Bernards Township planning board sets 107-space parking requirement for proposed Liberty Corner mosque

The Bernards Township Planning Board on June 4 voted to require 107 off‑street parking spaces for the proposed Islamic Society of Basking Ridge (ISBR) facility in Liberty Corner, following several hours of expert testimony and public questions about traffic, vehicle occupancy and how to translate prayer‑area capacity into a parking demand estimate.

The decision came after the board heard competing analyses from the applicant’s traffic witness, Henry Nay, and an independent expert, Alexander Litwornia. Nay presented detailed count exhibits (marked A16/A17/A18) and defended a methodology that used modified ITE (Institute of Transportation Engineers) parking‑generation tables and selected percentiles. Litwornia performed independent Friday counts at comparable mosques and reported an aggregated vehicle‑occupancy rate of about 1.36, then used that occupancy figure against the building’s stated capacity to estimate demand.

Why it mattered: the board must set an off‑street parking total before it can complete the site plan. The applicant had originally described a design capacity the panel was told would reach roughly 150 people; the architect later provided a derived fire‑code capacity cited in testimony as 142. The two expert camps disagreed on method. Nay emphasized percentile‑based adjustments to ITE tables; Litwornia argued the local, observed vehicle‑occupancy and direct counts provide a firmer basis for this type of religious assembly, and used the applicant’s stated capacity to derive a parking number.

How the board reached 107: board members repeatedly tested the underlying figures in public. Litwornia’s conservative approach—dividing a 150‑person design capacity by a conservative 1.4 people per vehicle (rounded up from observed 1.36) —produced about 107 spaces. Several board members described that approach as a transparent, locally grounded cross‑check of the ITE ranges; other members said they would have been comfortable with larger numbers had the gallery or multi‑purpose spaces been counted as regular prayer area. After deliberation and a roll‑call vote, the board set required off‑street parking at 107 spaces.

What board members said: objectors’ counsel Rob Simon and multiple board members pressed Nay on sample selection, the days chosen for counts and whether “attendees” is a reliable independent variable in the ITE text. Litwornia summarized his independent counts and concluded “when I added them both together and averaged them up, I think it’s 1.36,” which he and others used in the calculation. Nay had summarized his own findings in the exhibits and emphasized why he chose percentile approaches used in professional guidance.

Next steps and scheduling: the board continued the ISBR hearing to July 25 to allow plan revisions tied to the parking determination and accepted an applicant extension of the board’s decision deadline to Aug. 31. The board also asked township leaders to review the municipal definition of “impervious coverage” (a separate zoning/ordinance housekeeping matter raised in advisory reports).

The effect: the 107‑space requirement will be part of the record that planners and the applicant must incorporate into the finalized site plan. If the applicant later proposes additional capacity or shows a different usable prayer‑area definition (for example, by formally adding gallery or multi‑purpose spaces into the prayer area and getting those approved by the Fire Official), the board noted the applicant could return to revisit off‑street parking or pursue other procedural options. The board closed the hearing for public input on the parking question and moved on to calendar and procedural items.

What to watch next: the ISBR matter is scheduled to resume July 25; the applicant has extended the board’s decision deadline to Aug. 31. The township committee will be asked to review the wording and definition of “impervious coverage” raised in the advisory reports.