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: MASTER PLAN OUTREACH PLEDGED

red-bank-planning-board-111521-500x332-7097657Monday night’s planning board meeting was lightly attended. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot-topic_03-220x138-2130637A New York City planning firm will run a series of public sessions and set up a web portal for comments while overhauling Red Bank’s Master Plan, planning board members said Monday night.

The promised outreach effort put the proposal by BFJ Planning “heads and tails above” four other pitches for the contract, said member David Cassidy.

red-bank-kristina-bonatakis-111521-500x332-6575016Master Plan subcommittee members Kristina Bonatakis, above, and David Cassidy, below, at Monday’s meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

red-bank-david-cassidy-111521-220x146-1032720At its semimonthly meeting, the board formalized BFJ’s appointment to lead the first rewrite of the lodestar zoning document in 26 years.

The unanimous action followed the recommendation of the board’s Master Plan subcommittee: board Chairman Dan Mancuso; Mayor Pasquale Menna; and members Cassidy and Kristina Bonatakis.

Mancuso and Menna were absent, and no one from BFJ was present at the session, which attracted an audience of two residents, neither of whom commented during the public session.

In a brief presentation, Cassidy said the subcommittee held one meeting and gave “a solid level of consideration” to five proposals offered in response to a board request.

The BFJ proposal “stood out,” because no other “came close to the level of public input” that the firm offered to solicit, Cassidy said.

In addition to holding public sessions, the firm will set up an online portal “so that public testimony can be submitted and polls can be conducted, he said.

“This going to be comprehensive and made simple for maximum input,” he said.

Also important: BFJ was the only firm to offer a Spanish speaker to interact with the borough’s Spanish-speaking residents, Cassidy said.

Prices ranged from $85,000 to $160,000, with BFJ’s the second-highest, at $150,000, said Cassidy.

“Quite frankly, when you’re talking about a document that’s going to guide the planning of this community for the next 25 years, we’re talking about approximately $7,000 a year in cost,” he said.

“Cost did not come into our consideration,” he said. “I’ll be candid about it. I don’t think that is something we should shy from. The reality is their proposal was heads and tails above the others.”

Last month, the council authorized a “special emergency appropriation” of $160,000 for consultant fees for the project.

Bonatakis said the review was “pretty robust,” and came down to “the value we were getting, which was just huge with BFJ.

“First and foremost for me was the level of public outreach,” which will include “multiple channels,” Bonatakis said.

BFJ has worked with Millburn, in Union County, and Beacon, New York, towns comparable in size and character to Red Bank, Cassidy said.

The firm also has its own graphics studio, which Cassidy said enabled it to provide maps and other visuals that will be “clean, colorful and up to date.”

Among the proposals was one from the planning board’s engineer, Ed Herrman of T&M Associates, who “received a tremendous amount of consideration because of his service to this community,” said Cassidy. “But ultimately, we thought BFJ shined out” based on its outreach plan, he said.

Board member Barbara Boas sought assurance that the subcommittee’s progress in developing the plan should be as public as possible, with “regular reports” available.

Community Development Director Shawna Ebanks said such updates by the subcommittee, which will now serve as the Master Plan steering committee, would be included on board agendas.

The presentation, which took about 15 minutes, followed a demand last week by Councilman Michael Ballard for greater transparency in the selection process.

If you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen, please become a financial supporter for as little as $1 per month. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.

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.