Franklin Township zoning hearing on Tawed Dawa Center continues amid parking, occupancy and septic questions

The Franklin Township Zoning Board on May 12 continued its review of Tawed Dawa Center’s application to build a 19,350-square-foot place of worship at 630 South Middlebush Road after several hours of testimony focused on parking, occupancy counts and septic limits.

Attorney Brian Schwarz, representing the applicant, told the board the applicant filed updated plans and that witnesses would address parking and building layout. Schwarz said the congregation expects typical daily prayer sessions of about 50–60 people, with evening Ramadan services and occasional holy-day gatherings larger than routine sessions. He said that for special events the applicant would seek a special-use permit when attendance exceeded the normal limits and would arrange additional traffic control if needed.

The applicant’s engineer (identified in the record as Mr. Ardman) showed a site exhibit and described a parking plan that would build 97 spaces (including ADA stalls) and reserve room to “land-bank” an additional 60 spaces if future needs arise. On the record the engineer said the banked spaces could remain as lawn now and be constructed later; he recommended the board require a return to the board or town zoning officer for any conversion. On the exhibit he stated the design is sized to accommodate a stated maximum of 150 people at a time for special events.

Architect Yogish Mystri testified about a revised interior layout showing prayer mats (an exhibit labeled A201, March 31, 2026) and explained that the earlier schematic had been conservative to show compliance with a daily septic cap. The architect said the revised layout shows 150 rug positions (90 in the larger hall, 60 in the smaller) based on how the applicant says the space will be used. He and the applicant repeatedly pointed back to Exhibit A1, the statement of proposed use, as the operative limit the applicant was committing to on occupancy.

Several board members and residents challenged the attendance figures and asked whether independent verification was feasible. One board member warned that if “these numbers are greatly exceeded, basically… basically everybody has lied,” underscoring the board’s concern about enforcing limits after construction. Residents raised the site’s prior approval history, observing the new proposal would be used more frequently (five prayer sessions per day) than the prior approval, increasing intensity of use.

Septic capacity was discussed: testimony on the record noted a daily site septic limit of 458 persons. The board and members of the public asked how occasional higher-attendance special events would be reconciled with the septic cap; witnesses said special-event permits would be used for events above routine service levels and that the cap remains a hard limit for daily site use.

The board took questions from residents about tree removals, landscape replacement and bonding; the engineer confirmed replacement plantings and that township bonding requirements would cover dead or failed replacements.

The board continued the hearing to July 2 and obtained an applicant extension to that date. The hearing will resume for further cross-examination and follow-up testimony, including unresolved questions about verification of attendance counts, specific conditions on banked parking and special-event thresholds.

What happens next: The Zoning Board will reconvene on July 2 to continue the testimonial record; the applicant agreed to extend deadlines to allow the board to consider additional information and comments before a decision.