Zoning Board of Adjustment — April 16, 2026

What was decided

Eight members were present: Cheryl Bethea, Richard Procanik, Vaseem Firdaus, Gary Rosenthal, Vice Chair Robert Shepherd, Michael Dougherty, Kunal Lakhia and Chairman Thomas. Alan Rich was absent. No vote was taken on the application. The draft minutes record that, at the applicant’s request for the first date it could attend, the hearing was carried to July 2, 2026, with no further notice required. Adjourned 10:51 pm.

The Tawheed Dahwah Center hearing

Dates on the record. The Board’s agendas date the first two nights November 20, 2025 and February 19, 2026. In these minutes the applicant’s attorney, Mr. Brian Schwarz, refers to them as “November 19, 2025” and “February 18, 2026”, and the item is headed “CARRIED FROM FEBRUARY 18, 2026”.

Attendance and intensity of use. Mr. Schwarz said the applicant committed in writing and under oath to the attendance in its Statement of Proposed Use: typically about 60 at a service, 70 to 80 at times, and up to 150 on the busiest days, with a special event permit for anything larger. Chairman Thomas asked for independent, objective verification of those numbers. He said the earlier approved use was five days a month and this one five times a day, a large difference in intensity, and that a building nearly four times larger than the stated services would occupy also bore on traffic and on the septic limit. Mr. Lakhia said the newly submitted documents gave 150 people for special events, which over five services would exceed the septic approval’s limit of 458 people a day. Mr. Healey said the Board could not approve more than 458 people on the site in a day. Mr. Lakhia also said the applicant’s website, since taken down, had described different plans; Mr. Schwarz repeated that it was posted before the applicant had the earlier resolution.

Revised parking (Mr. F. Mitchell Ardman, engineer). His Banked Parking Exhibit, dated April 1, 2026, designs for a maximum of 150 people at once. At one car per three people that is 50 spaces, and at one per two, 75. Besides the 30 spaces banked in the earlier approval, the applicant would bank another 30 nearest the neighbors, building 92 spaces plus five ADA spaces, 97 in all. The earlier approval had 157 spaces, 30 of them banked. He said banked spaces would stay pervious, save trees and widen the buffer. Mr. Healey recommended reconfiguring the banked area to avoid a dead-end lot, and said the Zoning Officer could require banked spaces to be built if parking fell short. Ms. Bailey, for the Snyders, asked that a condition require the applicant to come back to the Board before building them.

Residents Alex Strauss (88 trees to be removed and 238 replacements, and bonding for them), Tom DesCoto, Davil Uri (whether 532 spaces are required; Mr. Ardman agreed they are under the ordinance), Joti Manini and Lisa Clark questioned the engineer. Mr. Healey said the layout was consistent with the Scenic Corridor conditions of the earlier approval.

Worship area (Mr. Yogesh Mistry, architect). His exhibit A201, dated March 31, 2026, showed 150 mats of 3 ft by 6 ft in the 7,981 sq ft worship area, replacing the earlier capacity drawing based on the septic limit of 458. Ms. Bailey asked why the mat size had changed from 3 ft by 3 ft, and said the application seeks a parking variance of over 80%, triggered by a worship area more than 1,000 sq ft larger than before. Mr. Healey said the rest of the building (storage, halls, reception, restrooms) does not generate parking demand, and that enlarging the worship area would need a return to the Board. Ms. Bethea said the requirement depends on the worship area, not the number of mats. The rooms labeled classrooms would be renamed discussion rooms; Mr. Schwarz said there would be no school or classes.

Traffic (Mr. Douglas Polyniak, Dolan & Dean Consulting Engineers). He testified from a Traffic Impact Study dated August 11, 2025:

• Counts were taken on South Middlebush Road over five weekdays in October 2024 (the minutes print the year as “2924”), with a 1% annual growth factor; the busiest hour was 5–6 p.m., with 1,550 cars both ways (about 850 southbound, 700 northbound).
• At 60 attendees and two per car, the site would add 30 entering and 30 exiting trips in that hour, below the 100 new hourly trips that ITE and NJDOT treat as significant.
• Exiting traffic would operate at level of service D, about 30 seconds of delay per vehicle, and entering traffic at level of service A. With 50 vehicles it would fall to level of service E; for larger events the applicant committed to an off-duty police officer.
• South Middlebush Road is a County road; the County had not yet reviewed the plan and would decide any signal warrant, which he said the site would not meet. He did not favor a separate left-turn exit lane.
• He did not analyze weekends, because weekday peaks are highest, and did not include the house of worship across the street, whose visitors he said do not conflict with the 5 p.m. peak.

Mr. Lakhia said, from driving the road daily, that turning out takes one to three minutes, not 30 seconds. Mr. Dougherty asked about Saturdays and the Chairman about the farm’s busy weekends. Residents Joti Manini, Shampa Bacharaji, Davil Uri, Greg Foster, Jim Johnston (traffic from the planned Catalpa Park on South Middlebush Road), Harvey Seray and Rajesh Simway asked whether the 2024 counts were out of date and about school buses, single-occupant trips, speeds and emergency response. Questions on traffic were to continue at the next hearing.

Records

• Agenda · Draft minutes · Packet
• Video on Granicus (3:11). Granicus publishes no captions for Franklin meetings; this page follows the board’s draft minutes.