Officials struck down on Monday night a controversial application for a 96-student boarding school specializing in Jewish studies — for a second time.

The Star Ledger reports the seven-member Zoning Board of Adjustment unanimously ruled to deny the application for Na’is Yaakov after a nearly two-hour public hearing held inside the Ocean Township High School gymnasium, as it had done late last year. The crowd of a couple hundred in attendance rose to their feet and gave a thunderous applause following the vote.

After the Zoning Board ruled against the application on Dec. 1, the group filed a lawsuit in federal court, alleging religious discrimination among the Board members and the township’s residents, who fiercely oppose the Yeshiva. Read more in Star Ledger.