A rendering of a section of the proposed train station redevelopment project. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
NOTE: This article was updated to correct an error that incorrectly identified the entity submitting the redevelopment plan to the borough. Under the redevelopment process, that plan is submitted by municipal planners, in this case BFJ Planning, not the developer.
By BRIAN DONOHUE
When Borough of Red Bank officials and consultants undertook the long process of having 18 properties declared blighted to make way for the massive train station redevelopment project, they left out a half dozen lots, that it turns out, should have been in the there after all. Including, well, the actual train station platform area.
Now, the Borough is taking steps to add six more properties to the redevelopment plan being prepared, mostly railroad right of ways, passenger platforms and a NJ Transit rail yard used by employees only.
A map showing the original area declared in need of redevelopment and the additional properties being added.
The addition of the new properties doesn’t change the scale or scope of the project, Red Bank Director of Community Development Shawna Ebanks told redbankgreen. That includes the preservation of the historic train station building, which would be surrounded by new greenspace in the proposed plan.
“As our professionals were drafting the redevelopment plan, it was found that a few parcels owned by NJ Transit (that were not included in the original redevelopment area designation) would be partially encroached upon,” Ebanks said. “There is no change in the size of the project and its footprint,” she said.
But as Borough’s planning consultant BFJ Planning prepares to submit a redevelopment plan to the borough for the 13-acre tract, it appears to have added another few rounds of bureaucratic rigamarole.
All the steps already done with the initial 18 lots, now must be repeated with the six additional ones.
Those steps include the Borough Council authorizing a blight study (done on Jan. 23); the actual study being conducted (posted here last week), and a Planning Board hearing on the study (planned for Feb 12). Oh, and another Borough Council vote officially adding the new parcels.
Ebanks said the situation is not uncommon when such redevelopment plans are being drafted. The same occurred during the redevelopment process of the former Visiting Nurses Association site at 176 Riverside Avenue, she said.
RED BANK: 400 APARTMENTS, GREEN PLAZA, NEW STREETS IN TRAIN STATION PLAN
Developer Denholtz has proposed up to 400 apartments, new green space, retail and other amenities (see previous coverage above) in to fulfill the borough’s still-proposed redevelopment plan.
The six new properties being added include train tracks and passenger platforms, NJ Transit’s Red Bank rail yard; and a stretch of freight rail right of way described as “Red Bank – South Lakewood Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO).”
There’s one notable tidbit in the blight study on the six additional properties: news that NJ Transit is planning to replace temporary trailers on its Red Bank rail yard with a new $7 million structure for 30 employees, plus parking.
Have a news tip or story idea? redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
