Neighbors present case against temple parking lot

by Enid Weiss
NJJN Bureau Chief/Central

Residents living near Temple Emanu-El in Westfield called their own planning and safety experts to rebut synagogue experts, continuing their case against a parking lot the synagogue wants to build adjacent to its current site.

The 150-car lot “is just not what you signed up for when you bought in Westfield,” Elizabeth Jacobello, who lives behind the Broad Street synagogue, told the Westfield Planning Board at the Oct. 27 hearing on the parking lot proposal. “When I bought a house in Westfield I relied on zoning regulations to protect me.”

At issue is whether the proposed lot at 750 E. Broad Street, which would add 85 spaces to the temple’s current 63-space lot, is appropriate in the residential neighborhood of half-million-dollar homes. Synagogue officials say building the lot is necessary to reduce the number of congregants crossing busy Broad Street and walking on uneven and broken sidewalks or in the street after parking on side streets. Emanu-El’s attorney, John Schmidt, called on traffic and safety experts during a Sept. 17 hearing to testify that the parking lot would improve safety in the neighborhood.

But neighbors, many of whom have banned together to form an organization opposing the plan, also expressed concern that the 1.3-acre property would be just the next step toward continued growth of the 1,100-member congregation.

Synagogue officials have said they have no desire to increase membership and activities, although Jacobello said she “had serious reservations about that.” She is one of the neighbors who has led the opposition group, known as UNITE, or United Neighbors Investigating Temple Expansion. During the hearing at Westfield’s town hall on Broad Street, just blocks from the synagogue, Jacobello testified that the temple’s religious school has seen an increase of 50 children. That and advertisements in local newspapers announcing open houses for the synagogue and its school are proof of its desire for growth, she said.

“I have concerns about an increase in non-religious activities and catered events,” Jacobello said. Such events include a fund-raiser for prevention of and care for AIDS patients, the town’s annual interfaith Sept. 11 commemoration, and a town-wide interfaith Thanksgiving service.

Synagogue officials were not called to testify at this week’s hearings; they had presented their case during previous hearings.

UNITE took a half-page advertisement in the Oct. 23 Westfield Leader, a weekly community paper, to draw community attention and support for its cause. It called on Westfield residents to attend the meetings and to “Say NO to overdevelopment.” The ad pictured children playing on a backyard swing set with trees in the background in one picture. In a second picture, an artist had replaced the trees with a parking lot.

UNITE attorney James Flynn of Westfield called two more witnesses Monday night, with plans for at least 10 more to appear at subsequent hearings. One UNITE witness, traffic consultant David Shropshire, said the fact that a police officer is at the synagogue for certain events and during some school hours “means there’s a safety compromise or a delay compromise.”

“There is a safety concern in terms of traffic patterns and intensity,” Shropshire said. The problems would not necessarily be resolved by building a parking lot, he added.

Michael Kauker, a planner for UNITE, told the board a parking lot is an unconditional use of property in a neighborhood of single-family homes. A town ordinance would require more than 300 parking spaces for a building the size of the temple.

“It is a long-standing inappropriate use since 1964,” the year of the synagogue’s first addition, Kauker said. “No matter what you do, you’ll never meet the parking needs of the ordinance nor of the temple.”

“A more beneficial use would be an extra playground or open space,” Kauker said. “They could have picnics, a play yard for children to run around.”

He even suggested such open space could be used for overflow parking on occasion.

Matthew Albano, who helped organize UNITE but has taken a back seat during hearings to avoid the appearance of impropriety because he also sits on the town council, said the trees on the lot cannot be cut down under Westfield’s tree ordinance. Either a field or a parking lot would require that the ordinance be waived.

Enid Weiss can be reached at enid@njjewishnews.com.