The battle with bureaucracy continues for a project to construct an education complex to teach as many as 2,500 Orthodox Jews.
The Jackson Township Planning Board in New Jersey rejected a proposal by 394 Chandler Holdings to build four private Jewish schools. As such, the company’s attorney, Donna Jennings, announced plans to sue.
The Aug. 19 decision resulted from a disagreement over whether the government should classify a road to the property as public or private. The latter designation would require future approval from the township council for exemptions on local zoning laws.
The board requested time to confer with the township council on resolving the road dispute, an extension Jennings opposed. In response, the board voted to reject the proposal without prejudice, which enables a resubmission of the application for another chance to get approval.
Jennings called the board’s decision “absolutely ridiculous.”
“I’ve never had a town tell me to go to another governmental entity first and then come back,” she said.
The construction project has taken time to secure approval; the developer applied in November 2022.
