In a decision issued today, the New Jersey Appellate Division brushed aside environmental warnings and conflict-of-interest concerns raised by local homeowners and upheld Jackson Township Planning Board's approval of Bais Yaakov of Jackson’s sprawling four-building girls school campus on East Veterans Highway.
The ruling follows a years-long legal battle brought by neighboring property owners who warned that the project - designed to accommodate up to 2,350 students - would overwhelm the area with traffic, strain local infrastructure, threaten sensitive environmental areas, and proceed under questionable ethical circumstances involving municipal decision-makers.
As first reported by FAA News in November 2022, neighbors became alarmed when they learned of the site plan submission and convened a meeting at a local shul with Bais Yaakov representative Aron Rottenberg.
Rather than offering compromise, Rottenberg reportedly told residents that the school would not serve Jackson children at all, but would instead relocate students from Lakewood. When neighbors asked whether their own children could attend in exchange for not opposing the project, Rottenberg allegedly responded bluntly:
“No way — you’re not welcome in this school.”
Requests for basic mitigation measures - trees, fencing, and privacy buffers - were similarly rebuffed.
“I won’t agree here to do anything,” Rottenberg told the group. “You’re welcome to fight me at the Township boards.”
They did exactly that.
Represented by Brick Township attorney Joseph Michelini, neighbors challenged the approval after the Planning Board pushed the project through despite objections.
Central to the lawsuit was the project’s Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) - a document critics argued downplayed the site’s environmental sensitivity, including discrepancies involving state-mapped endangered species habitat.
Although plaintiffs demonstrated that portions of the property were misclassified under DEP habitat rankings, the courts ultimately concluded the error didn’t matter because the affected areas were labeled “undisturbed.” The Appellate Division accepted that explanation wholesale, relying heavily on the Township Environmental Commission’s terse conclusion that there were “no immediate environmental concerns.”
No independent environmental review was required. No further scrutiny ordered.
The neighbors also raised alarms over a potential conflict of interest involving then-Planning Board Chairman Tsvi Herman and the school’s legal counsel.
Evidence presented showed that the same attorney representing Bais Yaakov simultaneously represented Bais Medrash of Jackson - before the Township Zoning Board - in which Herman held a leadership role. Plaintiffs further pointed to Herman’s public advocacy in a local magazine for Orthodox Jewish school development in Jackson.
The courts declined to allow discovery, ruling the connections were “far too remote” to justify even examining whether bias played a role.
In doing so, the Appellate Division shut the door on any inquiry into whether overlapping professional, religious, and communal relationships influenced the outcome of one of the most consequential land-use approvals in recent Jackson history.
The approved site plan includes:
An elementary school for 1,350 students
Two high schools accommodating 500 students each
A nearly 10,000-square-foot gymnasium
Two driveways onto East Veterans Highway
Bus stacking for up to 17 buses
503 required parking spaces — with 136 of them “land-banked” as recreational space instead of actual pavement
Township officials agreed the parking shortfall could be revisited later—after the school is built and operating.
Perhaps most controversially, the campus will rely on a massive septic system, not public sewer. The Jackson Township Municipal Utilities Authority has already signed off on that plan.
Public records obtained by FAA News reveal an eyebrow-raising detail: at one point, the JTMUA’s engineer described the septic proposal as “acceptable.” That wording was later changed—at the direction of MUA staff—to say the system was merely “appropriate.”
No explanation has been publicly offered for the edit.
With today’s ruling, the Appellate Division made clear that procedural box-checking outweighs community alarm, and that environmental and ethical objections - no matter how passionately raised - carry little weight unless they rise to the level of undeniable illegality.
Construction may now proceed.
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