Gavel (Credit: Brian Turner/Flickr)
The developer who has proposed a private, religious boys’ high school to replace the former Temple Beth Or building on Van Zile Road in Brick was fined earlier this month for overcrowding in two properties that were, at one point, described by officials as a dormitory being operated in a residential neighborhood.
David Gluck, of Lakewood, the developer who is also the leader of the Lakewood-based Congregation Kehilos Yisroel disposed of two cases out of three that had been pending against him, all of which began after his organization purchased the former temple building at the corner of Van Zile Road and Hendrickson Avenue in the spring of 2021. Gluck would later purchase at least two residential properties adjacent to the school, one of which neighbors said was overcrowded and being operated as a dormitory.
Gluck was fined $1,000 for overcrowding at a home on Hendrickson Avenue and a $750 for a separate residential property on Van Zile. Violations stemming from the site of the proposed high school, 200 Van Zile Road, were also due to be adjudicated in municipal court, however a judge decided that portion of the case should be elevated to Superior Court in Toms River as part of the larger legal action surrounding the use of the building as a school. Property records have shown that, since the overcrowding incident, Gluck sold the single-family residential properties to private homeowners.
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The school has since been shut down under a court order since Brick officials sued CKY, claiming the organization never obtained a zoning permit to operate a private high school. A case before the township’s Zoning Board of Adjustment that began in Dec. 2021 to seek approval of the plan to operate a high school has since stalled, though the organization more recently engaged in correspondence with township building officials about operating a library and learning center at the site, which seemingly raised more questions than answers about what is planned there.
At the time of publication, no public notices have been filed announcing future hearings before the zoning board. The matters pending in Superior Court are not expected to reach disposition until the future of the former temple is decided.
