Residents of West Long Branch should not be surprised to learn that Deal Yeshiva has submitted an application to add swimming pools to its Wall Street facility.

The biggest surprise may be the nearly 16 months it has taken for Solomon Dwek, the owner and operator of the school, to get the proposal before the Planning Board.

The Borough Council cleared the way for the application in July 2001 by passing, at Dwek’s request, an ordinance that all but assured approval for his plan.

Prior to the ordinance, pools were not a permitted use at private schools. Because they were prohibited, his chances for approval were far dimmer, and in the event the Zoning Board of Adjustment did approve his application, the likelihood of a successful appeal would be far greater.

That Dwek would seek such a change should not be a surprise. That the council would so readily grant it, and acknowledge that the action was taken at Dwek’s request, should at least raise a few eyebrows.

Somewhere, in a little back room, maybe under a stack of boxes and covered with dust, the borough probably has some information from the state warning against the perils and problems of "spot zoning."

For those uninitiated in the exciting world of zoning, every municipality is required to have a master plan that spells out what kind of development is appropriate where. The plan is supposed to be coherent, and municipalities are supposed to avoid zoning changes that are specifically targeted at a single property that have the effect of giving or taking away value. Actions that fall in this category of intentionally affecting a particular property are called "spot zoning."

Now, it is possible that the West Long Branch council’s action might not be considered spot zoning, but the fact that it was so plain as to whom and what the council’s actions were aimed at probably wouldn’t help it in that cause.

The council members may believe that Dwek, a prominent member of the community, deserves some special consideration.

They would be wrong.

If it made sense for the borough to prohibit pools at private schools before July 2001, they should be able to explain why it is acceptable after that date.

And that explanation needs to be better than how much they like Solomon Dwek.