A rendering of the proposed Thrive Red Bank project, as seen from Shrewsbury Avenue. (Rendering by CPA Architecture. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed apartment building for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities won approval from the Red Bank zoning board Thursday night.
Advocates called the approval historic, and said it would allow them to create a model for desperately needed housing for neuro-diverse adults.
Red Bank’s planning board approved a subdivision at 27 Locust Avenue Monday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The project would replace three commercial buildings on Bridge Avenue and two houses on Oakland Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
UPDATE: The May 18 zoning board meeting has been cancelled, according to a notice on the borough website.
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposal for 32 new apartments across the street from the Red Bank train station is scheduled to go before the borough zoning board next week.
If approved, the project would add to a development boom around the station.
Formerly known as Azalea Gardens, the project will feature townhouses and two cottages. (Renderings by Thomas J. Brennan Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
In the works for more than two decades, a housing development featuring a lush garden in downtown Red Bank will finally begin construction this summer, its principals said Thursday night.
Formerly known as Azalea Gardens, with a new name to be determined, the 16-home project now pairs longtime owner Ray Rapcavage with borough-based developer Roger Mumford, who’s built more than 4,000 homes in his career.
Tom Hintelmann addresses attendees at the event in his late father’s honor. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See note below
By JOHN T. WARD
The lobby at Red Bank’s long-closed Senior Center now has a name, in honor of the late Thomas E. Hintelmann, the borough’s longest-serving council member.
Several dozen attendees crowded into the foyer of the Shrewsbury Avenue facility Tuesday evening to memorialize Hintelmann, who served on the borough council from 1975 through 2004.
Councilman Ed Zipprich, right, with Councilman Michael Ballard in December. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Five-term incumbent Red Bank Councilmember Ed Zipprich won’t run for a seat in the new form of government he opposed, according to a news report.
In recent years, Zipprich has been a lightning rod for controversy as the the Democratic party, which dominates borough politics, split into warring tribes under his leadership.
Former Councilwoman Kathy Horgan at home in December, above, and on the night of her first council win, in 2007, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
What’s a 77-year-old former Red Bank councilwoman to do when her political career ends and she’s suddenly got loads more free time?
Go back to college, maybe. That’s one item on Kathy Horgan‘s bucket list, she told redbankgreen.
Mayor Pasquale Menna reading ridiculously low room rates from an old Molly Pitcher Inn matchbook. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Mayor Pasquale Menna presided over his final Red Bank council meeting Wednesday night, closing out a political career unmatched for duration in borough history.
His successor will have to wait an extra four days to take up the reins of a form of government that’s also slated for retirement.
Mayor Pasquale Menna and Councilwoman Kathy Horgan are slated to attend their final session as elected officials. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank may inch closer to turning its onetime landfill on the Swimming River into an eight-acre park under a proposed action on the agenda Wednesday night.
The session, which marks the sunset of Mayor Pasquale Menna‘s 16-year tenure, also includes potential action on short-term rentals.
The facility would operate in three buildings now used for warehousing at 15 East Leonard Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank moved closer to scoring a wholesale cannabis growing facility Monday night.
Before granting approval, however, planning board members had to overcome misgivings about an all-cash operation – and an electrified security fence meant to give intruders a “kick in the chest” without killing them.
Tom Hintelmann speaks with Father Alberto Tamayo at the Red Bank Mayor’s Ball in 2015. (Photo above by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Tom Hintelmann, a lifelong Red Bank resident and teacher who served on the borough council for three decades, died Friday, according to an obituary published Saturday.
He was 85 years old.
Five voters wanted former Republican Mayor Mike Arnone, seen here in 2015, back in office. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Billy Portman may have been the only candidate on the ballot to succeed Pasquale Menna as Red Bank mayor in this month’s election, but 94 voters had other ideas, according to data released by the Monmouth County Clerk Tuesday.
Among the non-candidates receiving write-in votes were two former mayors, a rock guitarist and a recent Red Bank Regional High School graduate.
The vacant onetime home of Big Man’s West and the office building at left would be razed to make way for the development, shown in the illustration below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan for 45 apartments on the Red Bank site of a nightclub once owned by saxophonist Clarence Clemons won borough variances to proceed Thursday night.
