JACKSON, N.J. — A Jackson Township resident has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the local Planning Board’s approval of a proposed private Orthodox Jewish boys’ school, alleging the project was rushed through without adequate review of environmental risks and zoning requirements.
Chris Podolsky filed the amended complaint last month in Ocean County Superior Court after the board approved plans in November for Yeshiva Ner Moshe, a religious school with dormitories on a nearly 25-acre vacant lot along Frank Applegate Road in a residential area.
The lawsuit claims the board approved the development without first determining whether the site could safely manage flooding, stormwater runoff and on-site septic systems. The property lies in a conservation area where runoff flows toward state-protected waterways in the Metedeconk River watershed, and the complaint alleges the board acted without obtaining a required New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) determination on wetlands, buffers and flood hazard areas.
Podolsky also argues the board improperly classified the school as a permitted use rather than a conditional use, which would have triggered stricter scrutiny and mandated a 50-foot landscaped buffer between the campus and neighboring homes.
The suit seeks to have the approval vacated and the project remanded to the Planning Board for further review.
Jackson borders Lakewood, home to New Jersey’s largest Orthodox Jewish community, and has experienced significant growth in its Orthodox population in recent years, mirroring trends in nearby Toms River and Howell.
The proposal comes amid a history of legal challenges related to the township’s zoning rules affecting Orthodox Jewish institutions. In 2022, Jackson settled a federal lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice over ordinances restricting yeshivas and dormitories. The township also reached a 2023 settlement with the state Attorney General’s Office, repealing the ordinances and agreeing to pay millions in penalties and restitution.
The township approved its first yeshiva with dormitories in May 2023 following those settlements.
The developer, Applegate Owner LLC, a Lakewood-based entity, was not named as a defendant in the suit, which targets the Planning Board, the Township of Jackson and an unidentified institutional end user.
Township officials have not commented on the pending litigation. A judge recently denied an emergency request to halt the project, ruling the challenge premature, though the underlying lawsuit continues.
As reported by VINnews