Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

RED BANK: RAYRAP PLAN RAPPED FOR SIZE

rb-zoning-011515-1-500x375-6777931Audience members reviewed exhibits during a break in Thursday night’s hearing. Below, a rendering of the eight townhomes proposed for Hudson Avenue. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

rayrap-hudson-011515-220x123-7835047After a five-month layover that included meetings with neighbors and extensive revisions, developer Ray Rapcavage returned to the zoning board Thursday with his plans for a greenmarket and 20 homes on the edge of downtown Red Bank.

But the first round of questions from the public indicated that neighbors still consider the project too big.

rayrap-clay-011515-500x261-5975897Architect Cathy Zuckerman’s rendering of the condos proposed for the Clay Street side of the project. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Dubbed ‘Renaissance Village,’ the RayRap plan calls for a grocery store topped by two apartments, instead of a yoga studio, as initially proposed, fronting on Harding Road. The plan also includes eight townhouses along Hudson Avenue, where 10 were previously proposed, and 10 condos on Clay Street.

The townhouses would replace single- and two-family homes RayRap owns, and the condos would displace a row of garages. About half the footprint for the market building is on the site of a former gas station that is still being monitored for spill-remediation purposes – and could continue for another five years or more, according to RayRap’s attorney, Marty McGann.

The biggest change to the plan since the lone, prior hearing in August: the back-to-back condos and townhouses would now share a 35-foot-wide interior driveway, entered from Clay Street, that residents would use to access ground-level garages from the rear of the residential structures. The original plan had garages on the fronts of those buildings, and the change eliminated 18 curb cuts, Rapcavage has said.

Following testimony by an engineer and the project’s architect, zoning board Chairwoman Lauren Nicosia opened the hearing to questions from the audience. Tony Sposaro, a Hudson Avenue resident who is also a land-use lawyer, pressed the RayRap team on why, if they were tearing down all existing structures on the site and “starting from scratch,” they couldn’t come up with a plan that met all requirements for open-space and other zoning requirements.

Engineer Andy Comi  replied that, practically speaking, the market building “could be made smaller.”

Sposaro asked how much of the 8,600-square-foot market building would have to be eliminated in order for it to be built without parking variances.

“One-third of the building would have to be taken off to make parking adequate,” Comi said.

Nicosia deferred some of Sposaro’s questions for a witness who has not yet testified on the operation of the store. Among the questions: where are the shoppers going to park, and will the store use shopping carts?

The hearing was scheduled to resume on February 5.

ICYMI: Here’s a redbankgreen post that explains how RayRap assembled the properties and shows the demolition of the gas station in 2007.

 

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
Partyline
RED TRUCKS AT RED ROCK
A small dishwasher fire at Red Rock Tap and Grill was put out quickly by firefighters overnight, causing minimal damage. Red Bank Fire Depar ...
CREATIVE COVER UP
The windows of Pearl Street Consignment on Monmouth Street were smashed when a driver crashed their car through them injuring an employee la ...
THEY’RE BACK!
Ospreys returned to the skies over Red Bank this week for the first time since they migrated to warmer climes in late fall. With temperature ...
SPRING IS SPRUNG
RED BANK: Spring 2024 arrives on the Greater Red Bank Green with the vernal equinox at 11:06 p.m. Tuesday.
RED BANK’S FINEST – AND NEWEST
Red Bank Police Officer Eliot Ramos was sworn in as the force’s newest patrolman Thursday, and if you’re doing a double take thinkin ...
EASTER EGG MAYHEM AT THE PARK
An errant whistle spurred an unexpectedly early start to the Spring Egg Hunt on Sunday, which had been scheduled to begin at eggsactly 11am ...
PRESEASON DOCKWORK
RED BANK: With winter winding down, marina gets ready for boating season with some dockwork on our beautiful Navesink River.
CORNED BEEF AND DISCO FRIES?
It’s Friday, and smart Lent-observing Leprechauns know the pot of gold at the end of Red Bank’s rainbow is actually the deliciou ...
SURFBOARD DITCHED
It’s a violation of etiquette in surfing to ditch your board.  (it could hit another surfer and hurt them). But someone appears to ha ...
ELSIE, TAKE ME WITH YOU!
Soaked by pouring rain with the temperature hovering in the low 40’s, this sign in the window of Elsie’s Subs on Monmouth Street ...
WALK THIS WAY
PARTYLINE: Before-and-afters of a sidewalk cleanup on West Street.
SOGGY NOTION
RED BANK: Breezeway sculpture captured the mood downtown as heavy rains fell Saturday morning.
HOME DELIVERY
RED BANK: After a subdivision, an instant house rises on a new Catherine Street lot.
COMMUNITY PROFILES
For Black History Month, Red Bank's Community Engagement and Equity Advisory Committee has been running a series of local profiles on Facebo ...
HEARTY FAREWELL FOR HARDY
RED BANK: Council to honor DPU supervisor Rich Hardy, who retired recently after almost 39 years of keeping things running.
HOMEBOUND? READ ON…
RED BANK: Can't get to the public library? It's now offering free delivery and pickups for homebound borough residents.
TAMING A BEAST OF A WEEK
RED BANK: After the second snowfall of the week, a borough family finds the perfect use for it – a Godzilla snow sculpture.
RED BANK: LIBRARY CLOSED, BUT THE HILL’S OPEN
RED BANK: Though the library was closed by a snowstorm, kids got to enjoy the riverfront property's steep slope Tuesday.
LIGHT(HOUSE) MAKEOVER
This year, getting ready for spring means a midwinter makeover for Strollo's Lighthouse in Red Bank.
TODAY: LOCAL PUPPY COMPETES ON ANIMAL PLANET’S “PUPPY BOWL”
Red Bank’s very own rescue puppy, Biscuit, is set to compete in Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl this Sunday, February 11, at 2 PM. Th ...