Leaving an unhitched trailer on the street “at any time” would be prohibited by ordinance. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
At its semimonthly meeting Thursday night, the Red Bank council is expected to finalize its ban on “unhitched” trailers parked curbside throughout town.
A Red Bank zoning board hearing on a plan for 32 new apartments at the train station has been postponed yet again.
The roof is gone and the rest of a one-story building on a triangular slice of land at 301 Maple Avenue in Red Bank has been gutted. And recently, a bright orange sticker was slapped on one of the remaining windows.
What’s Going On Here? Click ‘read more’ for the answer.
Among the three is Monteverde NJ, planning to open at 45 North Bridge Avenue. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s new Cannabis Review Board has completed scrutiny of its first three applications, and was like totally cool with all of them.
That means three pot shops have cleared all the local licensing requirements, borough officials said Thursday night.
The borough’s Washington Street Historic District, the location of many applications the HPC reviews, was created in 2009. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
After three months of inactivity, Red Bank’s Historic Preservation Commission is expected to get a re-start this week.
At its semimonthly meeting scheduled for Thursday night, the council plans to appoint new and returning members to the commission, Councilperson Kristina Bonatakis, said last week.
The council will also begin workshopping a revised historic preservation ordinance, she said.
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.
The house at 211 River Street, above, is to be demolished and replaced with the structure below. (Photo by John T. Ward; rendering by Catherine Franco. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank bungalow would be replaced by a modern three-story home overlooking the Swimming River under a plan approved by the zoning board Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the owner of a postage-stamp-sized lot will have to wait to find out if a neighbor makes a purchase offer before he can proceed with his plans for a new house.
See CORRECTION below
Plans for two single-family homes, both needing variances, are scheduled for review by the Red Bank zoning board Thursday night.
Navesink Riverside Residences and Marina (formerly Riverview Towers), center, and the Atrium at Navesink Harbor, to its right, are in the waterfront zone. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s planning board made quick work of approving two pending ordinances Monday night.
At a meeting that lasted just 13 minutes, the board found proposed changes to maximum building heights, and fees paid by developers in lieu of planting trees, did not conflict with the borough’s Master Plan.
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.”
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.
Historic Preservation Commission attorney Michele Donato addressing the council Thursday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Historic Preservation Commission will be reconstituted, Mayor Billy Portman and other council members informally agreed Thursday night.
But the council will first have to adopt design standards to establish which types of renovation work require HPC perusal and which can be fast-tracked, Portman said.
Historic Preservation Commission attorney Michele Donato, left, with Chairman Chris Fabricant in March. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The future of Red Bank’s Historic Preservation Commission may come into focus when the borough council meets Thursday night.
Also on the agenda: proposed height limits on new construction along the Navesink River waterfront, and the settlement of a lawsuit over a parking lot issue. More →
Red Bank’s planning board approved a subdivision at 27 Locust Avenue Monday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The purchase includes the Mt. Zion House of Prayer and its parking lot on Tilton Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank-based Lunch Break, already in the midst of a massive facilities expansion, may build a residential project on the site of a West Side church.
The social services organization is looking into using the Mt. Zion House of Prayer‘s property to provide housing for the homeless, Gwen Love, Lunch Break’s executive director, told redbankgreen last week.
Completion of the deal would also mean the end of more than a century of worship on the site.
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.
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.
A resolution calls for using grant money to pay for a police department social worker. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
An idea “spitballed” at the new Red Bank council’s first business session last month is up for adoption Thursday night: adding a “clinician” to the police department.
Here’s a quick overview of the agenda.
The former home to Coco Pari, and the building next door, with Catch 19, were sold in a joint deal. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A prime bit of downtown Red Bank retail space was part of a two-building sale last month, redbankgreen has learned.
What goes into the vacant storefont of one is among the changes Retail Churn is keeping an eye on.
An update on plans for Marine Park is on the agenda. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The agenda for the Red Bank council session Thursday night includes a presentation on the status of planned changes at the Marine Park.
It also includes minutes of the most recent session, which for the first time, are available for public review prior to formal acceptance.
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…
Agra Indian Masala is under construction at the onetime home of Monmouth Music. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two long-vacant spaces in downtown Red Bank are showing signs of returning as new restaurants.
Also in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn: two restaurants that proved short-lived.
A hearing on a plan for 32 new apartments on Bridge Avenue at the Red Bank train station has been postponed again.
The Plug Naturals shop would replace a single-family house at 156 West Front Street if approved. (Google Maps photo. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Facing possible rejection over parking issues, representatives of a proposed Red Bank cannabis shop asked for time to revise their plans Monday night.
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.