MANALAPAN – A complaint filed by the Old Tennent Cemetery Association against the Manalapan Planning Board has been dismissed by state Superior Court Judge Lisa P. Thornton, sitting in Freehold.
Thornton ordered the dismissal of the complaint on Feb. 18, which was 28 months after attorneys representing the cemetery association, the Planning Board and Manalapan appeared before her in Superior Court.
In October 2017, attorneys Edward Liston, representing the plaintiff, Ron Cucchiaro, representing the Planning Board, and Jason A. Leacock, representing Manalapan, presented oral arguments regarding legal issues involved with the cemetery association’s proposal to construct a crematorium on the grounds of the Old Tennent Cemetery, Tennent Road, Manalapan.
In her Feb. 18 decision, Thorton wrote that the cemetery association challenged the Planning Board’s decision “that it was without jurisdiction to consider plaintiff’s application for site plan approval to construct a crematorium on the site of an existing cemetery.”
“Evidence in the record indicates Old Tennent Cemetery is a nonconforming use, not a permitted use. Consequently, the (Zoning) Board of Adjustment has exclusive jurisdiction to consider the application. Because the (Planning) Board was without jurisdiction to consider the application, plaintiff’s complaint is dismissed,” Thornton wrote.
The complaint was filed by the Old Tennent Cemetery Association against the Manalapan Planning Board following a July 28, 2016, meeting of the board.
Before testimony was heard that evening, Liston and an attorney representing Stop the Manalapan Crematorium Inc., which was objecting to the crematorium proposal, argued technical points related to the project, including which municipal board should consider the crematorium application.
Acting on the advice of Cucchiaro, the Planning Board members determined they did not have jurisdiction to hear the application and adjourned the meeting.
Following that decision, the complaint challenging the board’s determination and seeking approval of the crematorium application was filed by the cemetery association in Superior Court.
The township subsequently became a defendant-intervenor in the matter and was represented by McLaughlin, Stauffer and Shaklee, P.C., which is the law firm of Township Attorney Roger McLaughlin.
The Old Tennent Cemetery Association proposed constructing a 1,300-square-foot addition on an existing office building on the cemetery grounds and installing two retorts (furnaces) that could conduct hundreds of cremations per year.
During the Feb. 27 meeting of the Planning Board, Cucchiaro informed the panel’s members of the judge’s decision. He said the appeal period has not lapsed yet, which means the cemetery association could file an appeal of Thornton’s ruling.
Cucchiaro said the cemetery association could bring the crematorium application before the Manalapan zoning board.
Asked for comment on the judge’s ruling, Mayor Jack McNaboe said, “We (the township) are supportive of the (Old Tennent) cemetery and their success, but that (proposed location) was not the place for a crematorium.”