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The judge's ruling is in.
Yehuda Dachs will be permitted to add 500 cars to the James Street and Cross Street area traffic.
The reason: The Lakewood Township's Planning Board is staffed with a "reckless driver."
Application SD 2511, filed under the name Yeshiva Chemdas Hatorah (but owned by Mr. Dachs) seeks approval to build a brand new residential development at the 17.5 acre parcel on the northeast corner of Cross Street and James Street with 125 duplex homes plus basement apartments.
That is 250 families, and approximately 500 cars.
This zoning district does not permit duplexes. However, this particular application for duplexes was not seeking a Use Variance from the Zoning Board. As previously explained in a full background story here on FAA News, this is because the developer was demanding that he can rely on a loophole ordinance the Township Committee adopted in 2018 which states:
"In all Residential Zoning districts, any tract for which a complete application for a Planned Educational Campus has been filed with the Lakewood Planning Board... re-approval for development of that tract shall be conditionally permitted in accordance with the provisions of the R-7.5 District."
Back in March 2018, shortly before this ordinance was adopted, the developers of Yeshiva Chemdas Hatorah filed Application SP 2291 to the Planning Board for an Educational Campus at this site.
This application was never actually presented to the Board at a public hearing, rather it was simply filed with the Board's administrative staff.
The developer was now attempting to rely on this Educational Campus "submission" as the basis to now be permitted to apply for these 125 duplexes on 10,000 sq foot lots (which are permitted in the R7.5 zoning district) as a by-right application.
At their public hearing on the application, held in December 2022, the Planning Board delved into the 2018 Educational Campus application submission to determine whether or not it was indeed a "complete application was filed."
Board Attorney John Jackson Esq. noted that in August 2018 the Board Engineer provided a written review letter of the application and noted certain items which needed to be addressed before the application could be considered for a public hearing. Since that time, the applicant did not submit any follow up on the outstanding items.
Moreover, in March 2020, Board Administrator Ally Morris wrote to the applicant:
"Your application has not yet been approved or denied by the Board... In the absence of activity on this application... the Board will schedule it to be dismissed without prejudice..."
Shortly afterwards, Attorney Adam Pfeffer responded:
"The applicant is addressing the design waivers and review comments. We anticipate providing additional submission documents in the near future."
Board members discussed the nuanced wording of the 2018 ordinance, ultimately determining that simply "dropping papers down on the desk" is not enough and you need to actually go forward with your application and comply with the Board Engineer's review letter in order for an application to be considered "complete application... filed," and because the developers of the 2018 Educational Campus developers did not submit additional documents as required by the Board Engineer, that application was deemed incomplete and therefore they are now not eligible for "re-approval for development of that tract.. in accordance with the provisions of the R-7.5 District."
Accordingly, the Board voted that they lacked jurisdiction to hear this application as duplexes are not a permitted use in this zone and they are only permitted in accordance with the 2018 ordinance, which does not apply to this application.
Subsequently, in February 2024, as previously reported here on FAA News, Yeshiva Chemdas Hatorah filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse the Board's denial.
In the litigation, Mr. Doyle focused heavily on an April 2018 letter from Ms. Morris deeming the application administratively complete.
On April 3, 2018, Ms. Morris reviewed the application and sent back a letter with a list of missing items. One of these items was that a Planned Educational Campus is permitted only to schools accredited to give a graduate degree. Accordingly, Ms. Morris directed the Yeshiva to submit proof of their accreditation status.
On April 18, 2018, the yeshiva's engineer responded with some of the items requested. Notably, proof of their accreditation status was NOT submitted to the Board (because none existed). Obviously, the lack of this item should have been fatal to the life of the application.
Nonetheless, the next day, Ms. Morris granted a prized "letter of completion."
Mr. Doyle now used this in court against the Board's determination that they lack jurisdiction to hear the duplex application because the Educational Campus application was "never complete."
"Thus, the process regarding the status of the application was concluded at that point with it being deemed complete. There is no further statutory authority for the application to be deemed incomplete retroactively," Mr. Doyle argued in court.
Ocean County Superior Court Judge Francis Hodgson agreed.
"It is this Court’s conclusion that this supplemental review letter by Ms. Morris constitutes a certification that all checklist items were complied with," Judge Hodgson wrote.
Board Attorney John Jackson argued that the Board's decision that they lacked jurisdiction under the 2018 ordinance was based on the Board's right to make a review and final determination of Ms. Morris's earlier determination of completion of the application.
Judge Hodgson waived away this argument, writing, "Ms. Morris deemed the application complete without any request for proof of accreditation and it wasn't until sometime later that the Board sought accreditation information."
The one thing that Mr. Dachs failed to secure was an automatic approval of the application.
Instead, Judge Hodgson ordered that the application be remanded back to the Board so they can review it fully prior to approving it.
Neighbors of the application site opposed the application at the public hearing. However they did not intervene in the lawsuit.
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3 comments:
This is good news!
We need more residential development to ease the housing shortage.
Cross Street is at a standstill most of the day in that area. So I guess nobody seems to mind that and add additional 500 cars? Lakewood is so messed up with greed by investors they don't care how this will impact commuters. That area already looks like a ghetto. Shame on all who continue to destroy a peaceful existence. There needs to be a limit if roads can't handle additional development.
The property was never owned by the Yeshiva. It is a farce. It was never intended to be used by the yeshiva ever!
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