Synagogue's Zoning Board Hearing Set In Brick Wednesday

BRICK, NJ — The Brick Township Board of Adjustment will continue its hearing on an application by the Temple Beth Or congregation to convert the former Laurelton Funeral Home into a synagogue and offices Wednesday evening.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing was announced and advertised as a special meeting, and will be held at the Brick Township municipal building, 401 Chambers Bridge Road. The hearing is set for 7 p.m.

The separate, unrelated Planning Board hearing that was scheduled for Wednesday has been canceled, Brick Township officials announced.

The previous hearings on the Temple Beth Or proposal have focused primarily on parking for the synagogue. The site plan has 15 parking spaces, and the congregation has a lease agreement with St. Thomas Lutheran Church for additional parking.

That lease agreement caused considerable consternation at the last hearing, however, as the board and its professionals expressed concern about the need for extensive parking spillover.

Rabbi Robert Rubin, at the September hearing, said the highest attendance at services is for the high holy days of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, with about 60 people in attendance. Jewish prayer services differ from Christian denominations in that while there is a start time for the service, congregants do not all arrive for the very start, instead showing up at staggered times, and they do not all leave at the same time, Rubin said.