The board concluded that inherently, the school would provide a beneficial use, but that overall, there were more negative aspects of the project that were not overcome, she said.
TOMS RIVER --A Superior Court judge said Jackson Township's zoning board was acting within its rights when it denied a variance for the construction of an all-girls Orthodox Jewish high school in a residential area.
The board, which voted down the application for the Oros Bais Yaakov High School, appropriately weighed the positive and negative aspects of the project when rendering its decision in June, Ocean County Assignment Judge Marlene Lynch Ford concluded in her 22-page decision issued on Thursday.
"The court finds that the board successfully conducted the...balancing test by weighing the positive and negative criteria in order to determine that on balance the grant of the variance would cause a substantial detriment to the public good," Ford wrote.
The board concluded that inherently, the school would provide a beneficial use, but that overall, there were more negative aspects of the project that were not overcome, she said.
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Specifically, the board was concerned over the relatively small size of the land sought for the 400-student school, the traffic it would generate in a resident neighborhood and the ability of the septic system to handle that amount of students.
The school was planned to be located on 7.5 acres on Cross Street on the township's eastern border with Lakewood.
In the five hearings since the plan was first introduced in October 2013, the school could not quell board members' concerns, even with concessions such as requiring students to be bused rather than driving to school and installing a water-treatment system.
"The applicant could not prove that the public interest at stake in this instance was of such import that was to require the board to approve the application as submitted with the amendments proffered during testimony," the decision said.
The zoning board contended that granting a variance for the school, which would be a non-permitted use in a residential zone, would undermine the township's master plan designed to limit the density of housing.
Ford said that the board wasn't unreasonable in concluding the need for the school at that location was critical, given the proximity to at least three existing private high schools in Lakewood and five approved school construction projects along Cross Street also in Lakewood.
MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
