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.

A PLACE OF ‘SOLACE’ AT ASH DUMP

Img_5664A late-afternoon view of the former incinerator ash dump at the western end of Sunset Avenue.

They came, they saw, they conjured.

On a half-hour tour of the former municipal ash dump last night, members of the Red Bank Environmental Commission tried to imagine both the past and the future of the site.

Img_5659Environmental Commission chairman Lou DiMento, left, discusses site conditions with Public Works Director Gary Watson.

The huge mounds of incinerator waste that clotted the property for decades are gone, as are the mountains of dead leaves stored there seasonally in recent years prior to disposal.

Under the aegis of Public Works Director Gary Watson, the site’s been scrubbed clean, just as the recycling center next door has been turned into a well-ordered, revenue-generating enterprise.

Now, except for a storage trailer, an occasional patch of dumped asphalt or a stray golf ball, the property has been reclaimed by raw nature.

The visitors found chest-high flora filling acres of relatively flat ground trimmed by trees and vines that close the site off from adjoining neighborhoods and the Navesink River, just down a steep bluff. They stopped to look at deer tracks left in mud still caking over after last week’s rain.

So, what to do with it?

A waterfront plan drawn up by a consultant and released last month imagines three or four scenarios for the site.

But commission chairman Lou DiMento doesn’t see those ideas flying. They rely too much on public-private cooperation in creating access to the river, he says.

Then there’s the ongoing discussion, which came to the fore of borough business this month, about the possibility of creating a community center or recreation facility at the site.

But several commission members expressed concern about having ballfields at the site. Field turf means pesticides and fertililizers that end up in waterways, causing all sorts of environmental havoc.

There was some talk about leaving it passive, and maybe having a nature trail through the area.

The visit, though, wasn’t about making decisions. It was about giving commission members a look at property more familiar to waste haulers and generations of curious, fence-jumping kids.

“Red Bank is so built up with impervious surfaces that it’s nice to know that this is here,” member Laura Bagwell said afterward. She’d like to see as much of the natural quality preserved as possible.

“There’s great solace in it,” she said.

Email this story

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
redbankgreen Classics
Partyline
SIDEWALK GOES FROM WORST TO FIRST
P (photo by Brian Donohue) What had been, in our estimation – and apparently in the eyes of the several people who have emailed and te ...
RED BANK: PEERING FROM ON HIGH, ACROSS THE DECADES
Roofers on the Azalea Red Bank top off the project in the shadow of a sculpture depicting another generation of construction workers who toi ...
BRICK FACELIFT CONTINUES ON MONMOUTH STREET
A million-dollar brick sidwalk makeover of Monmouth Street in Red Bank continues.
JAY AND SILENT EAGLE
A very loud blue jay squawks at an indiferent bald eagle in a treetop alongside the Swimming River in Red Bank this week. (Partyline photo b ...
PIZZA LOVING SQUIRREL SPOTTED IN RED BANK
Pizza squirrel spotted in Red Bank. (click to read)
GET YOUR MA SOMETHIN’ NICE AT THE RED BANK FARMERS MARKET
It’s a beautiful and sunny Mother’s Day for the first instance of the farmer’s market, held every Sunday, beginning in May ...
SIGN? WHAT SIGN?
Folks in Red Bank Wednesday exercising their riparian rights to access tidal waters first encoded into Roman law in 500 AD and later adopted ...
FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Partyline contributor captures photo of backyard fox.
STRIPER RUN AT MARINE PARK
An angler pulls in a striped bass from the Marine Park bulkhead Tuesday evening. (photo by Partyline contributor Boris Kofman)  
COLD AS CANADA? CHECK.
A pair of goose sculptures propped atop an air conditioning unit on River Street in Red Bank.
SUNRISE OVER A GLASSY NAVESINK
Sunrise over the Navesink River, seen from NJ Transit Train 3320. (photo by Partyline contributor Karly Swaim)  
A BLAST FROM THE PAST
NJ Transit "heritage" locomotive makes an appearance at the Red Bank station.
RBFD SNUFFS OUT SMALL APARTMENT FIRE
A small fire that started in a light fixture at the Colony House apartments in Red Bank was quickly put out by members of the Red Band Volun ...
HEAVENLY RED BANK
Rays burst from behind clouds at the sun begins to set over the Navesink River. (photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)
IN THE FLOW STATE AT RIVESIDE GARDENS
Flow artists in Riverside Gardens Park Friday night. ( photo by Partyline Contributor Karly Swaim)
MAILBOXES HEAD TO HISTORY’S SCRAP HEAP
Sign of the digital age: mailboxes hauled away from Red Bank post office to storage.
HOVERING CHOPPER
What’s going on here? Last Sunday. Hovering around for quite a while. (Photo and text by Partyline contributor Rosaleen Perry)   ...
RBMS HOOPS CHAMPS HONORED
The Red Bank Middle School girls basketball team is honored for their championship season. (click for more)
NAVESINK SUNSET
Sunset sunburst over Riverside Gardens Park (photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)
RIVERSIDE SUNSET
Sunday’s sunset shot from Riverside Gardens Park. (Photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus) —