Should Jackson planning chief be forbidden to vote on Orthodox school? Judge weighs in

Jackson welcome sign on Anderson Road.

JACKSON – When does a township official’s professional — or personal — relationship become a conflict of interest?

A state Superior Court judge provided some clarity last week after he ruled that the former planning board chairman was allowed to vote on an Orthodox Jewish school project, dismissing complaints that his synagogue’s lawyer and his own comments about the growing Orthodox community in Jackson constituted a conflict of interest.

The decision came in the lawsuit filed against Bais Yaakov of Jackson and the Jackson Planning Board, which approved the plans for a three-school campus for 2,000 Orthodox Jewish girls last year.

The original complaint, filed by four neighbors, alleged the board was “deficient” in its review of the application and specifically cited Tzvi Herman, who has served on the planning board since 2022. At issue was Herman’s role with Jackson Pulse, an online magazine that highlighted neighborhoods with bustling Orthodox communities and locations where synagogues or schools were approved or needed.

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The plaintiffs also cited an Asbury Park Press article in which Herman identified himself as a board member of Bais Medrash of Jackson, a congregation that sought zoning approval to convert a home on South New Prospect Road into a shul. That synagogue was represented by attorney Donna Jennings, who also represented Bais Yaakov of Jackson — which was “clearly a conflict,” plaintiffs’ attorney Jill Thiemann wrote in a legal brief.

Jennings frequently represents Orthodox Jewish families, developers, groups and schools before Jackson land use boards.

But Superior Court Judge Francis R. Hodgson Jr. disagreed, noting that the relationships cited were “too remote to give any rise to a conflict of interest.”

The case is still proceeding, albeit without discovery related to Herman’s potential conflicts.

Herman declined to comment on Hodgson’s decision.

“It’s just a way to kick out a case if there’s no other way to get rid of it,” Jennings said. “It can’t be that broad.”

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The question of what actually defines a conflict of interest has become something of a burning question in Jackson, as township officials settled a series of lawsuits entailing the town’s booming Orthodox Jewish community, members of which have become politically active in recent years.

Last month, a number of residents called for two sitting council members to recuse themselves from voting on ordinances required as part of those settlements.

Council President Jennifer Kuhn was also criticized for voting on the ordinances, as well as taking a seat on the town’s Open Space Committee, due to her work as a real estate agent and owner of JLK Sales Group, a real estate company based in Jackson.

But Kuhn said her professional experience makes her an asset to the township, not a hindrance.

“I think it’s a positive, that I can bring a bird’s eye view when we look at parcels (on the Open Space Committee),” Kuhn said in an interview. “I think my knowledge is actually a positive, but it’s being construed as a negative.” I wonder why I’m being attacked.”

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Criticism has also been aimed at Councilman Mordechai Burnstein, an Orthodox Jewish community leader appointed to the council in November. Burnstein’s wife, Hadassah, is an officer of United Ocean County, a political action committee, alongside Lakewood resident Chanie Eichorn. Chanie Eichorn’s husband, Mordechai, is a developer who won approvals of two Orthodox school campuses in Jackson.

Mordechai Eichorn also sued Jackson after his Jackson Trails housing project was denied in 2019, alleging planning board members caved to “significant antisemitic hostility.” That case was eventually settled for $700,000, and the project was later approved.

Mordechai Burnstein, 35, also swore an affidavit as part of Orthodox Jewish advocacy group Agudath Israel’s lawsuit against the town, which sparked further litigation by the Department of Justice and New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

But because Burnstein was only voting on the ordinances and not the settlement itself, no conflict was present, township attorney Greg McGuckin said.

“He wasn’t even on the council when they settled these cases,” McGuckin said in an interview. “He wasn’t even in office.”

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is happening. Contact him at 732-643-4223, [email protected] or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Should Jackson planning chief be forbidden to vote on Orthodox school? Judge weighs in