Developer Michael Salerno told redbankgreen he’s planning to call the project The Sax, in honor of Bruce Springsteen’s late sideman.
The project would replace a one-story commercial building at Mechanic Street and Globe Court. (Rendering by GRO Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank zoning board gave unanimous approval to plans for a new 40-unit downtown apartment building Thursday night.
The action followed design changes by developer Mazin ‘Patrick’ Kalian that eliminated one story, 10 dwelling units and the need for key variances.
Salerno attorney and former mayor Ed McKenna challenged testimony by a planner for the owner of the nearby Station Place apartments. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A planner who testified against variances for 46 apartments in downtown Red Bank got a tongue-lashing from former mayor Ed McKenna Thursday night.
The planner’s attorney termed McKenna’s aggressive approach a “preposterous rant.”
A rendering of the proposed One Globe Court project at Mechanic Street and Globe Court. (Rendering by GRO Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Questions about the need for a fifth floor surrounded a plan for 50 new apartments in downtown Red Bank Thursday night.
Capping the building at four stories would eliminate the need for height and parking variances, a member of the borough zoning board suggested.
Former mayor Benedict Nicosia riding in Red Bank’s centennial parade in 2008. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Former Red Bank mayor Benedict R. Nicosia died peacefully at his home Saturday, according to an obituary.
He was 101 years old.
Billy Portman at home on John Street Sunday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Why did Red Bank mayoral candidate Michael Ballard sign a petition for a candidate who would oppose him if he won last week’s Democratic primary?
To counter “secret deal-making” engineered by opponent Billy Portman, Ballard told redbankgreen Friday night.
In response, Portman mocked the allegation as “business as usual” from a “dying machine.”
The house at the northwest corner of Oakland and Pearl Streets would be refurbished for rental as an affordable unit, if approved. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The developer of a proposed 45-apartment project in Red Bank would satisfy part of his affordable housing obligation by restoring a house previously targeted for demolition, representatives told the zoning board Thursday night.
It’s the latest change to a plan that’s been inching its way through the review process for nearly three years.
Ed Zipprich, center, with council colleagues Kathy Horgan and Erik Yngstrom in 2017. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank councilman and Democratic party chairman Ed Zipprich issued a “demand” Tuesday that two party members who sued for the removal of Angela Mirandi from the council reimburse the borough for its legal expenses.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, left, with Councilman Michael Ballard on February 11. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After 16 years in office, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna won’t seek a fifth term, redbankgreen has learned.
Menna’s decision, and the absence of other contenders, clears a path for Councilman Michael Ballard to secure the Democratic party nomination without resistance by the incumbent in the June primary election.
Michael Ballard and Ed Zipprich in 2015; Mayor Pasquale Menna is visible in the background. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Dumping a party stalwart after more than three decades in office, Red Bank’s Democratic regulars nominated Councilman Michael Ballard as their candidate for mayor Wednesday.
The move exposed new depths of a bitter split with 16-year incumbent Mayor Pasquale Menna, who told redbankgreen that party committee members had shown “their true colors” with their decision.
Councilman and Democratic party Chairman Ed Zipprich attaches a borough pin to Angela Mirandi’s lapel after her February 11 swearing-in. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The civil war among Red Bank Democrats shifted to the courts Wednesday, as two local party committee members announced they sued to have newly-sworn council member Angela Mirandi removed from office.
The Superior Court lawsuit against party Chairman Ed Zipprich and others alleges he illegally froze out committee members Kathy Horgan and Kate Okeson in filling a council vacancy earlier this month.
News of the lawsuit broke just hours before Mirandi was expected to attend her first council session as a member.
An elevation showing the Monmouth Street side of the proposed mixed-used project, looking eastward. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Stalled for more than two years, hearings on a proposal for four stories of new apartments and shops on Monmouth Street resumed in Red Bank Thursday night.
Among early subjects of concern were plans to raze two homes for parking, and the impacts on adjoining properties.
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s governing council is about to get a new member: Angela Mirandi, a corporate-numbers professional who would immediately have a spot on the powerful budget oversight committee.
But Mirandi’s selection Wednesday night followed a dramatic few minutes in which the chairman of the Democratic party declined to endorse one of the other two residents whose names he had forwarded as contenders.