Federal court says yeshiva can be in residential neighborhood

A federal judge said denial of a use variance and site plan for Yeshiva Gedola Na'os Yaakov violated the school's religious rights

OCEAN TOWNSHIP -- A federal judge allowed a Jewish boarding school to be sited in a residential neighborhood in Ocean Township after concluding the town's refusal was a violation of the yeshiva's religious rights.

In her court order issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson said Yeshiva Gedola Na'os Yaakov "is deemed an inherently beneficial use" and that the Ocean Township board of adjustment's denial of an application for a use variance and a site plan is a violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

The yeshiva sought to modify a building that currently houses a Jewish day school with 101 elementary-aged students on Logan Road into a boarding school where students between the ages of ages 18 to 22 could earn a bachelor's degree in Talmudic studies.

In a lawsuit filed by the yeshiva, attorneys for the school said local objection had undertones of religious prejudice against Orthodox Jewish men, which the attorneys argued was no basis for denying the application.

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While some comments on a change.org petition circulating last year made specific critical reference to the Orthodox Jewish religion, residents at the planning board hearings expressed concerns over noise, traffic and property values.

Wolfson's order tried to address some of those. She directed that no more than 80 students 18 through 22 could live on site. She also restricted the maximum number of resident advisors living on campus to three.

The students would only be permitted to bring cars to the property or its vicinity to move in and out of the school, the order says.

The gym has to be used as a study hall with its windows closed at all times, the judge ordered.

Roman Storzer, attorney for the boarding school, said the yeshiva will now apply for its building and other permits. He said the aim is to have students there for the coming school session.

"We are grateful for this wonderful result that will permit our clients to operate their distinguished institution in Ocean Township. Zoning regulation should never be used as a tool to accommodate the unreasonable fears and prejudice of small-minded individuals desperate to keep a certain population out of their neighborhoods," said Roman P. Storzer, the Yeshiva's attorney. "Unfortunately, this has become all too common in New Jersey."

He noted that similar suits are pending in Toms River and Howell.