Proposed Mosque Back on Bernards Planning Board Thursday Night

A proposal to build at is on the agenda to be back before the Bernards Township Planning Board for the first time since February.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night in the courtroom at the municipal building at 1 Collyer Lane in Basking Ridge.

The number of parking spaces that should be required at the proposed location on Church Street in Liberty Corner Village was the topic of the past two meetings, and was expected to continue at this meeting.

A traffic expert told the Planning Board in early February that his count of how many vehicles actually were parked during the main Friday service at two other mosques in New Jersey indicates that the proposed mosque in Liberty Corner would need a maximum of 70 spots — not the 110 advised by board professional the previous month.

The board's members did not seem convinced and scheduled the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge's traffic engineer to return on April 25 with further information, additional details on certain points in the report and an additional vehicle count for a mosque in South Brunswick.

The applicant's original number of parking spaces was 50 for the proposed 4,200-square-foot mosque at 124 Church St. in the Liberty Corner section of Bernards Township.

Henry Ney, the traffic engineer testifying on behaf of the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, said he had commissioned three counts of vehicles parked at mosques in Franklin Township, and in Toms River. Afterward, he suggested that space for 20 additional spots might be "banked" along with the original 50 proposed spots, and only developed if actually needed in Liberty Corner.

Township professionals suggested in January that a mosque would need more parking spots than an average church since more vehicles arrive driven by one or two worshippers at Friday afternoon services.

Meanwhile, the board's recommendation in early March to endorse part of the Millington Quarry's plan for rehabilitation of the quarrying property after quarrying operations finally cease is now due for final approval in a resolution at the May 7 Planning Board meeting, board secretary Fran Florio said on Thursday.

After that, the quarry plan moves onto the Township Committee for final approval or rejection.