MANALAPAN – In October 2017, attorneys representing the Manalapan Township Committee and the Old Tennent Cemetery Association appeared before state Superior Court Judge Lisa P. Thornton, sitting in Freehold.
The attorneys were in court to present oral arguments regarding legal issues involved with the cemetery association’s proposal to construct a crematorium on the grounds of the Old Tennent Cemetery, which is located on Tennent Road, Manalapan.
After making their arguments to Thornton, the attorneys and their clients waited for the jurist to issue her ruling.
They waited, and they waited, and they waited some more. Today, two years have passed and municipal officials and the cemetery association are still waiting for Thornton to decide the matter at hand.
On Oct. 10, a reporter called Thornton’s office to ask why the judge has never issued a ruling in the case. A law clerk in the judge’s chambers responded to the question by stating, “We are not permitted to speak about anything that is in the court system.”
Attorney Roger McLaughlin, who represents the Township Committee, said on Oct. 10 that he had no comment on the matter.
Attorney Edward Liston, who represents the Old Tennent Cemetery Association, said on Oct. 10 that he had no comment on the matter.
A lawsuit was filed by the Old Tennent Cemetery Association against the Manalapan Planning Board following a July 28, 2016, meeting of the board.
On Nov. 30, 2016, the Township Committee voted unanimously to authorize McLaughlin to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of the municipality.
The attorneys appeared in court for oral arguments in October 2017, according to McLaughlin.
The crematorium was a topic of discussion and testimony before municipal boards several times in recent years, but no decision has ever been rendered on the proposal.
Three years ago, Manalapan’s elected officials said they were against the plan put forth by the cemetery association.
Most recently, the application was before the Planning Board in 2016. During a meeting on July 28, before testimony was heard, Liston and an attorney representing Stop the Manalapan Crematorium Inc., which was objecting to the proposal, argued technical points related to the project, including which municipal body should consider the crematorium plan.
In the end, and acting on the advice of their attorney, board members determined they did not have jurisdiction to hear the application and adjourned the meeting.
Following that decision, the lawsuit challenging the board’s determination and seeking approval of the crematorium application was filed by the cemetery association in state Superior Court.
The Old Tennent Cemetery Association has 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.