The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
A Hamilton Street synagogue received approval on September 17 to cut pieces from two lots to make a third, which would be sold off to a developer for a single-family home.
Temple Beth El needs to sell the property to raise money for its operations, the applicant’s attorney, Peter Lanfrit, told the Board.
Mitchel Ardman, the project’s engineer, said the temple would provide trees, shrubbery and a 6-foot-tall fence to buffer the new lot from surrounding residences on Heather Drive.
The Temple was not required to comply with recommendations from the Township Environmental Advisory Commission to install solar panels on the building’s roof or to install an electric vehicle charger.
“The temple is remaining the same, this was basically an outlawed piece of the property that they’re creating the building lot,” Lanfrit said. “If in the future we come back for some work on the temple, maybe those recommendations are appropriate and necessary. But since we are not touching the temple, we would request that we not be required to do what the Environmental Commission recommended, both because we’re not touching the temple, and second, because of the economic hardship that the temple has that we’re trying to resolve.”
“They’re just recommendations, Peter; we didn’t expect you to comply,” Board member Ted Chase said.
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