JACKSON — The plan for a school campus serving over 2,000 Orthodox Jewish girls can proceed after a lawsuit challenging the project was dismissed in Superior Court last week.

Superior Court Assignment Judge Francis R. Hodgson, Jr., dismissed with prejudice the complaint filed by a group of neighbors, who argued that the Jackson planning board “palpably abused its discretionary authority” when it approved Bais Yaakov of Jackson’s three-school campus on East Veterans Highway.

The plaintiffs’ claims were varied, including arguing that the Jackson planning board had accepted inconclusive testimony from the school’s expert witnesses. They also argued that the board’s decision allowing the school to only build some parking spaces — preserving the space for future spaces to be built, if needed or directed by the town after operations began — was tantamount to a variance, which is outside their purview.

More: Jackson sued over approval of Orthodox school campus

But Hodgson disagreed, arguing in a June 6 court hearing that those complaints had been adequately heard by the board during the proceedings, even if its members voted against their wishes.

“To remand this matter to the board and further delay this matter for I don’t know how many years, I don’t think it’s appropriate, under these circumstances,” Hodgson said at a June 6 court hearing.

Joseph Michelini, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said an appeal was already under consideration. Hodgson and the planning board focused on issues related to the project itself and largely “ignored” the potential environmental implications, he said.

“Our position is that you don’t build an extremely large school complex in an environmentally sensitive area that’s going to result in discharging so much effluent (wastewater) into the Toms River,” Michelini said. “It’s going to be potentially environmentally devastating to the area.”

Jackson planning board attorney Robert C. Shea II did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Hodgson previously dismissed the plaintiffs’ counts against former planning board member Tzvi Herman, who attended a synagogue represented by Donna Jennings, Bais Yaakov of Jackson’s attorney. (Jennings represents numerous Orthodox applicants in Jackson.)

Michelini said the conflict issue could be included as part of a potential appeal.

Bais Yaakov of Jackson officials said the Jackson campus was necessary because of the rapidly growing student body in the town. Rabbi Yosef Posen, the school’s executive director, told planning board members that more than 450 students were being bused from Jackson to attend school in Lakewood.

“They belong in Jackson. They pay taxes in Jackson. They’re Jackson kids. Why do they have to be bused to Lakewood daily when we can build these beautiful schools right here?” Posen said.

The plans call for three schools and a fourth gymnasium building, which would welcome over 2,300 Orthodox Jewish girls from elementary school through high school.

One of the plaintiffs, Jeff Bova, told board members last year that he was against the location of the project and not the idea of a school campus itself. Bova is the managing member of Omega Farm LLC, listed as another plaintiff in the lawsuit.

“It’s not about the ‘who,’ it’s about the ‘where.’ And this is just not the right ‘where,'” Bova told the board in March. “We can all contest that we need more schools, and we all understand the town is growing and changing. But it’s the ‘where’ that is the issue.”

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and a little bit of everything else. He’s won a few awards that make his parents very proud. Contact him at mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Jackson NJ: Judge dismisses suit against Orthodox Jewish girls’ school