Toms River OKs first synagogue under rules brought about by federal government pressure

TOMS RIVER - The first new Orthodox Jewish synagogue, or shul, in Toms River has been approved by the township's Board of Adjustment, which voted last week to legitimize the operations of Khal Bnei Yisuschur in North Dover.

This is the first shul to be approved in Toms River since the township, under pressure from the federal Department of Justice, lowered the number of acres needed for a house of worship from 10 to 2 in 2021.

Also known as KBY Learning Center, the shul received permission from the board to consolidate two lots, located at 1767 Whitesville Road and 186 Jumping Brook Drive, to create a legal house of worship on a property that already contains a large single-family home, which will be used as a shul and a residence for a rabbi. Rabbi Ozer Babad is the rabbi at the shul.

A secondary residence was also permitted on the property. Babed said in an online interview that 200 or 300 people a day have been worshipping at the shul.

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Worship services had already been taking place at the site.

KBY Learning received variances to parking in the front yard of the structure, as well as to permit more than one building on the property, and to allow the house of worship to be closer to the property line than currently permitted.

The board is also considering an application by Dov Roth to use a 2,873-square-foot, 1½-story home at 162 Stevens Road as a shul, and to build a 23,400-square-foot asphalt parking lot and other site improvements on the land. The applicant is seeking variances for minimum lot width and side-yard setback, among other things.

Testimony has already been heard in that application, and is expected to continue at the July 11 zoning board meeting.

The Township Council agreed to change Toms River's religious zoning after entering into a consent decree with the Justice Department that ended a two-year federal investigation into Toms River's zoning laws regarding houses of worship.

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Both former Assistant Township Attorney Anthony Merlino and Marci Hamilton, an expert in religious land use hired by Toms River in 2018, advised council members to accept the agreement with the Justice Department, and said in 2021 that Toms River likely faced a $10 million fine from the feds if there was no settlement.

Mayor Daniel Rodrick, who was then a councilman, was the only council member to vote against the zoning change. Rodrick said at the time that he thought Toms River should have fought the federal government to maintain the 10-acre zoning.

Many in the township's growing Orthodox Jewish community have been worshipping in shuls located in private homes, amid frustration that parking requirements, and the lack of large pieces of property for purchase, have constrained the ability to build shuls. Orthodox Jews cannot drive on Shabbat, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, so their places of worship must be within walking distances of their neighborhoods.

Jean Mikle covers Toms River, Seaside Heights and several other Ocean County towns. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com.