A New Jersey Appeals Court issued a ruling today allowing Lakewood schools to have Simcha halls in their buildings.
“The simcha hall is an accessory use because the room is incidental and subordinate to the main use of the property as an elementary school. As an accessory use, the Applicant did not require a use variance,” the two-judge panel wrote in their 9-page decision released this afternoon.
Today’s decision follows a years-long legal battle over a Planning Board approval given to a Lakewood school in July of 2019, after neighbors of the school complained that the site’s plans were not adequately represented.
In addition, the neighbors argue that a banquet hall is not a permitted use of the school in that zone, and therefore required a use variance from the Zoning Board.
The original Planning Board ruling was upheld in the Superior Court on a technicality related to the actual filing of the lawsuit.
The neighbors then went to the Appeals Court, which heard arguments earlier this month.
This is a developing story and will be updated shortly.
This is terrible. Now the surrounding townships will have a valid reason to not allow schools to be built
I agree. Another problem will be the disruption of wedding celebrations by the police for noise ordinance violations.
The towns cannot reject Orthodox schools They will get sued. My concern is which so much overbuilding how can you sustain the infrastructure? I understand that your community needs an Orthodox infrastructure, but how can the larger region handle Lakewood style development?
BRING ON THE SIMCHOS!!!! ITS ADAR!!!!
Why are you more worried for surrounding towns?
I’m happy that I’m our town, the Jewish capital of the world will continue to have simcha halls for its growing community, we need more halls not be terrorized by grumpy Karens
Are you out of your mind?
The Jewish “capital of the world” is Yerushalayim.
Bnai Yisrael were rebuked by HaShem when they referred to Mitzrayim as “eretz chalav u’dvash”.
You are doing the same. It is called “Golut Derangement Syndrom”.
Why be an optimist when you can be a pessimist…
The pessimist sees the cup half full, the optimist sees the cup half empty.
The engineer sees the project twice as large as it needs to be.
“I couldn’t be any happier with today’s simcha hall ruling,” said Mr. Lustig Freilich, long-time principal of the Bais Sasson Elementary School.
“In honor of today’s cheerful news, we’ll be making a big party in our school’s simcha hall,” said Mrs. Gila Gladstein and Mrs. Chedva Glee, principals of the Rena V’ditza Day School.
One issue with this is that some halls are being rented out during Shabbos to crowds that belong to groups that drink beer and all kinds of other stuff.
The proof is that I saw many times that the parking lot and the whole area near the sidewalk and edge of street with broken beer bottles and glass shards. Please make sure that your children have a real good strong pair of shoes so the glass won’t hurt them.
Thank you
Another problem with simcha halls, which must be addressed, is the size of the parking lots. I’ve seen too many simcha halls with parking overflowing to the surrounding streets, which are residential areas. Schools with simcha rooms should not be allowed without the proper amount of parking. And I mean the real amount of parking, not the amount that builders say with all their shtick. Also, schools should not be in residential areas at all.
Lawlessness of Lakewood!
I think overall all would agree that our community would benefit from more wedding halls ….More halls mean there will be more supply should balance the demand and wedding expenses will decrease in addition to having more flexibility with wedding dates
This may weigh out the cons etc