An ordinance scheduled for a vote Wednesday night would expand paid parking on Monmouth Street and part of Bridge Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Following objections by merchants, a proposed expansion of Red Bank’s paid parking zone may be modified, said Mayor Pasquale Menna.

The plan, scheduled for an adoption vote Wednesday evening, could be altered to include some short-term parking spaces for customers of stores and other businesses west of Maple Avenue, Menna told redbankgreen Tuesday.

“We’ve met with a number of interested parties about drop-off zones and short-term parking,” Menna said as he headed into a meeting at borough hall.

The proposed amendment to borough laws would authorize the town to charge for parking along Monmouth Street west of Maple Avenue and on portions of Bridge Avenue, where there are now two-hour limits. Here’s the full text: RB 2015-05

To the anger of some business owners in that area, the council had already authorized the purchase of pay stations before expanding the zone, as reported by redbankgreen.

Two business owners in the area, which is part of the Red Bank RiverCenter special improvement district, said they were visited by elected officials a day after airing their concerns at the last council meeting, on February 25.

Monmouth Meats owner Stew Goldstein said the idea of 15-minute meters in select locations was floated, a suggestion he said he could live with.

“I understand where they’re coming from,” with the Station Place apartment complex about to open, potentially putting more cars on the street, said Goldstein. He said he already sees cars parked outside his shop all day long, some of them belonging to people who work downtown, and would prefer that the town enforce the two-hour parking limit now in effect there.