The property on which a house of worship is seeking approval in a residential zone in Toms River, N.J. (Google Earth)
A Toms River property owner has applied to significantly expand a two-story home into a synagogue, or shul, seeking multiple variances from township zoning rules for the project in a rural residential area.
The applicant is requesting preliminary and final major site plan approval along with a conditional use variance, bulk variances and design waivers to add about 4,402 square feet to the existing 3,258-square-foot dwelling at 1865-1871 Old Freehold Road. The combined property spans roughly 2 acres in the Rural Residential Zone, where places of worship are permitted as a conditional use. The property is located south of Cox Cro Road and White Oak Bottom Road in the northwest quadrant of town.
Key pieces of relief sought includes a variance from the minimum 50-foot side yard setback for the principal building, with plans calling for 26.5 feet — an existing nonconforming condition, according to the application. Additional bulk variances address minimum residential buffer, screening within the buffer, maximum sign area, maximum number of wall signs and minimum total parking spaces. Design waivers are also requested for standards involving landscaped width for solid waste storage, parking aisle width, safety island planting, parking area lighting and circulation island width for islands separating parking stalls.
The largest hurdle will be the use variance, however, which requires a supermajority of board members voting in favor of the project in order to achieve approval. Toms River had, in the past, required 10 acres for houses of worship to be built on properties, however a lawsuit filed by Orthodox Jewish groups prompted a federal investigation that largely forced the township into a settlement in 2021 that reduced the required footprint to 2 acres. That same settlement also forced the township to allow houses of worship as a conditional use in the Rural Residential zone.
The township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment is scheduled to hear the matter at 6:30 p.m. July 9 in the L. Manuel Hirshblond Meeting Room at the municipal building, 33 Washington Street.
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