar and a fraud !!!
We also took him to bais din and he simply says that he doesn’t have money now. He’s a liar and a fraud. And so is imperial
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