The Red Bank Borough Council at work on July 11, 2025. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
It was a night of high emotion and big votes as two major housing initiatives cleared hurdles at a meeting of the Red Bank Mayor and Borough Council Thursday: the rehab of a 60-year-old affordable housing complex and a massive transformation of a 25-acre tract near the train station.
One of the NJ Transit parking lots where a five-story apartment building could rise under the Train Station Redevelopment Plan. (photo by Brian Donohue)
The council gave unanimous final approval to the Train Station Redevelopment Plan approved by the planning board last month, creating guidelines that allow five-story buildings with up to 400 apartments, 700 parking spaces, green space and new streets near the train station.
Referring to the large swaths of often-empty NJ Transit parking lots that dominate the tract, Council Member Kristina Bonatakis summed up her vote with a mantra urban planners and smart growth advocates have been uttering for decades: “I will always prioritize housing over surface parking lots,” she said.
The plan faced measured criticism from a half dozen public speakers at the meeting, including Irving Place resident Dan Riordan, who said the borough was missing an opportunity to gain more concessions from the developer to deliver more affordable housing, better architecture and the bike-pedestrian path envisioned – but not required – by the plan along existing rail lines.
“We have leverage now,” he said. “We won’t have leverage after we give them this redevelopment plan.”
He also pointed out that only earlier draft versions of the redevelopment plan – not the final version approved by the Planning Board on June 11, had been made available to the public before the vote.
Council members said they were comfortable voting on the plan because only minor changes to the last version, dated June 6, was posted on the borough web site.
The council’s vote creates new zoning for the area, laying out guidelines for what is required and what is allowed. Denholtz, NJ Transit’s designated developer for its properties and owner of multiple other properties in the area, is expected to return to the Planning Board for the often lengthy process of site-plan approval for exactly what would be built.
The council also unanimously approved a new, more generous – and officials argue, critical – tax abatement for Locust Landing, a 40-unit affordable housing development along the Navesink River.
RED BANK LOOKS TO ELEVATE & REHAB AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPLEX
Owners of the complex warned the borough earlier this year that the expiration of the existing Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement as well as the need to renovate and elevate the buildings would be too expensive to keep the complex designated as income-eligible housing. (see link to previous coverage above.)
Under the ordinance introduced by the council, the complex would begin paying the borough one percent of gross revenue immediately, followed by four percent once the elevation and rehabilitation is complete.
That compares to nine percent under the current 30-year PILOT which would expire in 2029. According to borough figures released in Febuary, the complex paid $55,000 in fiscal year 2024.
Borough Attorney Greg Cannon said the owners of the complex are also asking for forgiveness of a $600,000 mortgage from the state.
Red Bank, which receives credit towards its state obligations for just four units of affordable housing at Locust Landing could now claim credit for all 40 units. Those credits currently go to Middletown, which paid Red Bank for them under a since-outlawed practice of regional contributions.
Three public speakers all praised the plan, saying it would allow families who have lived in town for years to remain amid skyrocketing housing costs.
“It’s a no-brainer to put in a new and improved PILOT for this affordable housing,” resident Drew Logan told the council. “Let’s get those credits back from Middletown.”
Locust Avenue resident Amy Goldsmith drew a distinction between the train station plan, where affordable units would be set aside in a luxury complex filled with wealthier tenants, and Locust Landing, an entirely working-class enclave where families have lived for years.
“For doing good things like really truly affordable housing, we should use PILOTS for that,’ she told the council.
Taken together, Locust Landing and the train station form the core of the borough’s attempts to meet a state mandate to create 153 units of affordable housing over the next two years.
Councilman David Cassidy called it both a sound moral and legal strategy to avoid the so-called “builder’s remedy” lawsuits developers often file against towns that fail to meet their obligations under the famous Mount Laurel state supreme court decision.
Those lawsuits often result in builders gaining virtual carte blanche to build whatever they want to make the town meets its legal quotas.
“There’s a reason Red Bank hasn’t been hit with a builder’s remedy,” he said. “It’s because Red Bank has lived up to its Mount Laurel obligations.”
“We just picked up 36 units,” he added. “We did it the right way. This is one of the best things I’m going to be able to say ‘yes’ to in my time on this body.”
Councilman Ben Forest took the moral argument further, in an emotional speech referring to Locust Landing residents who had been his longtime neighbors, his childrens’ classmates and a crucial part of the community.
“These are people who live with us now,” he said. “And we could just have that whole community go away and nobody really cares about the people who live there.”
Referring to criticism of the PILOT renewal he said, “It’s upsetting to me that we would entertain not re-approving a community that is in town and are fine, decent people. And if you don’t want someone who would vote yes for that, you certainly shouldn’t vote for me.”
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. 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.
