An illustration prepared by Outfront Media Inc and presented to the Red Bank Zoning Board last year showing the how its proposed electronic billboard would look at the location. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
An advertising company whose bid to replace its billboard at the entrance to Red Bank with a taller electronic sign was wholeheartedly rejected by the borough’s Zoning Board of Adjustment is now suing the board to get it built.
A photo of the existing billboard taken over the winter. (photo by Brian Donohue)
In March, Outfront Media LLC filed a lawsuit in State Superior Court in Monmouth County asking a judge to reverse the board’s denial of its application for an LED billboard on the site of the abandoned former Bridge Avenue Gas station at 187 Riverside Avenue.
The proposed new billboard would have stood five feet taller than the existing 22-foot sign, but would have a slightly smaller display area.
In its complaint, Outfront attorneys argue the electronic sign would have less of a visual impact than the current one because of its smaller size; the fact that would have been turned off at night; and technology that limits readability only to people within a 55-degree “cone of visibility.”
In the complaint filed March 2, attorneys say board members wrongly disregarded testimony proving those points.
The company also argues the replacement does not fit the definition of a new sign and should not have even required the two variances for which it was denied. Rather, attorneys argue they are simply updating and modernizing something that has stood since before billboards were banned by updated zoning laws.
In a response filed on behalf of the board, zoning board attorney Kevin Kennedy denied Outfront’s claims and asked for a dismissal of the suit. The judge ordered both sides to file briefs by this fall, with a possible trial set for some time after December.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment’s November vote ended a saga that stretched out over three, three-hour hearings over 11 months and included staunch opposition from neighbors and Red Bank Rivercenter, the non-profit which manages the downtown business improvement district.
In testimony, members of the public and board members themselves described the proposal variously as “heinous,” “awful,” “a nightmare,” and a feature that would, “turn Red Bank into the laughing stock of the area.”
The unanimous vote ended what the board’s engineer Edward Herman called “probably the single more challenging application I’ve faced” in more than a decade, due to the thicket of legal and engineering issues involved.
Now, as predicted numerous times by Outfront’s attorneys during the zoning board hearings, a judge will decide the matter.
It’s not clear what effect the court case might have on plans by the adjacent property owner to buy and redevelop a notorious eyesore at the town’s heavily trafficked gateway.
In February, just two months after the zoning board’s rejection of the billboard, the owner of the next-door Birravino restaurant announced plans to buy the property and spruce it up.
Restauranteur and TV host Victor Rallo, who also owns Undici Taverna Rustica in Rumson, announced in a press release he had entered into a contract to buy the property, which he had wanted to buy for years – only to be stymied by the owner’s longstanding lease with Outfront.
“It has been my dream to transform this entrance to Red Bank, which sees over 1,000 cars per hour, into a beautiful welcoming spot — a true “hello” to all visitors of this great town,” Rallo said in the February statement.
A search of Monmouth County Property records shows a contract between owner James Gambacorto and All Things Vic LLC dated February 18. No purchase price is listed for the property, which is assessed at $1.4 million, and no record of any final sale has been filed. Outfront’s lawsuit was filed two weeks after the sale contract was signed.
In an email, Rallo told redbankgreen he was unable to comment Monday.
In its application to the borough, Outfront also offered to remove six other static billboards it has at three locations in town as a condition of approval.
One of those sits smack dab in the middle of another blighted area the borough is trying to redevelop: the Red Bank Train Station redevelopment area.
An Outfront LLC billboard at the foot of Oakland Street in the train station redevelopment area. (photo by Brian Donohue)
A March 2024 redevelopment study by borough planners BFJ Planning mentioned the billboard as a possible impediment to what would eventually become the currently pending proposal to build up to 400-apartments in the area.
The property on which the billboard sits is owned by Denholtz, the NJ Transit’s designated developer for the train station redevelopment area.
But the study says, “It is not clear whether the owner of this lot, which also holds several lots in this block, also owns the billboard itself. If any leasing arrangement are in place for the billboard structure, this would impair the ability of Lot 5-B01 to be developed, even if assembled with other parcels as it has been.”
Reached via email, a spokesman for Denholtz declined to comment on the matter.
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 byredbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
An illustration prepared by Outfront Media Inc and presented to the Red Bank Zoning Board last year showing the how its proposed electronic billboard would look at the location. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
