Sovereign Bancorp’s Broad Street branch got a reduction in its tax bill.
Assorted items and actions from Monday night’s Red Bank Council meeting:
• The council approved a tax appeal settlement that reduced the assessment on the Sovereign Bank property at Broad Street and East Bergen Place by almost $189,000, to $1.799 million, for tax years 2007 and 2008.
Also approved was a settlement regarding Sutton Commons apartments on Branch Avenue, which will see a $338,000 drop in assessed value, to $3.69 million.
Here are the resolutions: Download 09-62
and Download 09-63
• Councilwoman Sharon Lee asked if the council should abandon its practice of alternating start times for its bimonthly meetings (now 5:30p for the first session of the month and 7:30 for the second).
“It seems people come out for the issue” that concerns them, she said. “It doesn’t matter if its 7:30 or 5:30.”
Noting that the issue of meeting times “was debated for three years,” Menna said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But I’ll do it” if the council wants a change.
Councilwoman Kathy Horgan, who works in Manhattan, said she would prefer a regular 6:30p session so she wouldn’t have to leave work early to make it.
Borough resident David Prown suggested the council consider Saturday morning sessions held at the senior citizens’ center on Shrewsbury Avenue, something that was tried a few years back and attracted strong turnout.
But Menna said Saturday meetings would interfere with observance of the Sabbath by Jews.
• The council introduced an ordinance that would prohibit minors from bars unless accompanied by an adult. It would also allow for “teen night” events for kids 16 and older at establishments that normally sell booze, but would bar alcohol sales during those events.
The ordinance (which redbankgreen mistakenly reported as applying to liquor stores earlier this week) doesn’t apply to hotels and restaurants.
Here’s the proposed bill:Download 2009-5
• Several residents weighed in with objections to having school children name the borough-owned lot at the river end of Maple Avenue that’s slated to become a launch for canoes and kayaks.
The flap pitted council members who view the naming effort as a good way to educate kids about the importance of the riverfront against taxpayers who think activist Cindy Burnham, who helped preserve the lot, has come up with a perfectly fine recommendation for a name: River Cove Waterfront Access.
Burnham, though, indicated that she’s in favor of a contest among kids to come up with a name, as long as the process doesn’t drag on.
• Borough Administrator Stanley Sickels said that traffic on East Front Street may have to be detoured at High Street for two days or so to enable repairs on a recent sewer line break.
