By DON STINE
Ocean Township is going to keep a controversial school building on Logan Road, once planned as a yeshiva for college-age students, and use it for recreational and educational programs.
“I think it is a good idea to use the building for municipal purposes. We are going to keep it,” Mayor Chris Siciliano said.
Last year the council approved spending $2 million to purchase the 2.9-acre property, with 336-feet of frontage at 1515 Logan Road in the township’s Wanamassa section. An application by Yeshiva Gedolah Na’os Yaakov to create a yeshiva, to house up to 80 to 96 college-age male students, was denied by the Planning Board after there was a huge public outcry against the project.
Siciliano said some people have expressed interest in keeping the building. Another option was to demolish it. He said it will be used for recreation programs and used to extend the township’s before- and after-school care programs. The programs are run by the township, not the school board.
The mayor said that expanding the before- and after-school programs will eliminate the existing waiting list of people wanting to participate in the program and residents would have more services available.
“I think this is a win-win for the township,” he said.
