RED BANK: PROJECT HEARING DELAYED AGAIN
A Red Bank zoning board hearing on a plan for 32 new apartments at the train station has been postponed yet again.
RED BANK: NURTURING FORTUNE’S LEGACY
T. Thomas Fortune, below, and the cultural center dedicated to him in his onetime Red Bank home, above. (Above photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
With an exhibit examining the history of America’s Black press opening October 28 at Red Bank’s T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, redbankgreen presents this feature story, written for CivicStory, about the center’s namesake.
By DEBORAH YAFFE
When the Black newspaper editor and civil-rights activist T. Thomas Fortune moved to Red Bank in the summer of 1901, his arrival was front-page news. “Mr. Fortune is one of the most noted colored men of the country,” the Red Bank Register reported.
But a century later, the elegant Red Bank home that Fortune’s family called Maple Hall stood vandalized and derelict, its brick foundation crumbling, its windows boarded up. Still, the once-grand old place caught Gilda Rogers’ eye whenever she passed by. “That home probably was something really special in its heyday,” she would think.
She wasn’t wrong.
RED BANK: PORCHFEST ROLLS AND SHINES
For the second year in a row, the sun shone Red Bank’s Porchfest townwide music festival Sunday.
The five-hour event, a fundraiser for the housing nonprofit HABcore, offered peripatetic audiences opportunities to hear classical music, bluegrass, hard rock and more by 90-something acts (including a spotted lanternfly) performing on 25 porches, driveways, in back yards and at least one gazebo.
Among the throngs were numerous bicyclists, taking advantage of temporary bike lanes set up for the event.
redbankgreen stopped in at all 25 venues. Here’s some of what we saw; click photos to enlarge.
RED BANK: YOUR GUIDE TO PORCHFEST II
Chamber music, metal, “stoner folk,” jazz, a bit of standup comedy and more: Red Bank’s second annual Porchfest townwide music festival promises a cornucopia of melody Sunday.
But who’s playing, when and where? Here’s a handy guide to help you plan an itinerary.
RED BANK: BIKE LANES SET FOR PORCHFEST
Red Bank’s second annual Porchfest townwide music festival is shaping up to be bigger than the first, organizers said last week.
To encourage attendees to bike between the more two dozen “stages,” this year’s event will feature temporary bike lanes.
RED BANK: STATION PROJECT GOES TO BOARD
After months of postponements, the Red Bank zoning board hearing on a plan for a four-story apartment building opposite the train station is scheduled to begin Thursday night.
UPDATE: Yet again, this hearing has been postponed. The borough website says the zoning board meeting has been cancelled and “all applications scheduled for this date will re-notice for a new hearing date.”
RED BANK: THRIVE PLAN GETS BOARD OK
A rendering of the proposed Thrive Red Bank project, as seen from Shrewsbury Avenue. (Rendering by CPA Architecture. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed apartment building for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities won approval from the Red Bank zoning board Thursday night.
Advocates called the approval historic, and said it would allow them to create a model for desperately needed housing for neuro-diverse adults.
RED BANK: THRIVE PARKING PLAN QUESTIONED
Seen on a monitor, an architect discusses the design of the proposed Shrewsbury Avenue project. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed apartment project for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities would be the first of its kind in New Jersey, which has a critical need for it, sponsors told the Red Bank zoning board Thursday night.
Board members had questions about parking and unit size, but showed no immediate sign of opposition.
RED BANK: SPECIAL-NEEDS HOUSING PLANNED
Rendering shows the Shrewsbury Avenue side of the proposed building. Access to an interior garage would be at the far left. (Rendering by CPA Architecture.Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
When Karen Fluharty moved her special-needs adult son to a neuro-diverse housing complex in Phoenix two years ago, she was both relieved and devastated. There simply was nothing anywhere near her Rumson home that would allow young Ryan to live an independent life with an overlay of needed support, she said.
“I had to make the choice as a parent, to leave my 19-year-old son, my only child, in Arizona,” she said. “I had to make the choice between the right program and being near family. And no parent should have to make that choice.”
On Thursday night, a nonprofit entity Fluharty created will go before the Red Bank zoning board with an alternative.
RED BANK: NOW GOING UP ON SHREWSBURY…
Black construction fencing surrounds a narrow lot Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank.
What’s Going On Here? redbankgreen sneaks a peak through a hole in the fence…
RED BANK: APARTMENT PLAN DELAYED AGAIN
A hearing on a plan for 32 new apartments on Bridge Avenue at the Red Bank train station has been postponed again.
RED BANK: HOUSE TO BE RAZED (AGAIN)
A plan to redevelop a stretch of Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank was withdrawn almost two years ago. So why is a house on the site boarded up, with a bright red X painted on the front door?
