Temple Beth Or Synagogue Proposal Approved By Brick Zoning Board

BRICK, NJ — The Brick Township Board of Adjustment approved an application Tuesday night for Temple Beth Or to convert the former Laurelton Funeral Home into its new home.

The approval, by a vote of 6-1, came with a number of stipulations aimed at addressing concerns that were raised when a previous application by Temple Beth Or for the Pier Avenue site was denied by the zoning board in October.

John Jackson, the attorney for Temple Beth Or, said the congregation came back to the zoning board with a new application that specified several conditions in hopes of convincing board members that the proposal was worthy of approval.

In October, the application fell one vote shy of obtaining approval; a supermajority of the board was needed for approval, but the application only received four votes to approve at the time, failing with a 4-2 vote.

Once the zoning board denies an application, it cannot be presented to the board again without changes. Ronald Cucchiaro, the attorney for the zoning board, said those changes do not have to be dramatic, but they must be sufficient to avoid "res judicata," which is a Latin term that means a matter is settled and can't be re-litigated. In this case, he said, the case law would support the board deciding to consider the new application. The board voted 6-1 to consider it.

Rabbi Robert Rubin, who leads the congregation, testified about the congregation's plans and the stipulations it was willing to accept, including that it would not hold other events while it was holding worship services and would limit seating for the sanctuary to 60 chairs.

Rubin said the congregation's weekly services typically draw 10 to 15 people maximum, and he said there are no young families who are part of the membership. The high holy days of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah draw more, but it is unlikely the congregation would fill the sanctuary. Rubin said the current membership is 75 people, down from 82 in 2021, when it sold its property on Van Zile Road because the shrinking congregation could not afford the upkeep.

The congregation has been meeting in the gym at St. Thomas Lutheran Church, right next door to the former funeral home, since June 2021, Rubin said. He will not be living at the synagogue, and there will be no overnight accommodations for visiting rabbis or cantors, he said.

Residents of Salmon Street, which runs from Chambers Bridge Road to Pier Avenue, right next to the funeral home, told the board they are besieged by traffic already and are very concerned that the synagogue will add traffic, despite the testimony that the congregation is shrinking.

"We have people flying down the street all hours of the day and night," said Laurie Sigmon, who lives on Salmon Street. "It's not safe to walk my dogs."

The small neighborhood lacks sidewalks and has become a pass-through for people trying to avoid traffic at the corner of Route 70 and Chambers Bridge Road. It also has started to see traffic from people parking at St. Thomas Church and then walking to the new Aldi to shop, resident Karen Sullivan said.

Brian Scott, who lives on Salmon Street, said an 18-wheeler drove down the street and over the concrete curb, destroying a sidewalk in the process, to get to Aldi instead of entering the property from Route 70 where it is supposed to.

He also noted drivers speeding down Salmon Street but seemed to attribute that to people going to work at group homes owned by the ARC of Ocean County. Those homes are at the end of a cul de sac off Pier Avenue.

"It's extremely busy," he said. "Adding more volume is not the answer."

The congregation also agreed to a stipulation that there will not be a full-time school operating at the synagogue. Private individual classes would be permitted, but Rubin said there are no young children in the congregation so even that is not likely to happen.

Temple Beth Or also agreed to several stipulations regarding its lease of parking spaces from St. Thomas church. The lease, which is now set for 27-1/2 years, has a termination clause if Temple Beth Or sells its property.

The lease is not transferrable to any other entity, Jackson said, and any modification or termination of the lease will force Temple Beth Or to return to the zoning board for a new approval.

To ensure the township is kept in the loop, the congregation must certify in writing yearly to the town that the lease is still active.

Temple Beth Or also has to record the lease with the Ocean County Clerk's Office and provide proof of the recording to Brick Township, so that an official record exists in case the property is sold years from now, long after all those involved in creating the lease are gone.

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