Plug Naturals hopes to create a retail cannabis shop in an existing house on West Front Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Plans for yet another cannabis shop and an expansion of a popular bar are on the agenda when Red Bank’s newly reconstituted planning board meets for the first time Monday night.

Red Rock Tap + Grill, above, hopes to add a new stair tower among other site changes, as shown below. (Photo by John T. Ward; rendering by Michael James Monroe Architects. Click to enlarge.)

Once it has chosen a chairperson and vice chairperson, the board is expected to take up an application by Plug Naturals LLC to open a weed shop in what’s now a single-family house at 156 West Front Street.

The applicant proposes site modifications that include the creation of a rear entrance to the business.

The site is also just yards away from 9 West Front Street, where Canopy Crossroad won approval in May to also create a cannabis store next door to Red Bank Liquors.

In addition, the board has approved two other cannabis shops just blocks away, on North Bridge Avenue: one in the space now occupied by China Moon restaurant in the Crate’s Liquors strip mall; and the other a block north, in a former dry cleaning shop.

Another weed shop, Garden at Red Bank LLC, is eyeing the long-vacant former Exxon Station at 80 Rector Place.

No cannabis businesses have yet opened in Red Bank.

Also on the board’s docket: Red Rock Tap + Grill is seeking to amend approval it obtained in May, 2019, allowing it to seasonally enclose part of its roof deck for dining and to eliminate four employee-only parking spots onsite.

Now, according to the agenda, owner Paul Marcotte proposes to “eliminate the four existing parking spaces and in place of the employee spaces add an outdoor dining area, construct an approximately 290-square feet addition onto the northeast portion of the property, the addition is proposed at one story with a roof deck atop; enclose the first and second floors of the currently open portions of the northern building area; add a seasonal food service area; and remove the ADA parking space.”

Here’s the full  agenda. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at borough hall, 90 Monmouth Street. Viewing is also available via Zoom.

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