Brick Aims To Buy Triangle Lot That Led To Zoning Board Lawsuit

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township is planning to buy a triangular lot that was slated for development into a single-family home after a court ruling in November.

The agenda for Tuesday's Township Council meeting includes a bond ordinance introduction and a resolution for an emergency appropriation from the town's Open Space funds to purchase the property bounded by Pennsylvania and Illinos avenues.

The property, which is vacant land at Block 1420.16, Lot 1, is slated to be purchased for $125,000, according to the bond ordinance, with a downpayment of $6,250, according to the resolution.

The property is the same one that was the subject of a lawsuit filed against the Brick Township Board of Adjustment over the board's denial in November 2024 of a zoning application to build a three-bedroom, 2-1/2-bathroom, 1,700-square-foot home on the site.

The zoning board had rejected an application by Esther Kayla Cohen and Naomi Elkins to build the home on the lot, which did not meet the minimum size for development.

The lawsuit alleged the zoning board had rejected the application because of what it called antisemitic questions from neighbors over who would live in the home.

Superior Court Judge Francis Hodgson Jr. ruled in November 2025 that the zoning board had been arbitrary and capricious in its denial and ordered the zoning board to work with Elkins and Cohen and their professionals to design the property.

Elkins purchased the property in December 2023 for $22,500, and Cohen was added as an owner in February 2024.

Elkins is the same woman who was found not guilty by reason of insanity for drowning her two young daughters in her Shenandoah Drive home in Lakewood. The address listed for Elkins in the deed is the same address as the home where she killed her children in June 2024, according to land records and the probable cause affidavit in the murder case.

Elkins remains in a psychiatric facility, where she was sent after the court hearing before Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan in April 2025.

The ordinance and resolution refer to the appropriation as "emergency," because they were not in the original budget plans for 2026.

The council meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the township's municipal building, 401 Chambers Bridge Road.