Yeshiva-backed 126-unit housing plan gets new wind after court order

LAKEWOOD – A judge has ordered that a previously rejected local Yeshiva’s proposal to build 126 housing units be reconsidered.

Despite being shot down by the township Planning Board more than a year ago, Superior Court Judge Francis Hodgson had ruled late last year that the denial was unjust. The township has appealed the ruling but agreed to continue with the review process.

Yeshiva Chemdas Hatorah initially proposed the plan for 63 two-unit duplexes at Cross and James streets near the Jackson township line in November 2021.

But after initial review, the planning board voted against the project, which would have included the creation of two new streets, in December 2023.

Yeshiva Chemdas Hatorah and the project’s builders, Deerfield Holdings LLC, sued the township in Ocean County Superior Court in February 2024, claiming the rejection violated their rights and found no cause to deny the plan.

The Planning Board took up the issue again on Tuesday and will continue during its March 4 meeting, board members said after requesting that a new traffic study be done.

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The property has been slated for development since 2018 when Yeshiva Chemdas Hatorah initially proposed a larger project with 528 dormitory rooms, a gym, a school building and a six-unit townhouse to be used with its campus located 2 miles away.

But that project was eventually withdrawn and the current proposal was submitted in November 2021, according to the lawsuit.

“The court said that we have a right to be heard,” said John Paul Doyle, attorney for the yeshiva and the builders. “And we look forward to being heard with an application that is consistent and seeks no variance.”

But a group of neighbors who oppose the project claims the project would add to traffic and other problems already affecting the neighborhood.

It stated that the project would harm an “already highly congested corner, resulting in a disastrous impact on our neighborhood and exacerbating the nightmarish traffic in the entire area.”

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The neighbors urged the board to reject the plan to “ensure that the will and best interests of the general public and neighborhood are respected and prioritized.”

Three residents also spoke out during the Tuesday meeting, with several claiming the traffic impact would be harmful.

Lakewood has undergone a housing boom in recent years due in large part to its skyrocketing population growth. Since 2010, the township’s population has grown from 96,000 to nearly 150,000, according to the U.S. Census.

State Department of Consumer Affairs data finds that Lakewood is consistently the Shore leader in issuing new building permits in recent years and growing.

Since 2020, the township has issued 2,190 new housing permits, the most of any Ocean or Monmouth county community. That accounts for more than 20% of all new housing permits issued in Ocean County during that time period.

Lakewood issued 305 housing building permits in 2020, another 488 in 2021, an additional 664 in 2022 and then 417 in 2023. As of November 2024, 316 permits were issued for last year.

The township’s growing housing stock has also increased its present affordable housing obligation, which currently stands at 878 units, the highest in Ocean County. That obligation requires the township to help rehab existing homes to meet the requirement, not build new ones.

The township committee recently approved a special meeting resolution in which it agreed to address the affordable housing needs in 2025 as required by state law.

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Tuesday’s planning board hearing included about 90 minutes of discussion about the traffic and environmental studies related to the yeshiva project, which Doyle said had found no detriments or serious issues.

But the board requested that it have time to conduct its own traffic review, specifically looking at the two proposed vehicle entrances to the proposed housing complex.

Board Member Yael Stern offered concerns that the entrances would feed traffic on to busy roadways and cause safety hazards: “I think that would make it a better application if the openings went another way.”

Doyle and the developers agreed that a study could be done as long as it was completed and presented by the March 4 planning board meeting.

Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 35 years’ experience who covers Lakewood and several local communities for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of four books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media, and an adjunct media professor at Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Reach him at [email protected] and at 732-413-3840. Follow him on Twitter and TruthSocial at @joestrupp