HILLSBOROUGH: Zoners request more details on Chabad application

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Leaders of Chabad of Greater Hillsborough are trying to make the case before the township zoning board that their application to use back-to-back properties on New Amwell Road won’t change the property or neighborhood substantially and therefore should be approved.
   Representatives of the Jewish outreach center presented part of their case to the Board of Adjustment on Wednesday, Sept. 19. They want the board to allow more uses for the rabbi’s residence at 22 New Amwell Road, and grant permission to renovate the house behind it at 26 New Amwell to be converted into a school and house of worship seating up to 33 persons.
   The zoning board heard some testimony on the dual uses; the hearing will continue Nov. 7. The board deferred, asking for a site plan with details of lighting, setbacks, paving, landscaping and similar details until the use question is decided.As a religious enterprise, a house of worship is conditionally allowed in the central residential zone if bulk conditions are met.
   The former multi-family home in the back would have four classrooms, a teen recreation room, three offices and a worship center. The Chabad asks for slightly expanded use of the rabbi’s home for consultations and small meetings. Services and classes would be at different times and days, attorney Steven Sacks-Wilner said.Any major event or holiday celebration that would exceed 33 persons would be held offsite at rented facilities, Mr. Sacks-Wilner said.Board Chairman Leon Krals reminded the applicant that any variances and restrictions would stay with the property if it changed hands.
   Access to the rear property, which is about 420 feet from New Amwell, is by a 25-foot driveway easement. The Chabad would keep the one-lane driveway the same width, without curbing, in an effort to minimize runoff onto surrounding residential subdivision properties, said Mr. Sacks-Wilner.Some of the area is one of the oldest subdivisions in the township, dating back to the 1950s.
   The attorney called the application a very modest proposal to help fill charitable and educational needs not completely addressed by other organizations.The Roycefield Swim Club lies on the west side of the properties. The next westerly property is Constitution Bank, where the Chabad had been meeting for three years, but its lease is up.
   The Chabad had built a 6-foot solid fence around the property and dug a ditch and placed large rocks to minimize runoff and encourage water recharge, Mr. Sacks-Wilner said.
   The Chabad wants to use the property with the rabbi’s residence for 11 parking slots (three are there now) in addition to three at the house of worship. That’s almost the reverse of the zoning requirement.
Board members questioned engineer Joseph Fleming of Warren on how the one-lane driveway would work if a car was entering from the street while another auto was leaving the rear property. Presumably one car would have to pull off — even by backing up — to the refuge of a wider parking area near the rabbi’s house.
    The exact location of a gate to the back property, and whether it would inhibit in-and-out traffic, was questioned. Mr. Fleming said he could design a plan for a gate that would avoid getting in the way of parking.
In answering a question, Mr. Fleming said fire trucks would be unable to make a complete swing at the rear property without making a K-turn maneuver. Board member Helen Haines asked for a full report from municipal fire officials.
   There would be a total of 14 parking spaces on the two lots. The bank and the Chabad have agreed to allow the center to use parking in its lot when the bank is closed. Congregants would park at the bank and walk on New Amwell Road sidewalks and up the driveway to the new center, a distance approaching 400 yards, the engineer said.
   Rabbi Shmaya Krinsky said the Chabad, which he described as a place to educate Jews in greater depth in the traditional Orthodox religion, wanted a place to use as a hub while holidays, celebrations and major programs would be held in homes or public facilities. Chabad participants are members of temples elsewhere, he said, and some of the most orthodox defer driving on the Sabbath and walk to the chabad, he said.
   In a narrative filed with the application, the Chabad said it had about 45 school-age children in its Sunday school.