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: MODERN HOME PLAN APPROVED
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.
RED BANK: TWO HOMES ON AGENDA
See CORRECTION below
Plans for two single-family homes, both needing variances, are scheduled for review by the Red Bank zoning board Thursday night.
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: 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: URBAN OUTFITTERS BUILDING SOLD
One of Red Bank’s landmark commercial buildings has a new owner, redbankgreen has learned.
Two other downtown buildings have also changed hands recently.
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: 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: 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: 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: 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.
RED BANK: SHORT-RENTAL LAW RETURNS
An Airbnb-listed house on Mechanic Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials will resume their efforts to enact a law regulating short-term home rentals such as Airbnbs this week.
A new version of an ordinance that failed to gain traction late in 2022 is up for introduction at Wednesday night’s semimonthly council meeting.
RED BANK: SIDES STAKED OUT ON RENTAL LAW
The owner of the house at 70-72 Wallace Street defended short-term rentals. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials postponed a brewing battle over short-term home rentals such as Airbnbs last week.
Still, a number of residents made impassioned arguments pro and con at the borough council’s final meeting of 2022 Wednesday night, previewing what’s likely to come in 2023.
RED BANK: SUBDIVISION ON AGENDA
A proposal to subdivide one residential lot into three is the only application on the Red Bank planning board’s agenda Monday night.
RED BANK: SUBDIVISION APPROVED
The owner of two adjoining Red Bank properties won the right to build a third house behind them Monday night.
RED BANK: ‘AIRBNB’ LAW TABLED
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed Red Bank ordinance that would limit Airbnbs and other short-term rentals was tabled before it could be formally introduced Wednesday night.
The send-back followed an hour of public debate over impacts on owner-occupant operators and on the broader rental market. More →
RED BANK: BROAD STREET ‘VAULT’ SOLD
After a long-overdue sprucing-up and revival as office space, a prominent building in downtown Red Bank changed hands late last month, redbankgreen has learned.
RED BANK: APARTMENTS WIN BOARD OK
The vacant onetime home of Big Man’s West and the office building at left would be razed to make way for the development, shown in the illustration below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan for 45 apartments on the Red Bank site of a nightclub once owned by saxophonist Clarence Clemons won borough variances to proceed Thursday night.
Developer Michael Salerno told redbankgreen he’s planning to call the project The Sax, in honor of Bruce Springsteen’s late sideman.
RED BANK: STATION RAZED FOR APARTMENTS
A onetime gas station-turned-gym in downtown Red Bank was razed Tuesday.