A rendering submitted with the plans for Victor Rallo’s planned eatery at 187 Riverside Avenue. The name on the sign is a mere placeholder, Rallo said. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
A view of the property at 187 Riverside Avenue, including the old gas station sign slated to replaced with one reading “Welcome to Red Bank” and the name of the new restaurant. (Photo by Brian Donohue)
“A tall enough curb might flip Tiger’s car as he comes across recklessly,” Planning Board Chairman Dan Mancuso said, questioning how the long depressed curb currently along the Riverside Avenue side of the property will be replaced with a full curb.
With outdoor seating planned, the restaurant would sit along one of the most treacherous stretches of roadway in town, where traffic heading south from Cooper’s Bridge curves left along Route 35 and which traffic studies show is a hot spot for crashes. (Coincidentally, it also has a history of a professional athlete and other drivers crashing into a building.)
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Besides the new curb, there are other measures to prevent what Borough Engineer Jacqueline Dirmann called “a Tiger Woods situation.”
They include 17 bollards placed five feet apart across the front of the property, along with another row of planters. There will be no entrance to the property from Riverside Avenue/Route 35, according to the plans.
“A curb is not going to stop a car – the bollards will,” said John McCormick, a traffic engineer who testified on behalf of the application by Rallo’s company All Things Vic LLC.
The hearing also featured some new news on other long-sought improvements to the stretch of Roadway. 
Red Bank Director of Community Development and Planning Board member Shawna Ebanks said the borough recently received a state Complete and Green Streets grant for improvements along Riverside Avenue, which could include new curbs and a four-foot wide sidewalk along the stretch that includes the planned eatery.
Both McCormick and Rallo’s attorney, former mayor Ed McKenna, said the state Department of Transportation were close to final approval of a long-sought traffic light at the corner of Bodman Place and Riverside Avenue.
The DOT had turned down previous borough requests for a light at that corner, calling it, “not feasible.”
The construction of the 211-unit Saxum apartment building at Riverside Avenue/Route 35 and Bodman Place, or some other factor, may have changed their thinking.
“That traffic light is going to happen,” McCormick said.
Rallo’s plans for the property at 187 Riverside include restoring the existing building with a brick facade, keeping the three garage door openings, and construction of a rain garden to capture stormwater runoff.
A billboard on the property may be removed under the terms of a conditional settlement of a lawsuit filed by its owner, Outfront Media, against the Borough. In the meantime, it will sit on an island in the 17-space parking lot.
Plans also call for the current “Bridge Avenue Gas” sign to be replaced with a dual display of the same size. One message will carry the name of the restaurant, the other will read “Welcome to Red Bank.” Rallo said he was open to designing the welcome sign to look however borough officials prefer.
While renderings submitted with the application include signage that reads “Rallo’s”, the owner said the final name of the restaurant has not been decided upon.
And while the Planning Board agenda described the new eatery as a “pizza restaurant,” Rallo said the final menu and concept are also still a work in progress.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331.
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