Shannon Mullen

@MullenAPP

LAKEWOOD - The operators of a boys' yeshiva that opened some time ago inside a single-family home on Gudz Road without the township’s approval have some explaining to do.

The Orthodox Jewish high school, Mesivta Me'or Hatorah, recently filed an application with the Planning Board seeking a change of use variance from the board. Its exasperated neighbors want to know what took so long.

They say the yeshiva has operated out of the home at 30 Gudz Road for the past year or so. The property is adjacent to a newer subdivision of attractive single-family homes in a predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in the northwest section of town.

Brian Flannery, an engineer and planner representing the yeshiva, testified at the planners’ meeting June 14 that the school currently has nine students. He said five of the students live on the property in an upstairs dormitory.

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The problem is that the township hasn’t authorized a dormitory on the site, either.

Unauthorized dormitories are a sensitive issue here, ever since firefighters responding to a pre-dawn fire Feb. 29 in a single-family home on East End Avenue discovered 27 beds inside the gutted house. Dozens of young male yeshiva students escaped the blaze unharmed.

The owner of the home received two violation notices for operating an unauthorized dormitory. State law requires such facilities to have sprinkler systems and other safety features, which the house lacked. Dormitories are also subject to state inspection every five years.

Enforcement at issue

Township officials said after the fire that it's difficult to know how many other unapproved and potentially unsafe schools and dormitories there might be in town, adding that enforcement action is taken once they are made aware of these properties.

That doesn't appear to be the case in Mesivta Me'or Hatorah's case, however. A week after the school's irregular status came to light at the Planning Board meeting, Township Manager Thomas Henshaw said Tuesday that he wasn't aware of any township action against the school.

The Planning Board chairman, Michael Neiman, said to his knowledge no one on the board notified township inspection officials about the neighbors' complaints about the school.

"As far as going to the building department, it's not really a Planning Board provision," Neiman said. "We're not an enforcement agency; we're more of an approval agency, or a disapproval agency."

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Neiman said neighbors were advised that they should contact the township's inspections office.

During last week's meeting, Neiman chided Flannery over the yeshiva's delayed application.

“You should really talk to your client, you know, if you're coming for a change of use now for a school and we're hearing that the school has been there for a year already, with a dormitory,” Neiman said.

“You can't have a dormitory if it wasn't approved to be a dormitory.”

Officials with Mesivta Me'or Hatorah could not be reached Tuesday.

The school’s neighbors said the yeshiva has been a nuisance since it opened, citing problems with uncollected trash and an unsightly trailer on the property that’s being used as a classroom.

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“There's a swimming pool there, not secured, the grass is not cut. If this would have been my property, I would have gotten many, many summonses,” property owner Moses Shvarzblat told the board June 14.

“I don't think it's right for a school to abuse the rights they were given to have a school,” he said.

Flannery said the applicant, Shabsi Brody, is seeking permission from the board to operate the school on the site, for up to 30 students, for three years. He said that once the yeshiva gets established, it plans to build a larger school in another location.

You can watch a video of the discussion below, starting at the 11:50 mark. Video courtesy of First Amendment Activist.

Residents objected to Flannery’s request to have a site plan requirement waived.

“To go and grant (the change of use) without architecturals, without sidewalks, without lighting, without anything, I think it would be extremely irresponsible for the board,” Shvarzblat said, “because we already have over here a precedent of how this property is being treated and how the neighbors are being treated.”

“The track record with this property is not very good,” said another property owner in the area, Marcel Rottenberg, 33.

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“There's been countless dangerous things going on there, kids running around there all the time. I don't think it's nine kids. There's definitely more kids hanging out there than nine kids,” he said. “It's been going on for a while.”

The board rescheduled the public hearing on the application for July 5. Neiman said the board wants to see a full set of plans for the yeshiva prior to the meeting.

Shannon Mullen: 732-643-4278; smullen4@gannettnj.com