Proposed Acute-Care Rehab Would Be A Pain, Toms River Neighbors Say

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article reported the date of the next Board of Adjustment meeting incorrectly. The article has been updated to reflect the correct date.

A proposal to build a 124-bed post-acute care rehabilitation facility is expected to go before the Toms River Township Board of Adjustment again next month -- much to the dismay of local residents.

Neighbors have been fighting the proposal for two years now, as it has been carried from meeting to meeting a dozen times for various reasons.

Lapid Ventures LLC is seeking a use variance to build the 87,000-square-foot, three-story post-acute rehabilitation facility at the corner of Lakehurst Road and Smith Road -- an area that is zoned residential.

Neighbors of the site say the proposed project does not provide enough parking for its proposed staff and visitors, and that it would create a traffic nightmare in the area, as it would likely lead to parking along what already is a narrow street, they say.

The plans would funnel traffic along Smith Road (township ordinances do not permit new construction to add entrances/exits onto Lakehurst Road), and neighbors say the residential street is too narrow for two cars to drive along when there are cars parked along the street.

The biggest potential for conflict is mid- to late afternoon, around times of staff shift-changes laid out by the applicant.

Lapid Ventures is the developer on the project, which was first put before the Board of Adjustment in late 2013. William Burris, the owner of Lapid Ventures, said the facility is a nursing home with private rooms -- a kind of facility that he said is in short supply in the community.

“It’s a specialized nursing facility,” he said, designed for long-term care.

With the new HIPAA laws, Burris said, health care professionals need privacy to talk with patients, something that is not always available in long-term care facilities. He said he purchased the license to operate a long-term care facility from Community Medical Center, which sold it because their facility was not up to current standards, he said. HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, nearby, is an acute care facility, not a long-term facility, he said.

Burris said the height of the building is 35 feet, reduced from the original proposal of 38 feet, to meet the zoning requirements in the area, and Burris said they have changed plans on the facility to eliminate the need for other variances. Only the use variance request remains, he said.

But neighbors who contacted the Patch complained about the idea that people in the facility would be able to see into neighbors’ yards. The rear of the building will face Smith Road, while the front of the building will look into the backyards of those living on Seaton Road.

“Imagine your back yard and having this building with black (environmentally friendly to be sure) windows -- and you having no idea who is watching your youngsters playing in your back yard?” the neighbor wrote.

“This small neighborhood, which goes back to before the 1970’s and had moderately priced homes, is integrated, is a mix of families, seniors, homeowners, renters,” the neighbor wrote. “Even under an ’inherently beneficial’ application, we shouldn’t have to host (it), especially given the very specific language in the Master Plan,” which says the neighborhood is supposed to be protected and maintained.

The next Board of Adjustment meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 10, at Town Hall and begins at 7:30 p.m., but Burris said Friday he has requested a change in the meeting date due to a personal conflict.