WAVERLY TWP. \u2014 The Jewish Discovery Center cleared a hurdle Monday to its plans to construct a dozen cabins on its property.<\/p>\n
The township\u2019s zoning hearing board voted to deny an appeal by Terence and Margaret Neville. The residents challenged a permit granted to the center to build the 865-square-foot cabins on its 20-acre property off Miller Road.\n<\/p>\n
Chairman Joseph Fitzsimmons made the motion to deny the appeal on the basis that the cabins will be used strictly for religious purposes, and limited to people attending services, observing holy days or participating in programs on the property.<\/p>\n
The zoning hearing board voted after members met in executive session for more than an hour. Solicitor Matthew Boyd said the executive session was for legal advice on the appeal.<\/p>\n
Matthew Barrett, the attorney representing the center, said he was pleased the appeal was denied. The center will continue with its plans in compliance with township ordinances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue through the planning process and we look forward to working with Waverly to accomplish that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Nevilles were disappointed with the decision. Terrence Neville said the township\u2019s zoning ordinance outlines steps applicants need to take to apply for a zoning permit, which he said the center did not follow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt very clearly lays out what the requirements to get a zoning permit are, and they didn\u2019t meet any of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Township Manager Christine Capozzi previously testified that she received a letter from Barrett in July 2025 that she said she considered an application by the center for a zoning permit. Terrence Neville said a letter is not a zoning permit application.<\/p>\n
Margaret Neville said they haven\u2019t had issues with the synagogue or with activities on the property. She wanted the cabin plans to be heard as a special exception to ensure they received an extra level of review.<\/p>\n
Terence Neville said they would discuss the decision with their attorney and see what their legal options are.<\/p>\n
Kevin Walsh, the Nevilles\u2019 attorney, said the cabins don\u2019t meet the definition of a place of worship in the township\u2019s zoning ordinance.<\/p>\n
William Jones, the attorney representing the township in the appeal, said an application was made, which Capozzi testified to, and the proposed units met the zoning requirements.<\/p>\n
The center filed plans for the cabins under the name Chabad of the Abingtons Inc. The cabins will each accommodate up to six people. They will be built behind a synagogue and home with access via gravel drives and walkways. They will each have three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a living room, waterlines and electric facilities.<\/p>\n
In opposing the plans, some members of the public argued they\u00a0affect the township\u2019s character.<\/p>\n
The township supervisors recently voted 2-1 to amend the township\u2019s zoning ordinance to allow places of worship and assembly in all seven zoning districts.<\/p>\n
Before supervisors approved the amendment, a place of worship or assembly was classified as a conditional use requiring a special exception and permitted only in the rural resource, rural single family residential, suburban single family residential and village single family residential districts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WAVERLY TWP. \u2014 The Jewish Discovery Center cleared a hurdle Monday to its plans to construct a dozen…\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-177856","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\/177856","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=177856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177856\/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=177856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}