By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN – Almost one year after the Township Committee authorized the municipal attorney to intervene in a lawsuit that has been filed by an applicant seeking approval to establish a crematorium at the Old Tennent Cemetery, the legal action is scheduled to be heard in state Superior Court, Freehold.
The lawsuit was filed by the Old Tennent Cemetery Association against the Manalapan Planning Board following a July 28, 2016, meeting of the board.
On Nov. 30, 2016, the township’s elected officials voted unanimously to authorize Township Attorney Roger McLaughlin to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of the municipality.
McLaughlin took the steps necessary to intervene and earlier this month he reported that the matter has been scheduled for trial on Oct. 17.
The crematorium has been a topic of discussion and testimony before municipal boards several times in recent years, but no decision has been rendered on the proposal. Manalapan’s elected officials have said they are against the plan put forth by the cemetery association.
Most recently, the application was before the Planning Board in 2016. During a meeting on July 28, before testimony was heard, attorneys representing the Old Tennent Cemetery Association and Stop the Manalapan Crematorium Inc., which objects to the proposal, argued technical points related to the project, including which municipal body should consider the crematorium plan.
In the end, and acting on the advice of their attorney, board members determined they did not have jurisdiction to hear the application and adjourned the meeting.
Following that decision, the lawsuit challenging the board’s determination and seeking approval of the crematorium application was filed by the cemetery association in Superior Court.
McLaughlin has previously said the lawsuit “challenges the Planning Board’s decision that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the crematorium application. The lawsuit also raises issues involving the township and there is a strong basis for the township to intervene.”
Glenn Cohen, the president of Stop the Manalapan Crematorium, said his group supported the intervention of the Township Committee in the cemetery association’s lawsuit.
The Old Tennent Cemetery Association has proposed constructing a 1,300-square-foot addition on an existing office building on the cemetery grounds off Tennent Road and installing two retorts (furnaces) that would conduct up to 600 cremations per year.
