Expand<\/a><\/p>\nKevin Walsh, the attorney representing township residents Terence and Margaret Neville, who are appealing, said the zoning amendment OK\u2019d last week would make it a moot issue.<\/p>\n
Matt Barrett, attorney for the Jewish Discovery Center, said the revised ordinance makes it easier for the applicant to install the cabins, which he said are for religious activity, and the issue doesn\u2019t need to come before the zoning board. He said the government has to have a compelling or substantial interest in restricting a religious use.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s now a permitted use,\u201d Barrett said. \u201cThere would be no reason to believe that you need a special exception.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones said other aspects of the zoning ordinance \u2014 including structure height \u2014 are still in effect.<\/p>\n
The board went into an eight-minute executive session after the attorneys testified; after returning, they agreed to allow the hearing to continue next week.<\/p>\n
The Nevilles contend in their appeal the proposed development requires special exception approval, that no zoning application was made for the zoning officer to approve, the zoning officer lacked jurisdiction to render a decision concerning the proposed development while an appeal was pending before the board, and the center didn\u2019t meet the prerequisites for the township to issue a zoning permit and approve a place of worship.<\/p>\n
Jones and Barrett testified multiple times about the relevance of some of the testimony related to trash on the property, parking and sewer lines. Jones said the permit was issued based on the use of the property, but Walsh maintained the permit was improperly issued and the center has to comply with zoning. Capozzi said the center would need to apply with the state Department of Environmental Protection to review the sewer line changes and would discuss noise and other nuisances with the property owner.<\/p>\n
The cabins will be used only by people attending services, observing holy days or participating in programs on the property, according to the application, which the center filed under the name Chabad of the Abingtons Inc.\n<\/p>\n
Some residents oppose the plans, arguing the cabins will affect the township\u2019s character. While there was a small crowd of fewer than 10 people at Monday\u2019s meeting, three people testified about the permit, wondering if others were issued for projects impacted by the zoning changes enacted last week. Capozzi said she had not issued any permits that would be affected by the zoning change.<\/p>\n
Resident John Comerford asked why residents weren\u2019t allowed to decide whether the permit was issued and why the center wants to add 12 cabins, which he said will negatively affect property values.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community should have the ability to say yes or no,\u201d Comerford said. \u201cI believe it should be in the hands of the voters.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said there are other options, such as hotels or Uber, that people observing high holy days can use instead of the cabins.<\/p>\n
The board agreed to continue the hearing to Monday at 5 p.m. to allow Barrett a chance to present potential evidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WAVERLY TWP. \u2014 Four days after the supervisors agreed to allow religious facilities throughout the township, testimony continued…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,1053],"class_list":["post-171551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-waverly-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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