RED BANK: STATION APARTMENTS HEARING SET
A plan for 32 new apartments across Bridge Avenue from the Red Bank train station is scheduled to go before the borough zoning Thursday night.
RED BANK: MORE STATION UNITS PROPOSED
The project would replace three commercial buildings on Bridge Avenue and two houses on Oakland Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
UPDATE: The May 18 zoning board meeting has been cancelled, according to a notice on the borough website.
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposal for 32 new apartments across the street from the Red Bank train station is scheduled to go before the borough zoning board next week.
If approved, the project would add to a development boom around the station.
RED BANK: POT, BUDGET & MORE ON AGENDA
Responding to public pressure, the council plans to create a four-way stop at the intersection of Leighton Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (Google Maps image. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On the Red Bank mayor and council’s agenda for Wednesday night: new hurdles for licensing of cannabis businesses; the 2023 budget; a new four-way traffic intersection and more.
RED BANK: SMOKE, BUT NO FIRE ‘COMPANY’
The cannabis shop is slated to replace the China Moon restaurant on North Bridge Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed cannabis store with the “terrible” name of “Red Bank Fire Company” will change its moniker before it opens in coming months, a representative said Monday night.
The business won planning board approval to open a marijuana dispensary in a North Bridge Avenue strip mall after promising to quickly end any confusion with the borough’s volunteer fire department.
RED BANK: SPARKS FLY BEFORE OVERRIDE VOTE
Area NAACP president William Poku addressing Councilmembers John Jackson, Michael Ballard and Ed Zippich during the special session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Controversy over an ordinance restricting short-term residential rentals such as Airbnbs in Red Bank continued at a special hearing Friday morning on whether to override Mayor Billy Portman‘s veto of the law.
RED BANK: ITALIAN ICE, LOBSTER ROLLS COMING
The future location of Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard on West Front Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s booming food scene is in for some new additions soon: a Rita’s Italian Ice shop and a Mystic Lobster Roll.
Also: a hair stylist has found a single answer to the questions of where to operate his salon and where to live.
Read all about them in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: BALLARD SLAMS PORTMAN VETO
Councilman Michael Ballard, seen here in 2022, said the ordinance was the subject of 15 hours of “impassioned” debate. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Mayor Billy Portman “blindsided” most of the borough council when he vetoed controversial limits on short-term residential rentals, Councilmember Michael Ballard said this week.
RED BANK: HOUSING, POT DOMINATE SESSION
Evergreen Terrace is one of two apartment complexes slated for possible rehabilitation or redevelopment. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Housing Authority asked the borough council for money to explore possible redevelopment of two subsidized apartment complexes Wednesday night.
At its second three-plus-hour meeting in three days, the governing body also heard more testimony for and against a possible overhaul of the zoning law governing cannabis businesses.
RED BANK: PORTMAN VETOES RENTAL LAW
Mayor Billy Portman called the ordinance “an effort to appease a few people” who oppose short-term rentals. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Mayor Billy Portman vetoed a controversial law restricting short-term, Airbnb-style residential rentals Wednesday night.
Portman, just seven weeks into his term, announced the rarely used action after the conclusion of a council meeting that ran for three and a half hours without any hint of his intention.
RED BANK: SHORT-RENTAL LAW PASSES
The owner of an Airbnb-listed house on Oakland Street continued his opposition to the ordinance. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council adopted controversial law restricting short-term, Airbnb-style residential rentals Wednesday night.
The action followed complaints by residents and Mayor Billy Portman that, months into the issue, the council still was not “listening” to the public.
RED BANK: PIPES, RENTALS, VOTING ON DECK
Branch Avenue resident Alberto Larotonda with a lead pipe he brought to a council meeting in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See Correction below
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council may authorize spending up to $2.4 million to replace water service lines made of lead when it meets Wednesday night.
Also on the heavy agenda: possible adoption of a controversial law restricting short-term residential rentals; a study of water rates; a change in the zoning law governing cannabis sales; and authorizing early, in-person voting for an historic May election.
RED BANK: MASTER PLAN’S USE DEBATED
An illustration from the Master Plan section on affordable housing. (Image by BFJ Planning. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Concluding a 14-month process, the Red Bank planning board adopted the borough’s first new Master Plan in 28 years Monday night.
The unanimous vote followed spirited debate about whether the many recommendations in the 166-page document should be prioritized for council action.
RED BANK: SHORT-RENTAL LAW ADVANCES
Scott Lavelle showing the audience a photo of a bounce house at an Airbnb that abuts his Worthley Street home. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council formally introduced a proposed law to regulate short-term home rentals such as Airbnbs Wednesday night.
The action followed heated debate on both the substance of the ordinance and the process that brought it to this point.