RED BANK: SINKING BOAT PULLED FROM RIVER
A boat that was sinking in the horsehoe-shaped municipal marina in Red Bank’s Marine Park was pulled from the water Tuesday night.
RED BANK: RAIL BRIDGE EXERCISE PLANNED
New Jersey Transit police and other law enforcement agencies plan to conduct an emergency training exercise on North Jersey Coast Line bridge that crosses the Navesink River Saturday, the agency reported this week.
RED BANK: CENTER FIXES OK’D, RE-ARGUED
Angela Mirandi, in second pane from left in the top row, attended her first session as a council member. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See CORRECTION below
By JOHN T. WARD
Three years after a fire suppression system leak forced a shutdown of Red Bank’s Senior Center, the borough council approved nearly $2 million in financing for repairs Wednesday.
As in the past, members clashed over the reasons for the time elapsed and cost. Added to the acrimony was a new element: blame for failure to identify money recently found sitting idle in old accounts and now earmarked for repairs.
Unmentioned during the virtual meeting was a lawsuit, announced hours earlier, that seeks to remove Angela Mirandi, who attended for the first time as a council member.
RED BANK: ‘BOAT RAMP’ TO FUND CENTER FIX
A municipal boat ramp on the Navesink River was once envisioned for the north end of Maple Avenue, now a nature area called Maple Cove. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials boasted earlier this month that they’d “cobbled together” about $1 million from idle accounts to soften the impact on taxpayers of repairing the long-shuttered Senior Center.
It turns out a big chunk of that sum has been stuck in the borough’s sofa cushions for 30 years, designated for a never-built boat ramp, redbankgreen has learned.
RED BANK: DENHOLTZ LOCKS UP KEY CORNER
Denholtz Properties now owns four properties at the northwest corner of East Front Street and Wharf Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
In a move sure to dial up expectations for a possible Broad to the river project, Red Bank-based developer Denholtz Properties has added to its holdings on a key downtown block.
Company CEO Steve Denholtz says the firm does not have a plan to fulfill the century-old dream of panoramic Navesink River views from Broad Street. But he’s still not ruling it out.
RED BANK: TOWNHOUSE WORK BEGINS
The planned Southbank site, above, with the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat & Yacht Club visible at center. Below, a rendering of the planned condos. (Photo by John T. Ward; rendering by Rotwein+Blake. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After two false starts this century, construction has begun on 10 luxury townhouses overlooking the Navesink River from a bluff in downtown Red Bank.
RED BANK: TURTLES & PLANTS SETTLE IN
Creating the turtle habitat at Bellhaven involved trucking in a special blend of sand. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank’s Environmental Commission has debuted a pair of completed projects spotlighting turtles and water conservation in recent weeks.
RED BANK: GAS SITE MAY GET ‘JET GROUTING’
The sewage pump station at the foot of Cooper’s Bridge was once used as a gas manufacturing plant. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
More than a century after it served as a gas works, a riverfront Red Bank property may get some 20th-century environmental remediation.
Coal tar and other toxic wastes beneath the town’s Bodman Place sewage pumping station overlooking the Navesink are slated to be immobilized by technology known as ‘jet grouting,’ according to borough officials.
RED BANK: SNACK BAR, SCREENS ON AGENDA
The council won’t renew the lease on the snack stand at Riverside Gardens Park under a measure on Wednesday’s agenda. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After several years as a seasonal commercial operation, the concession stand in Red Bank’s Riverside Gardens Park has proven to be a fiscal dud.
So suggests a proposal to nix an extension of the soon-to-expire lease on the building. That, along with an ordinance tightening up the property maintenance law governing lawns and window screens, is among the items of interest up for consider at for the council’s regular session Wednesday.
Here’s a quick rundown.
RED BANK: PLASTIC BAG BAN PASSES
A ban on single-use plastic bags will go into effect in September, 2020. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank stores will be barred from giving customers plastic bags and styrofoam food containers under an ordinance adopted by the council Wednesday night.
The ban was approved without any opposition voiced, though supermarket executive lamented that such laws are being adopted town-by-town, rather than at the state level.
FAIR HAVEN: RIVER RATS LOSES TAX CASE
River Rats’s home at the northern end of Battin Road. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven’s River Rats organization is not entitled to a property tax exemption, even though it’s a registered nonprofit run by volunteers, the New Jersey Tax Court ruled last week.
The organization tells redbankgreen it will appeal the decision.
RED BANK: COUNCIL KILLS PARKING PLAN
Borough officials will try to come up with a “reasonable” alternative to the aborted plan, said Mayor Menna. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council has scrapped a plan to implement alternate-side parking that found little public support.
