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 CLEARS FIRST HURDLE

sposaro-121516-500x375-2380890Developer Ray Rapcavage, seated at right, and his attorney, Armen McOmber, listen as Hudson Avenue resident Anthony Sposaro endorses the Azalea Gardens project. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot-topic_03-220x138-2130637A year after his last try was shot down, real estate developer Ray Rapcavage won a key approval Thursday night for a new plan to rebuild a shabby half-block on the southeast edge of downtown Red Bank.

On a unanimous vote, the zoning board granted Rapcavage variances for 18 homes fronted by an English garden on Harding Road between Clay Street and Hudson Avenue.

But he’s not yet clear to start work.

murphy-kennedy-121516-500x375-4560125Zoning board member Sean Murphy, left, and attorney Kevin Kennedy listen to testimony as a schematic of the site layout is projected onto a screen from a laptop. Below, architect David John Carnivale’s  rendering of the townhouse facades, as seen from Hudson Avenue. (Photo by Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

rb-azalea-gardens-120516-2-220x142-9617035In an unusual approach, Rapcavage, of Rumson, asked the board to bifurcate hearings on his proposal. Up first were his requests for a use variance that would allow him to create residences in a zone where they’re permitted only as rentals above a commercial use, and another for a third bedroom in a zone that allows only two per dwelling.

With those variances in hand, Rapcavage would return to the board at a later date for site plan review and, in all likelihood, additional variances, said his attorney, Armen McOmber.

But without the use variances, there would be no point in Rapcavage investing additional funds into engineering plans, he said, noting that his client has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to remediate contamination on a portion of the site that was long home to a gas station.

The new proposal represented a significant makeover from the one that was rejected as “too dense” by the board last December, McOmber said. That one called for 22 homes, with a total floor area of some 42,000 square feet. The new one, dubbed Azalea Gardens, calls for 33,500 square feet, he said.

“Virtually half of the site is going to be dedicated to open space,” McOmber told the board.

With an audience of about 10 residents present, Rapcavage planner Elizabeth Waterbury said the plan equates to 20 units per acre in a zone where 25 per acre are allowed.

She noted that the Rapcavage property sits at a convergence of roads that bring visitors into town from the east and south, “so when they’re coming into town, this is their view of Red Bank.” Under present zoning laws, she said, Rapcavage could build almost 60,000 square feet of commercial uses on the site without having to obtain any variances.

The townhouse plan, she said, serves as a “transitional use” between the retail businesses along Broad Street and the single-family homes along Hudson, Harding Road and Elm Place.

Waterbury told the board that the plan would eliminate six existing driveways on Hudson Avenue by putting all the parking on the Clay Street side of the project, which faces commercial uses. Each unit would have a two-car garage at grade level beneath three floors of living space, with an additional dedicated space in front of the garage and a space to be shared with a neighbor.

The plan won over not only the board but Anthony Sposaro, a Hudson Avenue resident and land-use lawyer who serves as zoning board attorney in three New Jersey towns. Sposaro opposed the plan of a year ago, he said Thursday, and was leery when Rapcavage called him afterward, asking to meet and talk.

“I viewed him as something of a slumlord,” Sposaro told the board. But he met with Rapcavage several times, even touring a Morris County project similar to the one now under consideration, and “over time, Ray earned my respect and my trust.”

“I can say with a clear conscience that I think this is an outstanding plan,” he added, calling out the garden, which offers a setback of almost 70 feet from Hudson Avenue.

No one in the audience or on the board raised any objections to the plan. Board member Ray Mass, who made the motion for approval, praised Rapcavage “for listening to the zoning board and to the residents” in reimagining his plan.

Rapcavage told redbankgreen afterward that the board’s rejection a year ago “made us rethink the entire site, and oddly enough, had they not denied us, this new plan would have never materialized.”

He said he expects to return to the board as early as next month, if its schedule allows, for site plan approval. Among the issues to be decided is the placement of two affordable units in a project McOmber said would otherwise be “high-end” in price.

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
Partyline
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 ...
WHAT? NO redbankgreen NEWSLETTER?
Apologies to redbankgreen newsletter subscribers: the daily email hasn’t gone out for two days because of technical issues.
RED BANK: TIRED OF SKEETERS?
RED BANK: Tired of mosquito bites every summer? Monmouth County has a free program to help eliminate skeeter breeding grounds.
SEA BRIGHT: POLAR PLUNGE FOR ST. JAMES, OTHERS
Hundreds braved the wind and sea on Sunday at 1PM in support of St. James Elementary School, and other Catholic schools in the area. The eve ...
RED BANK: RBR CLAIMS TITLE
RED BANK: Watch pure joy as the RBR boys basketball team celebrates its first B North championship in 17 years.