Temple Beth Or Returning To Brick Zoning Board With New Request

BRICK, NJ — The Temple Beth Or congregation is returning to the Brick Township Board of Adjustment with a new application seeking to convert a former funeral home into a synagogue — with a number of stipulations.

The application is set to go before the zoning board meeting at 7 p.m. on Jan. 31 in the council chamber at the Brick Township municipal building, 401 Chambers Bridge Road, Brick.

The congregation's previous application to turn the former Laurelton Funeral Home at 109 Pier Ave. into a synagogue was denied in October.

During the hearings on the proposal, board members and residents of Salmon Street and neighboring streets expressed concerns about the potential for additional traffic in the neighborhood, particularly if the congregation's membership grows.

Rabbi Robert Rubin, who has led the Conservative Jewish congregation since 2011, at the time testified that the membership has been falling for several years. That decreasing membership led the congregation to sell its former property on Van Zile Road in early 2021.

Conservative Jews follow a less-strict interpretation of Judaism than is practiced in the ultra-Orthodox community. While they keep kosher and observe the various holidays, they do not follow the clothing restrictions and other more stringent customs of the ultra-Orthodox community.

Among the questions posed to Rubin last fall was about the possibility of the building being used as a school; Rubin told the board there were no plans of any kind for a school because there are no young children in the congregation. Rubin said if there was a need for religious education it would be done one-on-one, not in a school setting.

The new application includes the following proposed restrictions:

• A condition of approval that would limit occupancy of the sanctuary to 56 people;
• A condition of approval that will prohibit the simultaneous use of the sanctuary and the other areas of the building. The seating in the non-sanctuary area of the building includes a conference room with 10 seats, a social area that can accommodate 48 seats at tables and an executive office area with a total of 9 seats. The total of seats equals 124.

The public notice of the application also includes a proposal to provide additional parking through a 25-year lease from the adjoining property of St. Thomas Lutheran Church parking lot for overflow parking. The former funeral home has 15 parking spaces, and 31 spaces would be required under Brick Township ordinances.

"The applicant proposes that the continuation and availability of this lease be a condition of approval and a further condition be that the services at the Temple be scheduled so as not to conflict with the times of services at St. Thomas," the notice says. "The applicant requests all such parking count variances as the Board determines necessary for approval."

The application seeks approval of a house of worship as a conditionally permitted use "where the proposal does not meet all the conditional use criteria," including requirements for a 2-acre property, minimum lot width and frontage, and distance from a right-of-way, along with other requirements.

Alternately, the application also seeks all use ("D") variance approval required to convert the existing funeral home building to a religious facility, which is a nonconforming use in the zone, according to the notice.