South Brunswick Approves Housing, Sports Facility At ISCJ

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — After a long debate, the South Brunswick Zoning Board on March 4, approved plans for senior housing, a sports facility and associated improvements at the Islamic Society of Central Jersey (ISCJ).

The ISCJ has proposed a 42,449-square-foot two-story school addition, 44,880 square-foot sports facility and 24 multifamily senior units on a 16.45 acre lot, at 4145 US Route 1, Monmouth Junction.

The application was filed in November 2019, and the March 4 meeting was the fifth meeting to discuss it.

The project was approved 5-2. Marty Hammer, Christopher Conover, Armando Lepore, Bharat Patel and Shivam Patel voted ‘yes,’ while Arthur Troccoli Jr. and Manny Vitone voted ‘no.’

Back in 2002, approval was granted for 32 senior residential units, a 52,000-square-foot school and funeral home, ISCJ attorney Steve Hambro said.

In 2006, the applicants were granted approval of a 42,000-square-foot office building and two-level parking garage, both of which were not built. Approval was also given to expand the school and for minor additions to the mosque, Hambro said.

Since then, the housing units were reduced from 32 to 24.

During earlier zoning board meetings, township residents expressed reservations over the project as they felt the lot was too small to accommodate a mosque, school, sports facility and housing units, especially since it would border Richard Road and Essex Drive.

Hambro said there was “significant improvement in terms of reduction of traffic” by replacing the office building with a sports facility to be used by the school.

“It’s not a perfect solution,” said Hammer. “I think it’s a better plan than when we started looking a year ago.”

Shivam Patel said the application was “trying to satisfy the needs of the public” in the best way possible.

In opposing the project, Vitone said it did not meet the criteria for site suitability.

“I understand what you want to do,” he said. “I think the size of this application is too intensive for the size of this property.”

ISCJ will be contributing $875,418 towards South Brunswick’s affordable housing fund, Hambro said.

The long-term project is expected to be completed in phases.

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