At its regular meeting Wednesday night, the council voted to kill an already-introduced ordinance that would have mandated the parked-car switcheroo on a weekly basis, in conjunction with more frequent street sweeping.
RED BANK: WHAT’S ON THE COUNCIL AGENDA?
Single-use plastic bags and more would be banned under an ordinance up for introduction. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council has street-sweeping, green roofs, single-use plastics and cranes on its plate when it meets this week for its only regular meeting of July.
Here are some of the expected highlights: More →
RED BANK: WHAT’S ON THE COUNCIL AGENDA?
Work on the primary school emergency access road, seen here from Locust Avenue, is nearly complete. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
While most of America is cracking open its first cold beverages of the July 4 holiday Wednesday evening, the Red Bank council plans to hold a workshop session.
Yep.
RED BANK: BROAD TO THE RIVER? ‘WE’LL SEE…’
Buildings along Front Street have blocked views of the Navesink River from Broad Street for more than a century. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Is there, at last, a well-capitalized Broad-to-the-river plan for Red Bank in the works?
Not in his office, says developer Steve Denholtz, whose multi-state empire has been devouring borough properties — including three that would fit in nicely with a project offering panoramic Navesink River views from downtown.
Then again, that doesn’t mean one might not happen, Denholtz tells redbankgreen.
RED BANK: SWEEPING CHANGES COMING
Rules would be modified for streets where parking is now prohibited on one side, such as Spring Street, to allow for alternate-side parking, officials said. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A pending alternate-side parking law for Red Bank won’t be enforced until the borough has an online streetsweeper-tracker up and running, an official said Wednesday night.
Still, the plan to mandate one-side-only parking throughout the town twice a week ran into objections.
RED BANK: WHAT’S ON THE COUNCIL AGENDA?
The track at Count Basie Fields would be replaced under a plan up for adoption by the council. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed alternate-side parking ordinance is up for consideration at the Red Bank council’s only regular session this month.
Also on the agenda as the council moves into its summer meeting schedule: taxes, a new track for Count Basie Fields, the settlement of a disputed records request and more. More →
RED BANK: TOWNHOUSE PLAN APPROVED
The planned Southbank townhomes, seen looking northeast from Boat Club Court. (Rendering by Rotwein+Blake; photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan for luxury townhouses overlooking the Navesink River from Red Bank won zoning board approval Thursday night.
And while the board didn’t get the sidewalk it had hoped for on a steep street, the developer did agree to build another stretch of sidewalk.
RED BANK: SIDEWALK ISSUE SLOWS PROJECT
Architect Lance Blake with a rendering of the Southbank project’s river-facing side. Below, a view from Union Street shows the slope of Boat Club Court alongside the proposed building site. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Questions about a hillside sidewalk may force revisions to a plan for luxury townhouses overlooking the Navesink River from Red Bank.
RED BANK: TOWNHOMES, SIGNS ON AGENDA
An architect’s drawing of the townhomes proposed for Boat Club Court, and a view of the site, below. (Rendering by Rotwein+Blake. Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan for townhouses on a twice-abandoned site and a request for large exterior wall signs at Riverview Medical Center fill up the Red Bank zoning board agenda for Thursday night. More →
RED BANK: TOWNHOMES PLANNED, AGAIN
An architect’s drawing of the townhomes proposed for Boat Club Court. (Rendering by Rotwein+Blake. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fifteen years after approvals were granted for a Red Bank townhouse project that never got built, a third builder is taking a shot at a tucked-away plot overlooking the Navesink River.
RED BANK: HISTORIC YACHT LIGHTS UP RIVER
Red Bank resident Joe Ruffini’s history-rich yacht, the Naval War College, brought some Christmas sparkle to the Navesink River Saturday night, one night before it was scheduled to participate in a parade of boats on the Shrewsbury River.
The boat parade is slated to run again on Sunday, December 23. Meantime, for the fascinating backstory about Ruffini’s vessel, which has hosted two American presidents, check out this redbankgreen article from 2016. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: PRE-SNOW SNOW DAY
With a northeaster bearing down on the coast, a state of emergency in effect and schools closed, redbankgreen took a quick spin around the Greater Red Bank Green on a pre-snow snow day to find… not much happening Wednesday morning.
RED BANK: RIVER’S REFLECTIVE MOOD
The pier at Marine Park, Red Bank, as reflected on the surface of the Navesink River on the morning of February 15, 2018. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: PAIR CHARGED IN MARINA SPREE
An intact utility stanchion abuts one damaged by vandalism at the borough-owned marina. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two teens were charged with a recent vandalism spree in Marine Park after a Red Bank police stakeout caught them in the act Wednesday night, Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
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