Bridgewater Township Council Unanimously Passes Ordinance Affecting Mosque Plans

Mr. Norgalis presides over Bridgewater Council meeting.

At a special public meeting held in the auditorium of the Bridgewater-Raritan High school Tuesday evening, the Bridgewater Township Council, after hearing over three hours of comments from the public, passed an ordinance specifying which Bridgewater roadways are appropriate locations along which to site “country clubs, open air clubs, houses of worship, and schools,” based on the quality of site access.

The bottom line is that this zoning ordinance alters the Municipal Code in such a way that the backers of plans to build a Mosque on the site of the former Redwood Inn on Mountaintop Road in Bridgewater will have to regroup. 

They will either have to petition the Zoning Board for an exception to the zoning ordinance passed Tuesday evening, or they will have to seek another location in Bridgewater that meets the site requirements specified in the newly enacted ordinance.

Controversy Swirls over Site of Proposed Mosque

Mountaintop Road entrance to Redwood Inn,  left of the sign.

Monday evening, February 28, at 7 PM, Bridgewater Township’s Planning Board will meet in the Performing Arts Auditorium of the Somerset County Vocational & Technical School on 14 Vogt Drive, in Bridgewater.

Auto on Mountaintop Road passes by Redwood Inn entrance.

Heavy attendance is expected, because this meeting was rescheduled from a prior one at the Bridgewater Municipal Complex, due to an over-capacity audience which was so large, that the meeting never got off the ground. 

Two related items appear On Monday’s Planning Board agenda: 

1) An application for land development on the site of the no-longer-operating Redwood Inn on Mountaintop Road, submitted by the Chughtai Foundation for the construction of a mosque.