Toms River Orthodox synagogue supporters: Change zoning or we may sue

Jean Mikle | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Orthodox Jews want Toms River to change zoning laws An Orthodox Jewish group has threatened to sue Toms River if the township does not change zoning laws that a spokesman says are preventing them from building a synagogue in their neighborhood.

TOMS RIVER - Time is running out for Toms River officials, say foes of a measure that requires a minimum of 10 acres to build a house of worship in the township.

"We can't keep waiting," said North Dover resident Scott Gartner, an Orthodox Jew whose efforts to bring a new synagogue to town have been stymied by the zoning restrictions. "Our community is growing. We want to do it the right way. The government is forcing us to do it the wrong way."

Township Council members have expressed a willingness to meet with Gartner and other members of the North Dover community to discuss the 10-acre limit, but there appears to be little interest in revising the zoning restrictions.

The target of Gartner's ire is a 2009 measure enacted by the council requiring at least 10 acres of property for any new church, mosque, synagogue or other house of worship in more rural areas of town with larger lot sizes, which included most of North Dover. Watch the video above to learn more about the zoning law.

A revision of the zoning law last year made the 10-acre requirement town-wide.

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Gartner said he and other members of the Orthodox Jewish community believe the zoning change was aimed at preventing the construction of Orthodox Jewish shuls (synagogues). He said any lawsuit would argue the restrictive zoning violates the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

RLUIPA, enacted in 2000, prohibits governmental entities from implementing land-use regulations that impose "a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person, including a religious assembly or institution," unless the government can demonstrate that the regulations further "a compelling government interest."

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Throughout New Jersey and the nation, it has proven to be a formidable tool wielded by religious organizations to fend off land-use measures, in particular, relied upon by local governments to deny new churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious structures.

Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department plans to expand awareness of RLUIPA and would provide "additional training and resources for federal prosecutors," with an inaugural community outreach event in New Jersey later this month, according to CNN.

The Toms River Council members who voted on the zoning change insist it was meant only to help curb development.

"The ordinance has been in effect long before there was any movement into Toms River from Brooklyn or Lakewood," Councilman Maurice B. "Mo" Hill Jr. said, citing the two locations where many of Toms River's Orthodox Jews lived previously.

"We don’t want to start abandoning ordinances that have been in effect for almost 10 years," Hill said. "It’s not like we decided last week that we wanted to do 10 acres. There are other options. They could seek a use variance."

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Councilman Terrance Turnbach said the 10-acre zoning restriction is not intended to discriminate against any religious group.

"My feeling is that the laws really have to be applied equally to everyone," Turnbach said. "If the township requires 10 acres of zoning, then that’s what the township requires. It’s been in place since 2009. It's not something that’s designed to be against any one religion or race."

But Council President Brian Kubiel, who is one of several council members who have met with Gartner, said it might be time to revisit the ordinance.

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"I would be willing to create a committee to study the issue," Kubiel said, "that could include council members, residents of North Dover and members of the Orthodox Jewish community."

Kubiel noted that Toms River is becoming increasingly diverse and said council members are always willing to speak to members of the township's various communities.

Gartner, who owns an apparel factory in North Carolina, said he and his wife moved to Toms River's North Dover section in 2017 to be closer to their children, who live in Lakewood.

He said he and his Orthodox Jewish neighbors are being forced to gather to pray in private homes. Orthodox Jews are prohibited by their religion from driving cars on the Sabbath, so they must walk to local places to pray.

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Gartner said that a shul, which would be built with "normal zoning of two to five acres for a 5,000-square-foot building," could serve 100 to 200 Orthodox Jewish families and would allow families who live within one to two miles to walk to the building on the Sabbath.

He and other Orthodox Jewish neighbors have retained an attorney, and have a "war chest of $500,000 in community funds," that will be used to file a federal lawsuit challenging the zoning, if necessary, Gartner said.

Toms River has had recent experience with the Religious Land use law before. Earlier this year, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the township's Board of Adjustment had violated the law when it forced Rabbi Moshe Gourarie to obtain a use variance to continue operating the Chabad Jewish Center in his Church Road home.

The judge allowed Gourarie to continue operating the Chabad, and also required Toms River to pay him $122,500, mostly for legal fees.

