LONG BRANCH — A local attorney is challenging amendments to zoning ordinances that would pave the way for a chabad to be constructed in West End, an eclectic neighborhood of shops and small businesses that includes West End Park.
Attorney Scott Kelly, who has an office in West End, filed a lawsuit charging the city engaged unlawfully in spot zoning by amending zoning ordinances to add religious uses to the conditional uses permitted in the West End zone.
The complaint was filed last month in state Superior Court in Freehold. The two-count complaint claims the city violated New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law by changing the zoning in West End without formally revising the city’s master plan.
The complaint claims the city engaged in spot zoning by using statutory zoning power to benefit a private interest rather than to benefit the collective interests of the community.
Kelly could not be reached for comment.
City attorney James Aaron said the city has already responded to the complaint, which, if it proceeds through the full legal process, would delay several West End projects currently in the pipeline.
“He filed a complaint. We have sent a frivolous claim letter,” Aaron said. “He has 28 days to withdraw the complaint.”
Aaron said if the complaint is not withdrawn, the city would file a motion to dismiss with the court.
In April the City Council voted to amend zoning ordinances to create a C-3 West End Overlay District and permit both institutional and residential uses on the second floor of retail buildings in the zone.
The new zoning also permits mixed-use development that is now prohibited in West End.
The ordinance change came after a series of contentious hearings on the Chabad of the Shore’s proposal to convert the vacant West End movie theater to a Jewish community center.
The application was rejected by the zoning board because under existing zoning, religious institutions were not a permitted use in the zone. The Chabad subsequently sued the zoning board, and that suit is pending.
Under the amended ordinance, the Chabad would be permitted to operate on the second floor of the theater, with the first floor occupied by retail.
Aaron said the legal action could stall redevelopment of a block on Brighton Avenue destroyed by a 2012 fire and other property owners looking to take advantage of the new zoning.
For example, he said, N.J. Repertory Company’s plan to convert the West End Elementary School into a theater complex could be delayed.
“It has wide ramifications,” Aaron said.
Since adoption of the zoning amendments, some residents have criticized the changes at public meetings, arguing religious institutions should not be permitted in West End, which hosts outdoor concerts, arts events, antiquing, shopping, restaurants and nightlife.
Resident Vincent LePore said during a June meeting the zoning change for West End is not consistent with the city’s master plan.
“The [residents] of this city in general, and particularly in West End, have been prejudiced against by the use of spot zoning,” he said.
In recent months, a group of West End stakeholders have been pushing for the city or the county to purchase the movie theater property and add it to the adjacent West End Park.
“We’re moving ahead; a presentation was made to the Monmouth County Parks Commission,” LePore said. “We are moving ahead with the council or without the council.”
The possibility of extending West End Park is scheduled to be discussed during the July 23 Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders meeting held in West Long Branch.
However, Mayor Adam Schneider said the plan to extend the park does not have merit.
“Frankly, your proposal is not going to go anywhere,” Schneider said. “You’re talking about a $5 million piece of property. The county is not interested. They don’t have $5 million, and they are not going to do it unless we are interested.”
Resident Thorpe Livingston said the movie theater is an ideal location for the city to exercise the power of eminent domain, a controversial move considering the city’s past use of eminent domain for redevelopment and the resulting litigation it sparked.
“I’ve always felt if there ever was a candidate for eminent domain then that building should be eminent domained to make the park bigger,” Livingston said.
Schneider responded there are several reasons why the use of eminent domain is not feasible for the park, including the fact that it is not consistent with the master plan; it is not located in a redevelopment zone; it is a costly property; and it is attached to the existing parking lot, meaning the city would have to acquire more land than just the movie theater.
“That proposal is nonsense,” he said. “The county is not interested; they made that very clear to us.
“So before we’d even be looking at a park, we’d be talking about acquiring something that is probably going to be close to $5 million and taking something that is going to be off the tax rolls off the tax rolls. The expansion of the park, I defy you to find me a way that is going to improve the business district.”