Brick Council Approves $237,500 Lawsuit Settlement With Church

BRICK, NJ -- The Brick Township Council approved a $237,500 settlement with New Beginnings Christian Fellowship that also allows the church to move forward with plans it presented in 2010 to turn the building it occupies into a worship center that serves the community.

The settlement is the culmination of more than two years of legal wrangling over the issue, and is in part the result of improper behavior on the part of former zoning board and council members, Brick Mayor John Ducey said Tuesday night.

The church, located on Brick Boulevard, had its application for a major site plan that includes a teen center, food pantry, worship center and merchantile business rejected twice by the Board of Adjustment, first in 2011 and again in 2013, Ducey said. In the first rejection, which Ducey said "wasn't based on compelling state interest," members of the zoning board and a former councilman made statements in zoning board hearings that showed a clear bias against the project.

The church filed suit in November 2013 with the law firm of Storzer & Greene of New York handling its case. Storzer & Greene is the same firm that filed a federal lawsuit against Toms River and its zoning board on behalf of the Chabad Jewish Center on Tuesday.

Ducey said in the New Beginnings case, the former zoning board chairman called the attorney for the church ignorant; stated "We want the food pantry but we don't want the church here," and tried to persuade church officials to purchase a different piece of property for the church -- property that belonged to an entity of which he was a board member of.

""He (the zoning board chairman) went as far as going to the church property and trying to close one of its driveways and directing traffic," Ducey said.

Another member of the zoning board recused herself from hearing the application because her daughter lived near the site, but that member then actively participated in lobbying against zoning approval, Ducey said, holding up signs, questioning witnesses and more.

Ducey said the actions and words of a then-council member sealed the township's fate with the lawsuit, by public statements that included:

• "Our strategy is to make the church spend as much money as possible."
• "We are going to bury you."
• And, "They could all be pedophiles."

Ducey said all of those actions made the board's denial based on "it would create a very difficult situation for the township" clear that it was based solely on bias, he said, and led to an automatic reversal of the zoning board's denial.

"That's a prime example of why we can't talk about cases" that are before the planning or zoning boards, Ducey said. "Talking about it is what causes those automatic approvals."

And "the outrageous behavior we are now paying for," Ducey said, referring to the monetary settlement.

The township's insurance covers the cost of the settlement, Ducey said.