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.
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank will move quickly to set zoning rules on the growth, distribution and retail sale of cannabis, the council informally agreed Wednesday night.
The decision will enable the borough to dictate where cannabis commerce can occur, and eventually generate some tax revenue.
The operation would be housed in a warehouse on East Leonard Street, indicated by a star above. (Image from Google Maps. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Jumping in on New Jersey’s legalization of adult-use marijuana, a local homebuilder hopes to win approval for a growing facility in Red Bank, redbankgreen has learned.
Tucked into a patch of industrial Red Bank few have reasons to pass, the longtime site of a garage has been transformed into rental housing.
What’s Going On Here? Click for details.
Detour Framing owner Erin Crinigan in her new shop, a former staircase factory. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Seventeen months after Detour Gallery debuted with a splash in downtown Red Bank, a spinoff framing shop has now opened on the West Side, completing the transformation of a former amplifier factory and staircase builder.
And this weekend, Detour Framing kicks things off with an art exhibit of its own.
The house at 251 Drs. Parker Boulevard had human waste spilling into the side yard from a pipe through the basement wall for at least two years, a neighbor said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A routine Red Bank zoning board hearing took disturbing turn last week.
Several units at River’s Edge, like the one above at the western end of Bank Street, offer expansive views of the Swimming River. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A long wait is about to an end as builder Charlie Farkouh puts the finishing touches on the most ambitious housing development Red Bank’s West Side has seen in years.
Farkouh tells redbankgreen he’s nearing completion on the 15-unit River’s Edge project, replacing several derelict houses at the western ends of Bank Street and Drs. James Parker Boulevard.
Builder Charlie Farkouh on the Bank Street portion of the project earlier this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A planned condo complex with a knotty, decade-long history of false starts is finally going into the ground on Red Bank’s West Side.
Rumson builder Charles Farkouh, who acquired the project in August, tells redbankgreen he’ll have the 15-unit River’s Edge project, which spans several lots at the western ends of Bank Street and Drs. James Parker Boulevard, finished in 12 to 14 months.
“Full steam,” said Farkouh, as workers prepared footings in a large excavation abutting a steep bank overlooking the Swimming River on Tuesday. “It’s happening.”
The overdose death of an Oxford House resident has resulted in charges against a man described by authorities as an acquaintance. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
An Avon-by-the-Sea man has been charged for allegedly supplying the heroin that led to the overdose death of a resident of Rumson’s Oxford House rehab facility last October, the Monmouth County Prosecutor announced Tuesday.
Michael Renna, 25, was charged with one count of first degree strict liability for a drug-induced death and one count of third-degree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said in a prepared statement.
News about the death of 25-year-old Christopher Pesce was the first that word that nearby residents had that the recovery residence had opened two months earlier in their residential corner of Rumson, and ignited a firestorm of objections.
It also led to a pair of countervailing lawsuits by the borough and Oxford House, litigation that now appears to be close to settlement.
Oxford House says in a court filing that the group home at 61 South Ward Avenue is getting new residents. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Oxford House has gone on the legal offensive against Rumson.
The parent organization of the embattled group home for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts filed a federal lawsuit against the borough on Friday, alleging discrimination in violation of fair housing and Americans with Disabilities laws.
The suit claims the town and borough Administrator Tom Rogers “have interfered with operation and occupancy” of the residence in the aftermath of two drug overdoses at the house since it opened in August – one resulting of the death of a 25-year-old Holmdel man in October, and the second in December, in which a resident required emergency treatment.
The Rumson house where a man was found dead of a suspected drug overdose Sunday quietly became an addiction recovery residence in August, neighbors say. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Nestled in a quiet Rumson neighborhood still recovering from floodwaters that tore through a year ago, the grey house at the corner of South Ward and Washington avenues stands out, towering over its neighbors.
It also stands out as the subject of complaints to the police.
“They party all the time,” a neighbor who asked not to be identified said of the home’s occupants. “They are up all night. Partying on the front porch. Running through the neighborhood.”
Sunday evening, though, the police were at the house for another reason: looking into the death of one of its residents from a purported drug overdose.
To the surprise of many in this affluent community, the house turns be a drug- and alcohol-rehab residence.
The death of a person found at a Rumson residence Sunday is under investigation, police Chief Scott Paterson tells redbankgreen.
Kin of the deceased haven’t been notified, so he’s unable to release any information about the matter, including the name or age of the victim, Paterson says.
Oxford House, a nonprofit drug rehab provider, lists the house, at 61 South Ward Avenue, as a residence for up to nine males in rehab. Drug or alcohol use by residents is cause for eviction.