Krishna Temple's 'Long Road' Ends With Approval After Years of Debate

The application for a proposed temple on office-zoned land at the intersection of Baldwin and Troy roads got a long-awaited victory at Wednesday Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting.

The application, which calls for a Hare Krishna temple designed by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), has been before the board for the past four-plus years and the zoning board approved unanimously Iskcon’s request for a use variance, subject to seeing a revised preliminary site plan. The applicant will return with the revised site plan, and which will need another hearing to vote to finalize the site plan, which will include all the offerings the applicant has made throughout years.

There were two items the board discussed and needed to vote on Wednesday night: The site plan and the use variance. With eight board members present, the second alternate, Amil Shah, did not vote but did participate in the discussions.

Voting in favor was Board President Robert Iracane, George Kimmey, Bernard Berkowitz, Steve Cappadonna, Loretta Gragnan, Steve Dickens and Brian Kelley. All members did not find a problem with the use of the property and agreed it was inherently beneficial.

The applicant was represented by Joseph O’Neill, of law firm Garofalo and O'Neill, at the meeting.

O’Neill said, since the temple is inherently beneficial, “the positive criteria is carried” and there is “no negative criteria,” because “the negative criteria the board had heard about is the visual impact on a home across the street, of dubious historical significance, sitting on the edge of a highly-traveled highway, adjacent to a heavy landscaping use … and you have commercial uses across the street, the VFW, the PAL.”

Opponents of the temple cited the temple’s size, height and sufficient parking as the major issues. One of the opponents to the temple was resident Dudley Kimball, who owns the nearest historic house with his sister, Jane, and Kimball is represented by attorney Gary Hall.

“You meet the positive criteria, but does it meet the negative criteria?” asked Hall, adding that just because it’s inherently beneficial, the board can’t just give it a “rubber stamp” of approval. “Being inherently beneficial doesn’t make it immune from review and doesn’t make it immune from looking at other zoning compliance, the parking, the height, the appearance.”

“The Kimball house … they did not seek historical preservation … but it is a historic house,” said Gragnan. “They have they enjoyed the fruits of the empty lot across, but things are changing.”

Also in regards to the Kimball house across the street, “a number of years, they’ve had a vacant lot across the street and now they’re going to have a church. I don’t see how a church will be a detriment to their home,” said Kimmey.

“I believe the temple is the best … in land use,” said Kimmey, adding that he would vote in favor of the applicant.

Dickens said “I don’t think it’s very uncommon finding churches sitting in the midst of a mixed environment. I don’t think this is a bad fit for this application.”

Shah said “A house of worship is a house, it’s a home for some … It’s a perfect use for this application.”

Religious Restriction

O’Neill brought up court cases in which municipalities attempted to restrict religious institutions, and in the cases he cited, the court backed the religious institution.

He also brought up the religious freedom restoration act.

“Boards have to be very careful in the zoning criteria, when they’re looking at the actual operation of the church,” said O’Neill. “You have heard 4-plus years of testimony.”

Hall brought up that they are not violating the federal law that deals with allowing religious institutions to be built.

“The argument is that is you accept my client’s objections, you’ll be violating federal law. Not true, we’re not opposed to the ISKCON religion, its members or anyone else. We’re opposed to putting a temple on a property that is not big enough.”

Opposing lawyer Joel Murphy, representing nearby business Baldwin Ventures, also brought up that they were not against the temple’s religious use, but the size of the temple on the small property.

Iracane brought up the freedom of religion in the first amendment and said “we are not trying to prevent anyone from worshiping the god they know and understand.”

A Long Journey

“Never had we had a case that lasted five years, or even two years to my knowledge,” said Iracane.

Kelley brought up the possibility of the case being appealed by either party, whether they approve or deny the application. He asked, “If we deny the application tonight, (can we) have the applicant come back with a clean set of drawings and clean array of options and start from scratch?”

“What you’re asking for is cosmetic changes,” said O'Neill. “It is certainly possible that if you approve this here, this evening, the objectors may appeal it. If you deny it, we will appeal it.”

“Starting over again would be a tremendous mistake and not be fair to the applicant and it would go on for a couple number of years,” said Kimmey.

“I think we take fault in why this took so long. The applicant was open minded. They reduced its size," said Shah. "They’ve reduced its height, added a lot of landscaping, I think denying an application after four or five years of listening, I think it’s wrong.”

After the board's approval, many observers in the room who supported the temple, stood up and clapped.

“We’re all very happy. It’s been a long road for us, but patience and perseverance paid off tonight,” said Naishadh Kapadia, a Madison resident who came out with about 50 other people in support of the temple. “The board did absolutely the right thing approving it. This project will bring great value to the area and add to the society and township of Parsippany.”

The major issue of discussion was the size of the building and potential parking issues. Check back with Patch for details on what everyone said on this topic.

Related Patch Posts:

• Krishna Temple's Use Variance Finally Gets Approval 
• Public Comments on Krishna Temple Plan Ahead of Final Vote 
• Hare Krishna Temple Hearing Nears Completion Before Zoning… 
• Zoning Board to Discuss Controversial Hare Krishna Temple in… 
• Krishna Temple Plan Returns to ZBA Agenda 
• ISKCON Temple: Too Big for the Site, Says Opponent 
• Temple Application Remains Unresolved 
• Potential Conflict of Interest Claim Made in Temple Case 
• Controversial Temple Plan Back Before Zoning Board 
• Temple Plan Controversy Erupts Again Before Zoning Board 
• Emotions High Over Controversial Temple Zoning Issue