The new owner of a corner lot at West Westside Avenue and Clifford Place plans to demolish the existing house and build three new homes. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposal to build three new homes on an existing one-house lot won approval from the Red Bank planning board Monday night.
But not without some pushback over whether the builder was “squeezing in” too much development.
The plan, by Dave Adams, of Daveblake Real Estate LLC, concerned 81 West Westside Avenue, at the corner of Clifford Place. The business bought the property last June for $250,000, according to Monmouth County records.
Adams said he plans to subdivide the two existing lots into three zone-conforming, 5,000-square-foot lots; demolish an existing house; and build three new homes, as shown in the site plan at right.
One home would sit on the same footprint as the existing home, with a detached garage built on that lot, he said. The other two houses would have attached garages. Variances were needed for setbacks and front-facing garages.
Each house would be 2,000 square feet in size with four bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths, Adams said.
“We’re not doing anything that’s nonconforming in that area,” he told the board.
But after neighbor Rich Ashton complained that the property was “a little too small for three houses,” Councilman Michael Ballard weighed in.
Noting a previous application on the night’s agenda — Riverview Medical Center’s plan to demolish a 118-year-old house — Ballard said “we’re constantly changing what it means to be in Red Bank.
“I understand that developers want to make money,” Ballard said, “but it’s disheartening that they can’t build within the confines of our community and respect the historic nature. Maybe it’s the dollars, that we’re going to squeeze three houses in there.”
Neighbor Cynthia Ashton, too, about “squeezing things in just to make the extra dollars. You knew what you were purchasing when you purchased that land.
“I know that you’ll do a beautiful job. I’ve seen your work, she told Adams. “I’d just like you to be considerate.”
Mayor Pasquale Menna, however, called the variances “de minimis.” The vote to approve was 6-2, with Ballard and David Cassidy voting no.
Here are the project plans: 81 W Westside 2018 Architect Plans
