After years of controversy, plan changes and environmental issues, a combination play area and viewing stand in Red Bank’s Bellhaven Natural Area is finally nearing completion. redbankgreen got a sneak preview Thursday morning.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
A sign alerting the public to an environmental cleanup appeared at Red Bank’s Bellhaven Natural Area a few weeks ago.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
After years of discussion, some of it quite heated, Red Bank’s Bellhaven Natural Area is about to get a makeover.
Consulting engineer Christine Ballard details the Bellhaven plan for the council last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After years of revisions, and no small amount of controversy, changes to the Bellhaven Natural Area in Red Bank could be completed by this summer, officials said last week.
Once again, the project has been scaled-back from a version of a plan that called for a spray park and triggered loud protests four years ago, they said.
Trees were taken down recently at Bellhaven Natural Area in preparation for an observation deck being built there, according to Business Administrator Ziad Shehady. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials have quietly started prep work for a project at a site once mired in controversy: the Bellhaven Natural Area overlooking the Swimming River.
The end result, however will be a “scaled-back” version of a plan that once called for a spray park and triggered loud protests three years ago.
The new concept plan for Bellhaven Natural Area includes an observation deck, similar to the one shown for illustration purposes above left; playground equipment; and a play area covered with a rubberized safety surface, shown in light green. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two years after residents gave a thorough hosing to a plan for a spray park in a West Side wetlands, Red Bank officials unveiled a new plan for the Bellhaven Natural Area Wednesday night.
This one got a warmer reception.
After scrapping a controversial plan for a “spray pad” in a children’s play area at Bellhaven Natural Area two years ago, Red Bank officials plan to unveil a new plan for the site next week.
A 2012 image outlines the extent of wetlands at Bellhaven Natural Area at the western terminus of Locust Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two years after abandoning a controversial “sprayground” proposed for the Bellhaven Natural Area, the Red Bank borough council is moving ahead with plans for a playground at the site.
At its semimonthly meeting Wednesday night, the council approved nearly $20,000 in additional engineering costs for the site, a move that prompted fresh objections.
“This is deja vu all over again,” said Bill Meyer, owner of a downtown commercial building. The borough has already spent $73,000 engineering fees on the site, and “that money was burned and wasted,” he said. More →
An entrance to Bellhaven Natural Area on Locust Avenue. A proposed playground would be sited within the of loop the path shown above. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A controversial plan for a spray park in Red Bank’s Bellhaven Natural Area has all but officially sputtered out.
The borough-owned riverfront lot at the western end of Locust Avenue is still envisioned as the site of a much-needed West Side playground, according to Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer, the governing body’s liaison to the parks and recreation department.
But a spray park or a splash pad that shoots jets of water skyward? That’s done, she tells redbankgreen.
Critics contend the Bellhaven sprayground has little popular support. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
It wasn’t on the agenda, but a proposed water playground on Red Bank’s West Side spewed back to the fore Wednesday night.
At issue: whether to keep spending money on prep work for the controversial four-year-old project, which has been temporarily derailed by the discovery of heating oil in the soil.
Counting at least three prospective “no” votes on the six-member council, Republican Cindy Burnham asked: “Why do we continue to use taxpayer money to pay [engineering consultant] T&M Associates for soil testing and permits?”
Bellhaven is located on the Swimming River, at the western terminus of Locust Avenue. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After several months of quiet, a controversial project originally proposed as a children’s “sprayground” returns to the Red Bank borough council Wednesday night.
What the plan calls for and might cost, however, is known only to a small circle of people. Mayor Pasquale Menna said Monday that even he had not gotten a peek at the revised proposal, which is slated to to be outlined at the council’s the regular bimonthly meeting.
The council approved a bond to pay for a bulkhead to halt erosion at North Prospect Avenue, above. A change to another bond, for a possible spray park at Bellhaven Natural Area, below, drew criticism. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Not for the first time and almost certainly not for the last, Red Bankers picked over a pair of big-ticket projects at Wednesday night’s council meeting.
One was a bond ordinance council members were in a hurry to approve in order to save two Navesink River yards from severe erosion.
The other: A possible spray park at Bellhaven Natural Area that has pitted environmental activists against West Siders desperate for a playground.
