Two synagogues planned for Toms River's North Dover area
TOMS RIVER -- Two applications to build shuls, or Orthodox Jewish synagogues, in the township's North Dover section are scheduled to be heard soon by the Board of Adjustment.
KBY Learning Center Inc. has proposed consolidating two lots, located at 1767 Whitesville Road and 186 Jumping Brook Drive, to create a shul and parking on a property that already contains a large single family home.
The applicant has requested variances that would allow parking in the front yard of the structure, as well as a variance to allow more than one building on the property, and to allow a house of worship to be closer to the property line than currently permitted. The board began hearing the KBY Learning Center proposal on May 9, and it will be the first application on the board's May 23 agenda, according to zoning board Secretary Melissa DeBenedetto.
At 162 Stevens Road, Dov Roth is requesting board approval to use a 2,873-square-foot, 1 1/2-story home on the property as a shul, and to build a 23,400-square-foot asphalt parking lot and other site improvements on the land. The applicant is seeking variances for minimum lot width, side-yard setback, among others.
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The Stevens Road application is also on the May 23 agenda, but is likely to be moved to the board's June meeting because a crowded agenda means the board is not likely to hear testimony on it May 23.
Booky Kaluszyner, an Orthodox community leader, said the the two shul applications mark the first in Toms River since the township, under pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice, agreed to change the zoning for houses of worship from a minimum of 10 acres to 2 acres. That happened in 2021.
The Township Council agreed to the zoning change after entering into a consent decree with the Justice Department that ended a two-year federal investigation into Toms River's religious zoning laws.
Both former Assistant Township Attorney Anthony Merlino and Marci Hamilton, an expert in religious land use hired by Toms River in 2018, advised council members to accept the agreement with the Justice Department in March, and said in 2021 that Toms River likely faced a $10 million fine from the feds if there had been no settlement.
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Mayor Daniel Rodrick, who was then a councilman, was the only council member to vote against the zoning change. Rodrick said at the time that he thought Toms River should have fought the Justice Department to maintain the 10-acre zoning.
Many in the township's growing Orthodox Jewish community has been worshipping in several shuls located in private homes, amid frustration that parking requirements, and the lack of large pieces of property for purchase, have constrained the ability to build shuls. Orthodox Jews cannot drive on Shabbat, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, so their places of worship must be within walking distances of their neighborhoods.
Jean Mikle covers Toms River, Seaside Heights, and several other Ocean County towns. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Two synagogues planned in Toms River's North Dover section
