Lakewood Alerts has obtained the exact details of what Jackson Township has agreed to do in order to have a lawsuit filed against them by the federal Justice Department accusing them of discriminating against Orthodox Jews in the township.
The settlement details are as follows:
• Jackson Township will allow religious elementary and secondary schools in, at a minimum, the R-2, R-3, R-5, R-9, R-15, R-20 Residential zones, the MF Multifamily zone, the LC Limited Commercial zone, the NC Neighborhood Commercial zone, the HCMU Highway Commercial Mixed-Use zone, the PMURD Planning Mixed-Use Residential District zone, the Pinelands Village zone, the RD-1 Rural Development zone, the RG-2 Regional Growth zone, and the RG-3 Regional Growth zone.
• Jackson Township will allow religious higher learning institutions in, at a minimum, the
Pinelands Village zone, the RG-2 Regional Growth zone, and the RG-3 Regional Growth
zone, the PM Pinelands Manufacturing zone, and the I Industrial zone.
• Jackson Township will allow religious residential schools, also called religious schools with
dormitories, to locate, at a minimum, at the parcels in green and yellow identified in the
map (see bottom of this article). The green parcels will be deemed to meet all minimum lot
size, frontage, roadway frontage, driveway access, and setback requirements for the
development of religious schools with dormitories under the township’s Land Use
Regulations. The Township may impose a minimum acreage requirement of no higher
than three acres for religious residential schools on land in the township where the yellow
and green parcels are located. The yellow parcels will be deemed to meet all roadway
frontage, driveway access, and setback requirements for the development of a religious
school with dormitories under the township’s Land Use Regulations, regardless of
whether they are combined with other parcels to meet any applicable minimum acreage
requirement the Township imposes.
• The Township will not exclude religious elementary and secondary schools from zoning
districts that allow public schools and other similarly situated assembly or institution uses
with comparable zoning impacts.
• The Township will not exclude religious higher learning institutions from:
o The NC and PMURD zones where they allow federal, state, county, and other
public buildings, and other similarly situated assembly or institution uses with
comparable zoning impacts;
o The HCMU zone where it allows hospitals, convention or conference centers,
exhibition halls, stadiums, banquet facilities, and other similarly situated assembly
or institution uses with comparable zoning impacts; and
o The LC zone where it allows federal, state, county, and other public buildings,
funeral homes, libraries, museums, and other similarly situated assembly or
institution uses with comparable zoning impacts.
• The Township will not exclude religious residential schools from:
o The NC zone where it allows federal, state, county, and other public buildings,
and other similarly situated assembly or institution uses with comparable zoning
impacts;
o The LC zone where it allows federal, state, county, and other public buildings,
funeral homes, libraries, museums, and other similarly situated assembly or
institution uses with comparable zoning impacts;
o The PV and RG-2 zones where they allow public and quasi-public schools and
institutions of higher learning, other public buildings of a governmental or
cultural nature, and other similarly situated assembly or institution uses with
comparable zoning impacts;
o The I zone where permitted uses are of a similarly situated assembly or institution
use with comparable zoning impacts, or where permitted uses are of a more
intense zoning impact.
• All minimum lot widths, impervious coverage limits, roadway frontage requirements,
parking requirements, landscaping, buffering, and screening requirements, road
classification-location requirements, conditional use requirements, and other
development criteria imposed on religious elementary and secondary schools in a
zoning district shall be consistent with and on terms that are not less equal than the use
and minimum lot size requirements, parking requirements, impervious coverage limits,
roadway frontage requirements, and other development criteria imposed on nonreligious
assemblies or institutions in that zoning district such as public schools and other similarly
situated assembly or institution uses with comparable zoning impacts.
• All minimum lot widths, impervious coverage limits, roadway frontage requirements,
parking requirements, landscaping, buffering, and screening requirements, road
classification-location requirements, conditional use requirements, and other development criteria imposed on religious higher learning institutions in a zoning
district shall be consistent with and on terms that are not less equal than the use and
minimum lot size requirements, parking requirements, impervious coverage limits,
roadway frontage requirements, and other development criteria imposed on nonreligious
assemblies or institutions that include:
o In the NC and PMURD zones: federal, state, county, and other public buildings,
and other similarly situated assembly or institution uses with comparable zoning
impacts;
o In the HCMU zone: hospitals, convention or conference centers, exhibition halls,
stadiums, banquet facilities, and other similarly situated assembly or institution
uses with comparable zoning impacts; and
o In the LC zone: federal, state, county, and other public buildings, funeral homes,
libraries, museums, and other similarly situated assembly or institution uses with
comparable zoning impacts.
• All minimum lot widths, impervious coverage limits, roadway frontage requirements,
parking requirements, landscaping, buffering, and screening requirements, road
classification-location requirements, conditional use requirements, and other
development criteria imposed on religious residential schools in a zoning district shall
be consistent with and on terms that are not less equal than the use and minimum lot size
requirements, parking requirements, impervious coverage limits, roadway frontage
requirements, and other development criteria imposed on nonreligious assemblies or
institutions that include:
o In the NC zone: federal, state, county, and other public buildings, and other
similarly situated assembly or institution uses with comparable zoning impacts;
o In the LC zone: federal, state, county, and other public buildings, funeral homes,
libraries, museums, and other similarly situated assembly or institution uses with
comparable zoning impacts;
o In the PV and RG-2 zones: public and quasi-public schools and institutions of
higher learning, other public buildings of a governmental or cultural nature, and
other similarly situated assembly or institution uses with comparable zoning
impacts;
o In the I zone: permitted uses that are of a similarly situated assembly or institution
use with comparable zoning impacts, or permitted uses that are of a more intense
zoning impact.
• The Township will update its zoning map specifying the precise location of the HCMU
zone
• The Township will not alter the locations of the zoning districts referenced in this
appendix without prior consultation with the United States