David Prown came across this sign at Bellhaven Park on Locust Avenue in Red Bank while walking Friday afternoon. According to Gary Watson, director of the borough’s public works department, two trees, one at each entrance to the park, have died and “they’re dropping large branches and we don’t want anyone to get hurt,” he said. The trees will be removed as quickly as possible so that the park may reopen soon, he said. (Photo by David Prown. Click to enlarge)
Red Bank officials are seeking funds for the Bellhaven Park nature area on Locust Avenue. Below, a map from the 2006 waterfront plan. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Bellhaven Park, an oft-overlooked waterfront parcel in Red Bank’s inventory of natural areas, could use a little help any kind of help, says borough Engineer Christine Ballard.
Sequestered away from the public eye at the western end of Locust Avenue, it’s never gotten the kind of use or attention from residents that other parks see. Now, general neglect at the park, designated as a passive natural area, has led it to become a little bit too natural, said Mayor Pasquale Menna.
The Swimming River has swallowed up at least half of a floating dock at the park, and the heavy brush of native and invasive species has made some winding paths almost impassable.
“It’s like a jungle down there,” Menna said. “It needs to be accessible and safer. Even our own (police) patrols can’t even go in there because of the overgrowth.”
Seagulls kept cool on a sandbar in the Swimming River off Bellhaven Nature Area in Red Bank as ‘feels-like’ temperatures for humans topped 100 degrees earlier this week.
With the heat wave now broken, the Greater Red Bank Green is in for a weekend of sunshine and temperatures peaking at about 80 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Check out the extended forecast below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
On the ballot November 2: Red Bank council candidate Kate Triggiano. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank voters will have three candidates to choose from when they elect two council members November 2.
Here’s what candidate Kate Triggiano had to say in response to a questionnaire sent to the three by redbankgreen.
Creating the turtle habitat at Bellhaven involved trucking in a special blend of sand. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank’s Environmental Commission has debuted a pair of completed projects spotlighting turtles and water conservation in recent weeks.
After revisions, a plan to build a house in front of the existing four-family at 70 Locust Avenue was approved. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Much of Red Bank’s zoning board agenda was scrapped Thursday night, when hearings on plans for several large apartment projects had to be rescheduled.
But the board got some work done, approving a plan for new house single-family house on Locust Avenue.
The proposal calls for a new house in the front yard of 70 Locust Avenue. A portion of Bellhaven Commons is seen at left. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After hearing nearly three hours of testimony and comments about a request to subdivide a riverfront lot, Red Bank’s zoning board was locked in indecision Thursday night.
For a while, none of the board’s members stepped forward with a motion to approve the request concerning 70 Locust Avenue. And when a motion to instead deny eventually emerged, it failed, leaving the plan in limbo.
The lot at 60 Locust Avenue, outlined in red at right above, was subdivided into three in 2018, allowing the creation of the two new homes seen below. The latest plan would subdivide the lot outlined at left above. (Image from Google Maps; photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Three years after winning approval to build a two houses in their front yard, a Red Bank couple returns to the zoning board this week with a similar plan just a few doors away.
Downtown shoppers will be able to park in designated spots for quick pickups from restaurants and retail stores throughout town. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With merchants starting to emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown, Red Bank officials unveiled a temporary parking plan Monday aimed at helping them regain an economic toehold.
Like the rest of New Jersey, Red Bank may be on near-lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but work on a trio of closely watched municipal projects continues.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
Patrolman Stan Balmer and Hunter running drills in Marine Park in January. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
One of Red Bank’s two police K9 teams will get a national spotlight this week when it competes in an obstacle-filled challenge on the A&E program ‘America’s Top Dogs.’
A pair of deer seen wandering Locust Avenue in Red Bank near the Bellhaven wetlands Thursday afternoon.
A string of wet, dreary days continued with heavy fog Friday morning, along with a National Weather Service warning of possible strong winds through 7 p.m., with gusts up to 60 miles per hour. Sunshine was expected to return Saturday.
Check out the extended forecast below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Councilman Erik Yngstrom. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank voters will choose two council members for three-year terms in the November 5 election.
On the ballot are incumbent Democrats Kathy Horgan and Erik Yngstrom and Republican challengers Allison Gregory and Jonathan Maciel Penney.
redbankgreen sent all candidates written questions. Here are Yngstrom’s responses.