Green Township Land Use Board approves limited accessory uses at Seventh‑day Adventist retreat center with conditions

The Green Township Land Use Board on Sept. 11 voted unanimously to permit limited accessory uses at the New Jersey Conference of Seventh‑day Adventists retreat center at 1 Academy Lane, approving temporary religious, nonprofit, charitable and educational uses of the site while placing conditions on rentals and operations.

The decision followed a completeness determination and a public hearing on Application LU#2507. The Board’s approval restricts facility rentals to nonprofit religious and educational organizations, prohibits third‑party for‑profit users, limits weddings and receptions to congregants only, requires compliance with prior approvals and directs that outstanding permit items be closed by April 1. The motion was made by Kate Douglass and seconded by John Lynch; the roll‑call vote was 5–0 (Douglass, Kobilinski, Lynch, Wilson, Holzhauer).

Board Planner Jessica Caldwell told members the Board should consider the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) in deciding whether outside uses are incidental to the property’s principal religious purpose. ‘‘The Act includes the institution’s mission, designs for education, charitable activities and service to the community,’’ Caldwell said, and asked whether proposed uses are temporary and aligned with the institution’s mission.

Attorney Daven Persaud, representing the applicant, described the site as a retreat center used primarily weekends but occupied by a few residents; he said the Conference wants to make the facilities available to aligned nonprofit groups and to charge nominal fees to help with maintenance. Persaud said the Tax Assessor advised that ‘‘to maintain their current tax status they cannot allow any rental of the facilities to any for‑profit company or organization.’’

Pastor Stephen Lee, president of the NJ Conference of Seventh‑day Adventists, said the property hosts retreats, education and outdoor recreation, and that local schools and nonprofit groups already use the pool and gym for practice. ‘‘Our overall goal for this property is to serve the community,’’ Lee said. He told the Board that organizations using the site are covered by written use agreements with specific dates and times, that most groups bus in, and that the longest continuous use by a single group is the nonprofit day camp (roughly two months).

Resident Ashley Dillon told the Board she lives across Academy Lane and described traffic impacts during large weekend events, saying cars have lined Route 517 near the entrance and that an attendee once approached her home. ‘‘If I had known about these events with all this traffic I would have never purchased my home,’’ Dillon said. Pastor Lee acknowledged the concern and said security and traffic procedures could be reviewed to reduce neighborhood impact; Mr. Stoner (construction department) and Planner Caldwell noted that parking and large‑event arrangements were addressed in prior approvals and that permit language could be updated.

Board conditions also required the applicant to comply with all prior approvals and to close out outstanding construction/permit items by April 1; Ms. Mantz (Board Secretary) will compile a list of outstanding items for the applicant and Mr. Stoner. The Board specified there would be no site‑plan changes as part of this approval and reiterated that athletic use of the pool is limited to practice, not formal meets.

The approval followed the public‑comment portion of the hearing, during which supporters and nearby residents testified about the retreat center’s community role and about traffic, water‑use and security concerns. The Board did not attach additional numerical guest limits beyond building capacity and fire‑code requirements; Mr. Lee said that most accessory uses are smaller in nature and that wedding receptions held for congregants had not exceeded an estimated 300–400 attendees historically.

The Board’s action was a determination that the accessory uses, as limited by the stated conditions, are permitted accessory uses for the property. The Board’s decision does not change prior approvals; it adds operational conditions intended to protect the Township’s residential neighborhoods while allowing the applicant to continue nonprofit and religious programming on site.

The Board then continued with other business and later reviewed a Township zoning ordinance (Ordinance 2025‑09).