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.

BAIT SHOP LANDS OK; HOTEL PLAN TABLED

pride-bait-tackleThe former Harper’s Copy Center on East Front Street won approval for conversion to a bait and tackle shop. (Click to enlarge)

Neighbors raised a stink about the prospect of rancid fish waste, but a proposal for a bait and tackle shop sailed through the Red Bank zoning board Thursday night.

In other board business, a plan for a six-story, 76-room Hampton Inn hotel at the foot of the Cooper Bridge was tabled for two weeks, and a dentist won approval for an extensive remodeling of a home on Maple Avenue provided he install a sidewalk along one side of his property.

Fair Haven resident Max Berry told the board that his planned retail operation, Pride Bait & Tackle, which is to take over the former Harper’s Copy Center on East Front Street, would feature “higher-end” offerings of stylish sportswear as well as rods, reels and other fishing hardware.

He also said he would post signs at the store telling customers trailing boats that they’re not welcome in his seven-car parking lot.

“They’ll be asked to leave,” Berry said in response to questioning by board members. “If I lose a client that wants to trailer a boat into that lot, I would be happy to lose that client.”

Berry also agreed to paint directional arrows on the asphalt to discourage customers from exiting his lot at the eastern end, near a blind curve in the roadway, and to make cosmetic improvements to the site.

Objections were raised, however, by residents of nearby Hubbard Park, who said they feared fish odors from bait products. They said a ravine behind the store is busy with raccoons and other animals that would feast on any waste bait left in a dumpster.

Berry, however, was firm that less than 10 percent of his business would come from bait sales; that his only live bait would consist of less than two gallons of killies, the waste of which he would dispose of off-site; and that all other bait would arrive at and leave his store frozen and prepackaged in plastic.

“I don’t want any of it in my trash whatsoever,” Berry said. “I don’t want anything to do with funky smells.”

The plan won unanimous approval, and Berry said he would open “as soon as possible” in the hope of catching some of the current season’s business.

Dentist George Zeik (pronounced ‘zeek’) outlined a plan to enclose most of a a wrapaound porch in order to expand a longtime dental office he acquired last year at 179 Maple Avenue. The property, at Waverly Place, formerly housed the dental practice of Dr. Arthur Oberle, and contained a rental apartment on the second floor.

Zeik plans to live on the second floor of the expanded house, an 1880s Queen Anne Victorian, after extensive renovations.

But the absence of a sidewalk along the Waverly side of the property was a concern for board member Vince Light, who lives on that street. The property is the only one on either side of Waverly without a sidewalk, owing for to the fact that, for unknown reasons, there is no public right-of-way along that side of the house.

Borough engineer Christine Ballard testified that a few years back, when the town repaved Waverly, she tried to persuade Mrs. Oberle to allow the borough to install a sidewalk. But the owner demurred, citing concerns that skateboarders would use it to ride up and down a handicapped-access ramp to the dental office.

Ballard said that in order to comply with federal regulations, she was forced to design a rare mid-block crosswalk that lands in front of another home and forces pedestrians who simply want to turn south onto Maple to first cross to the north and then cross south.

Marty McGann, Zeik’s lawyer, said that a sidewalk would saddle his client with legal liabilities that other homeowners whose sidewalks are in the public right-of-way don’t have. But Light forced the issue.

“I think we have a chance to rectify this situation, instead of leaving it this way for another 20 or 30 years,” Light said.

Board member Kevin Moss agreed, and unanimous approval was granted on the condition that Zeik install the 132-foot sidewalk.

An existing sidewalk on the Maple Avenue side of the property is in the public right-of-way, McGann said.

The hotel plan was tabled until May 19 because the other two applications on the board’s agenda ran long.

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
redbankgreen Classics
Partyline
Red Bank 5K Fun!!!
Red Bank Classic – June 14th, 2025 (photo by Partyline contributor Adam Kaplan)  
RAINBOW OVER RED BANK
Saturday, before and after the storm that rolled through town. (photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)    
Mini Ballers Bring the Heat at Fusion Basketball School
As the temperatures heat up, so does the competition in the mini baller clinic at Fusion School of Basketball. These little tykes are intens ...
DOZENS OF PLEIN AIR ARTISTS “PAINT RED BANK”
Plein air artists take over town for first ever "Paint Red Bank" event. (click to read)
RED BANK: SIGN ON ICONIC DANNY’S STEAK HOUSE COMES DOWN
The sign hanging from the shuttered Danny's Steak House comes down ten months after a manager reported Danny's Steakhouse would be back "bet ...
FOR YANKEES FANS, GOOD TRASH PICKIN’
A collection of framed photographs of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and other New York Yankees greats was placed curbside along with a ...
RED BANK: NEW HANDICAPPED PARKING, WEST SIDE MEETING PLANNED
New handicapped parking sign West Side advocate had pressed for is installed, with meeting planned to discuss other concerns. (click to read ...
SUNSET AT SUMMER’S START
Crazy sunset clouds shot from Monmouth Boat Club on the Friday evening at the start of Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. ...
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.