By: Abraham Scherowitz

Stafford Township in Ocean County, New Jersey sued its own Zoning Board in an attempt to overturn its Board’s approval. What is peculiar about this case is the fact that the township is suing its own board. The judge dismissed the case immediately.

A year ago, Golden Holdings, a Jewish owned real estate firm in New Jersey purchased a few lots in Stafford Township. One of them is on the main street of the town, East Bay Avenue. East Bay Avenue boasts many restaurants, shopping, entertainment, and over 100 townhouses. The firm hired a prominent local builder to obtain municipal approvals and build another 10 townhouses. No members of the public spoke up on the record regarding the application, nor any representative of the town. The Board’s vote of approval was unanimous.

However, Township officials were unhappy with their own Zoning Board approving this application. Curiously, the Township Council and the Zoning Board hired top attorneys to fight each other in court. The losers are the local taxpayers who are footing the bill and the winners are all the attorneys.

The complaint, filed in Superior Court by Township Attorney Jean Cipriani, alleges that the Board “failed to discuss any of the requested conditional use variances, and to analyze whether the requested conditional use variances affected the suitability of the site for the proposed use and their impact on the adjacent properties, and to make any findings of fact or conclusions of law in accordance with the provisions of the Municipal Land Use Law and existing case law,” and therefore, the Board’s approval of the application is “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable, and contrary to the Municipal Land Use Law and the ordinances of Stafford Township.” The lawsuit seeks to reverse the Board’s Resolution of approval and for award of “such other and further relief as the Court deems just and equitable.”

The builder approached the Township with a simple question: if the town had any objections to this project why didn’t it say so at the board meeting??? Why didn’t they approach the builder and raise their legal concerns if they had any??? The attorney for the town told the Jewish Voice that the owner was not notified about this lawsuit as “The suit was primarily against the Zoning Board because the governing body did not feel that the Board had fully reviewed the requested variances to the standard required by law”.

The judge saw straight through it and dismissed the case with prejudice, prior to trial.

“They just don’t want us here” Says an Ocean County builder “they are afraid we are bringing a minyan to town.”

Ocean County demographics has been changing and county politicians are taking notice as an estimated 1 out of 5 residents are orthodox Jews.