RED BANK: BAGEL OVEN ENDS 45-YEAR RUN
The Bagel Oven in Red Bank ended a 45-year run under its founding owners Sunday.
RED BANK: BROADWALK IS BACK
Red Bank’s Broadwalk returned Monday night for at least a four-month run. And the weather for the next week looks good for outdoor dining.
RED BANK: POT, BUDGET & MORE ON AGENDA
Responding to public pressure, the council plans to create a four-way stop at the intersection of Leighton Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (Google Maps image. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On the Red Bank mayor and council’s agenda for Wednesday night: new hurdles for licensing of cannabis businesses; the 2023 budget; a new four-way traffic intersection and more.
RED BANK: SMOKED MEATS, PLUS CLAY, IN CHURN
Gleaming displays at Salt & Smoke, on Prospect Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank may have lost one of its oldest neighborhood butcher shops last summer, but new owners are giving the space a new, spicier lease on life.
Also in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn, a pottery instruction business takes over a tiny, hard-to-see spot in the heart of downtown.
RED BANK: POT LAW DRAWS FIRE BUT ADVANCES
A long-vacant gas station at the foot of Cooper’s Bridge was left out of the new law by mistake, proponents said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council advanced a rewrite of the borough pot law Wednesday night, undeterred by cannabis business owners warning of lawsuits.
The proposed changes, which include a ban on marijuana retailing within 1,000 feet of schools, “please no one,” but must be adopted, their lead sponsor told a sharply divided audience at a special legislative session.
RED BANK: SESSION ON CANNABIS LAW SLATED
A proposed change to Red Bank’s cannabis law would ban sales within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds and public housing, except in one zone, under a draft that’s up for discussion at a special session this week.
RED BANK: PAIR PRODS ACTION ON BROADWALK
Robinson Ale House owner Tim McLoone at Wednesday’s council session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Broadwalk dining plaza will return for at least a four-month run May 15, following informal agreement by the borough council Wednesday night.
The consensus arose after Mayor Billy Portman and Councilwoman Kate Triggiano goaded the reluctant majority bloc into an immediate decision.
RED BANK: ART GALLERY TAKING A DETOUR
Detour Gallery on opening night in 2016. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See CLARIFICATION below
By JOHN T. WARD
Seven years after it opened in Red Bank with a splash, Detour Gallery is heading for the Highline.
The art gallery plans to relocate to open a new space in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, though much of its collection will remain in the converted warehouse owner Kenny Schwartz calls home, he told redbankgreen Tuesday.
RED BANK: PARKING, EV CHARGING ON AGENDA
The council is eyeing requirements for electric vehicle charging in new multifamily projects and parking lots. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
On the Red Bank mayor and council’s agenda for Wednesday night: rules requiring electric vehicle chargers at new developments, and a change in the parking law for a stretch of Spring Street.
Not on the agenda: the burning issue of how to rewrite the town’s cannabis law.
RED BANK: 139-YEAR-OLD MARINA SOLD
Riverview Medical Center looms over one of two Irwin Marine properties flanking Marine Park. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Irwin Marine, a boating business with pilings sunk deep into the red clay waterfront that gave Red Bank its name, has been sold by the family that’s owned it throughout its 139-year existence.
RED BANK: CHEESE SHOP OPENS
A new specialty cheese shop has opened in Red Bank, adding momentum to an ongoing transformation of the downtown business district’s southern end. More →
RED BANK: FIRE DAMAGES APARTMENT
Volunteer firefighters battling the blaze, as seen from the north side of the building. (Video by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Fire in a third-floor unit briefly emptied a seven-story apartment building overlooking the Navesink River in Red Bank Thursday afternoon.
RED BANK: SMOKE, BUT NO FIRE ‘COMPANY’
The cannabis shop is slated to replace the China Moon restaurant on North Bridge Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed cannabis store with the “terrible” name of “Red Bank Fire Company” will change its moniker before it opens in coming months, a representative said Monday night.
The business won planning board approval to open a marijuana dispensary in a North Bridge Avenue strip mall after promising to quickly end any confusion with the borough’s volunteer fire department.
