RED BANK: BROADWALK BOLLARDS GO BIG
Red Bank officials this week began to address one of the foremost complaints about the downtown Broadwalk zone: the presence of “ugly” orange safety barrels used to supplement steel bollards installed last year.
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: SPRING STREET FLIP RETURNS
Vehicle parking would be allowed only on the east side of Spring Street for several blocks if the proposed change passes. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan to flip parking from one side of Spring Street to the other returns when the Red Bank council holds its semimonthly meeting Wednesday night.
Also on the agenda: a new four-way traffic stop, an expansion of a lead-pipe replacement program, and the installation of a $4-per-transaction automated teller machine in borough hall.
RED BANK: GARDENS TAKE ROOT ON BROAD
Danielle Boyle and her crew planting flowers on Broad Street Friday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Any day now, perhaps in time for Mothers’ Day, peonies as big as softballs will be blooming on Broad Street in Red Bank.
In coming months, downtown visitors will also be treated to bursts of color provided by hydrangea vanilla sundae, whirling butterfly and other plantings, thanks to a RiverCenter project utilizing the talents of a highly regarded gardener.
RED BANK: WATER LINES, CANNABIS ON AGENDA
A map used in a February presentation indicated that 366 properties were known to be served by lead water supply lines, with most others “unknown.” (Image by ENGenuity. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
At its final meeting before a history-making election, the Red Bank council will take up a big cost increase for removing lead water service lines.
Also on deck: adoption of a cannabis zoning law that the planning board said does not comply with the town’s Master Plan.
RED BANK: REPORT RIPS DPU CONDITIONS
A “temporary” office trailer has been in use at the public utilities yard on Chestnut Street for 20 years and is now “separating and shifting,” a report says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A detailed review of Red Bank’s public utilities department found unsafe vehicles, inadequate staffing, facilities in need of upgrades and numerous other deficiencies, redbankgreen has learned.
The 14-page report, by former interim director Gary Watson Sr., includes a recommended boost in staffing to improve dealings with residents, who often can’t get answers to their inquiries, he wrote.
RED BANK: WEEKLONG DETOUR FOR WATER JOB
Avoid it if you can: access to a busy Red Bank intersection will be shut down for a week starting early Monday morning.
RED BANK: WALTON TAKES OVER DPU
New public utilities director Terrence Walton addressing the audience at borough hall Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council appointed a new department head, authorized another season of in-street dining downtown, took action on the long-closed town dump and gave a thumbs-up to a plan for gardens on Broad Street Wednesday night.
Here are some highlights of the busy meeting, which ran for more than three hours:
RED BANK: FIREFIGHTERS PRESS FOR RENT HIKE
Volunteer firefighters heading into borough hall for Wednesday night’s council session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s volunteer firefighters derailed the planned introduction of a borough budget they said would scuttle a negotiated funding plan for their firehouses Wednesday night.
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: 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: 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: SIX-MONTH BROADWALK ON HOLD
RiverCenter’s proposal includes plans to boost weekday activity in the Broadwalk zone. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A six-month season for Red Bank’s Broadwalk dining plaza would feature enhanced efforts to boost weekday visitors and battle litter, a business representative told the borough council Wednesday night.
The council, however, withheld an immediate decision on the request.
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: CHURCH BLOCK TO BE RENAMED
The Red Bank council is set to answer a church’s prayers for a new address.
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: 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: 1980s SEX ASSAULTS ALLEGED
The victim alleges some of the 200 assaults occurred in an office at Count Basie Fields. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
UPDATE: This post has been edited to remove the name of the victim, which appeared in the original version. The court documents previously included have also been removed.
By JOHN T. WARD
An Ocean County woman is suing Red Bank borough government over sexual assaults committed against her in childhood by a borough employee in the mid-1980s.
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: PARK TO GET PICKLEBALL COURTS
The tennis courts in Red Bank’s Eastside Park will be remade into a hybrid of tennis and pickleball surfaces under plans that advanced last week.
RED BANK: MASTER PLAN’S USE DEBATED
An illustration from the Master Plan section on affordable housing. (Image by BFJ Planning. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Concluding a 14-month process, the Red Bank planning board adopted the borough’s first new Master Plan in 28 years Monday night.
The unanimous vote followed spirited debate about whether the many recommendations in the 166-page document should be prioritized for council action.
RED BANK: EASTSIDE PARK PLANS SLATED
A public hearing on plans for upgrades to the basketball and tennis/pickleball courts in a Red Bank park has been rescheduled for next week, the borough announced Wednesday.
RED BANK: EXPECT CHLORINE-Y SMELL IN WATER
Red Bank residents and businesses may smell chlorine in water from their taps starting next week.
There’s no need for alarm, the borough government said in an announcement Tuesday.