"I'm looking for dialogue," Gartner said. "I call upon the politicians to overturn this. They can do it before a lawsuit is filed, or after."

Hill, a member of the council's Land Use subcommittee, said the council looked at various houses of worship in town to see how large they were.

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Hill's church, St. Luke's Roman Catholic Church on Old Freehold Road, sits on 20 acres, while Congregation B'nai Israel, a Conservative Jewish synagogue also on Old Freehold Road, has about 10 acres, Hill said.

"Ten seems like a nice, round, figure," Hill said. "There is still a lot of land out there."

But he admitted that many houses of worship in town have much less land.

A northern Toms River example is The Muslim Society of the Jersey Shore, also known as Masjid Bilal, which operates a 3,900-square-foot mosque on Route 9.

The society has owned the property for more than 20 years, but when the society proposed to build an expanded mosque and construct a school on the property, a use variance was required. Masjid Bilal has about 5.5 acres of land.

The mosque's property is also partially zoned for residential use, requiring an additional variance. Imam Mohamed Nabeel Elmasry said Masjid Bilal was "caught like innocent bystanders," when the zoning ordinance was changed in 2009.

After objections from nearby neighbors, the society withdrew its application for the expanded mosque and school last year, and plans to revise it before going forward.

As the first Orthodox Jewish resident on his block of expansive homes, Gartner said he's met all his neighbors and become friendly with them, handing out chocolates at Christmastime, and fixing up his property with tens of thousands of dollars of landscaping.

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He said he and other Orthodox Jews who have moved to Toms River have conducted community outreach, meeting with politicians, local religious leaders, police and first aid volunteers. They've raised money for police vests and brought officers turkey lunches on Thanksgiving.

Toms River's Orthodox Jewish residents have been a boon to the local economy, he said, spending money on contracting, lawn care, pool care and home repairs, as they fix up their properties.

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While he loves living in Toms River, Gartner was appalled by last year's local election, which he described "as nothing but hate-mongering and fanning the flames of hate, just to get elected."

Democrats won three seats on the previously all-GOP Township Council in a bitter campaign that focused on the tremendous housing growth that has frustrated many residents of Toms River's northernmost sections.

Among the campaign fliers issued by Democrats was one that featured Republican Township Council candidates giving a thumbs up over a sign that read, "WELCOME Lakewood developers," and said the Republican-controlled council had voted for "Lakewood-style development."

Gartner noted that the more than 1,400 housing units approved or under construction in northern Toms River were approved long before Orthodox Jewish residents began moving to town.

"People moving to Toms River do not want what happened in Lakewood to happen here," Gartner added, noting he does not like the traffic or congestion in Lakewood's rapidly growing neighborhoods.

While council members expressed interest in meeting with Gartner, they also expressed frustration about the litigation threat.

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"The zoning’s been in place for a long time," Councilman Daniel Rodrick said of the 10-acre requirement. "You need that size lot because you need to be able to provide parking, too. Frankly, I don’t think the threat of litigation, or accusations of anti-Semitism, should dictate policy changes."

Hill noted that Rabbi Gourarie, of the Chabad Jewish Center, chose to file a federal lawsuit instead of pursuing a variance to continue operating the center at his home.

"He didn’t exhaust the avenues that were open to him," Hill said of Gourarie. "It's just frustrating. Everytime something happens, we are branded as anti-Semitic. That's just not true."

"The approach shouldn’t be change it or we’ll sue," Turnbach said of the lawsuit threat. "The approach should be let's keep discussing it."

Councilman George E. Wittmann Jr. said the 10-acre zoning applies "across the board. It's not just synagogues. It's been in place for 10 years and it hasn't been a problem."

Gartner said he believes most council members want to do the right thing. But he said they fear the public backlash if they change the zoning. He said Orthodox Jews will continue to meet to pray, in private homes and newly formed "unofficial congregations."

"If Toms River politicians were not worried about being re-elected, they would act before a federal lawsuit to enact laws everyone needs," Gartner said. "As the local Orthodox Jewish population continues to grow, imposing restrictive zoning codes will only trigger a federal lawsuit government officials don't want, and could cost Toms River a ton of money in legal expense, penalties and fines."

Jean Mikle: 732-643-4050, @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com



