The Old Tennent Cemetery Association’s application to build a crematorium on the grounds of the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church in Manalapan will not be heard at the June 12 meeting of the Manalapan Planning Board.
On June 4, an official with the board said the application, which had been scheduled to be heard on June 12, has been removed from the agenda.
That news confirms a comment made by Deputy Mayor Jack McNaboe at a recent meeting of the Township Committee.
McNaboe, who sits on the Planning Board, said the crematorium application is “on indefinite hold as the applicant is doing some work to address environmental issues that have been raised.”
The application proposing the crematorium was initially heard by the Planning Board on March 27.
The application was scheduled to be heard at the board’s April 24 meeting; however, developments at the April 21 meeting of the Manalapan Environmental Commission regarding the crematorium caused the applicant’s scheduled appearance before the Planning Board three days later to be postponed.
The applicant asked to return to the Planning Board on June 12 and was scheduled to do so, but that scheduled appearance has now been cancelled.
The Environmental Commission has asked the applicant to provide a complete environmental impact statement as required by township ordinance; a traffic study to be made in conjunction with the application; and it is recommending that Manalapan obtain its own air-quality expert to represent the interests of the municipality in this matter.
The Planning Board’s June 12 agenda will have a public hearing on an application for a sports facility known as Fields of Dreams, which is proposed for property on Woodward Road near Route 33.