A rendering shows the proposed roof deck on the former 10th Ave. Burrito Company building, as seen from Union Street. (Rendering by Michael Unger. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After two planning board hearings, a proposal to convert the former 10th Ave. Burrito Company space in Red Bank to an upscale seafood restaurant remained undecided Monday night.
Still at issue: the impact of a planned roof deck on residences in the condo building next door.
The latest proposal called for a roof with retractable skylight covers and roll-up doors facing the Navesink. (Rendering by Michael Unger. Click to enlarge.)
A third round of designs for the remodeled building, at 26 West Front Street, were unveiled, this time showing extensive use of skylights in a dining area overlooking the Navesink River.
As they did in March, lawyer Rick Brodsky and other representatives of the restaurant, to be called 26 West on the Navesink, depicted it as a place of “polished, casual, upscale dining.” In contrast to the building’s longtime former use as a nightclub, the restaurant would feature only “background-type music,” said manager Steve Valentine.
But former Mayor Ed McKenna, an attorney representing Tony Busch Sr., a resident of the building next door, continued to object to the proximity of the addition to his client’s bedroom windows.
“We have serious concerns about blocking of views, the noise element,” McKenna said.
Part of the addition, he said, would be six feet from Busch’s bedroom windows, McKenna said. “He’ll have 69 people eating, drinking, listening to music, doing whatever they’re doing” right outside his home, McKenna said of Busch.
Architect Mike Unger, though, raised questions about those windows, which he said appeared not to have been approved when the condo was created above an auto repair space that’s now home to Work Out World.
McKenna said that the legality of the windows had been rectified by the issuance of a building permit Monday.
Brodsky told the board his client would attempt to “come up with something based on the presence of the windows” with yet another design amendment.
The hearing was scheduled to resume on June 5.
