WAVERLY TWP. — The Jewish Discovery Center withdrew its application for zoning relief to build a dozen cabins on its property after the township issued a permit for the project last week, a move some residents are opposed to.
Zoning Hearing Board Chair Joseph Fitzsimmons announced at a meeting Monday the center’s application before the board was rescinded. Notices posted to the township’s Facebook page that afternoon and at the Waverly Community House, where a hearing on the plans was slated to take place that day, stated the hearing on the application was canceled.
The center had sought a special zoning exception to build 12 cabins on its property off Miller Road. The cabins, which would be located behind an existing synagogue and home, would each be 865 square feet, have three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a living room, and accommodate up to six people. They would be accessed by gravel drives and walkways. The plans also include waterlines and electric facilities. The property, which totals more than 20 acres, would not be subdivided.
The cabins would be used only by those attending services, observing holy days or participating in other programming on the property, according to the application.
The center submitted the plans earlier this year under the name Chabad of the Abingtons Inc. The board first heard the plans in October and the hearing was continued to last month.
Board Solicitor Matthew Boyd said the board was informed Friday that the application was withdrawn and the permit, which he read aloud Monday night, was issued the previous Monday.
“At that point, we don’t have jurisdiction over anything, there’s nothing pending,” Boyd said.
Representatives from the center were not present at Monday’s meeting.
Zoning board member Joseph Fitzsimmons answers questions from the public about the Jewish Discovery’s proposed cabin project at the Waverly Community House in Waverly on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. Solicitor Matthew Boyd sits at the left and member Harold Baille is on the right. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Community members gather at the Waverly Community House for the Wavery Twp. zoning hearing board meeting on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Zoning board member Joseph Fitzsimmons answers questions from the public about the Jewish Discovery’s proposed cabin project at the Waverly Community House in Waverly on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. Solicitor Matthew Boyd sits at the left and member Harold Baille is on the right. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Center representatives went before the township’s planning commission earlier this year. The commission recommended that the plans be heard by the zoning hearing board as the proposed cabins wouldn’t conform with the township’s existing zoning. The township’s zoning officer issued a letter to the center outlining ways the plans could comply with existing zoning, which the center challenged.
The notice stated the center withdrew its application after the permit was issued.
The plans have garnered opposition from residents, who argue the cabins will affect the township’s character. A little more than a dozen people attended Monday’s meeting, some of whom spoke out against the center being issued a permit for the project.
Resident Kim Barrows said the matter was “exceedingly disturbing and disappointing.”
“I’m not happy because now we have a property in a residential community that will now house 12 cabins on it, three little houses on it, a 5,000-square-foot synagogue on it without knowing how many people are going to be using it, when it’s going to be used, how long these guests are going to be staying there,” she said after the meeting. “They could stay there for weeks, months, we don’t know, and that changes the character of the community, and that’s my concern.”
Margaret Neville, who lives near the center, also questioned why the permit was issued, adding the center is allowed to have other amenities like a shooting range that wouldn’t be allowed elsewhere in the township. She said after the meeting she plans to appeal the zoning officer’s decision to issue the permit.
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