RED BANK: ITALIAN ICE, LOBSTER ROLLS COMING
The future location of Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard on West Front Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s booming food scene is in for some new additions soon: a Rita’s Italian Ice shop and a Mystic Lobster Roll.
Also: a hair stylist has found a single answer to the questions of where to operate his salon and where to live.
Read all about them in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: HOUSING, POT DOMINATE SESSION
Evergreen Terrace is one of two apartment complexes slated for possible rehabilitation or redevelopment. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Housing Authority asked the borough council for money to explore possible redevelopment of two subsidized apartment complexes Wednesday night.
At its second three-plus-hour meeting in three days, the governing body also heard more testimony for and against a possible overhaul of the zoning law governing cannabis businesses.
RED BANK: PORTMAN VETOES RENTAL LAW
Mayor Billy Portman called the ordinance “an effort to appease a few people” who oppose short-term rentals. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Mayor Billy Portman vetoed a controversial law restricting short-term, Airbnb-style residential rentals Wednesday night.
Portman, just seven weeks into his term, announced the rarely used action after the conclusion of a council meeting that ran for three and a half hours without any hint of his intention.
RED BANK: POT LAW OVERHAUL PROPOSED
Cannabis proponent Andy Zeitlin testifying at the special session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Expecting to hear about proposed tweaks to Red Bank’s pot law, attendees at a special council session Monday night instead learned that it may be completely rewritten to make it more restrictive.
Councilwoman Angela Mirandi fiercely defended the proposed changes, calling the original 2021 ordinance “reckless.”
RED BANK: CANNABIS SITINGS ON AGENDA
The Red Bank council has scheduled a special session next week to consider easing limits on cannabis shop sitings.
RED BANK: SHORT-RENTAL LAW PASSES
The owner of an Airbnb-listed house on Oakland Street continued his opposition to the ordinance. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council adopted controversial law restricting short-term, Airbnb-style residential rentals Wednesday night.
The action followed complaints by residents and Mayor Billy Portman that, months into the issue, the council still was not “listening” to the public.
RED BANK: PIPES, RENTALS, VOTING ON DECK
Branch Avenue resident Alberto Larotonda with a lead pipe he brought to a council meeting in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See Correction below
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council may authorize spending up to $2.4 million to replace water service lines made of lead when it meets Wednesday night.
Also on the heavy agenda: possible adoption of a controversial law restricting short-term residential rentals; a study of water rates; a change in the zoning law governing cannabis sales; and authorizing early, in-person voting for an historic May election.
RED BANK: OK FOR GIANT BILLBOARD SOUGHT
A plan for a giant digital billboard at the northern gateway to Red Bank is the subject of a proposal before the zoning board Thursday night.
RED BANK: NEW CULINARY DELIGHTS ABOUND
Michelle Storey in her new Fable Creamery vegan ice cream shop on Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Recent weeks have brought a veritable groaning board of new culinary offerings to Red Bank: breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert.
Read all about the insane buffet in this winter-doldrums edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn. More →
RED BANK: BOAS QUITS HPC, SLAMS CHAIRMAN
HPC members Barbara Boas and Paul Sullivan at Wednesday’s meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A longtime member of Red Bank’s Historic Preservation Commission has quit, slamming what she called the “authoritarianism” of its new chairman.
After 12 years of volunteering, Barbara Boas attended her final HPC meeting Wednesday night, telling redbankgreen she was done with the way Chairman Chris Fabricant runs things.
RED BANK: NEW EATERIES WALTZ INTO TOWN
Harvest Moon Hut has opened in the alley alongside the Dublin House Pub. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A tiny new restaurant stakes out night owls. A vegan ice cream shop, a pizzeria, a French-bread baker and a dance studio waltz enticingly toward openings. Another restaurant closes its doors.
Read all about downtown Red Bank’s latest comings-and-goings in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: JEWELRY STORE BURGLAR SOUGHT
A photo from surveillance video showing the burglar. (Photo via Red Bank police. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank police are investigating an early-morning smash-and-grab burglary at a downtown jewelry store, Chief Darren McConnell told redbankgreen Wednesday.