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 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.
Avoid it if you can: access to a busy Red Bank intersection will be shut down for a week starting early Monday morning.
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.
Master Plan consultant Susan Favate addressing attendees Monday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed new Master Plan for Red Bank drew little criticism in its public debut Monday night.
If adopted, as expected, the next challenge will be in prioritizing the many recommendations in the 166-page document, planning board members said.
Two long-dormant gas stations would be razed to create a roundabout at the northern gateway into Red Bank under one of many suggested changes included in a new draft Master Plan.
The intersection of Chestnut and Pearl streets may finally get long-discussed four-way stop signs. (2009 photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two Red Bank intersections may soon be getting four-way stops, if the borough council follows through on plans it greenlighted informally Wednesday night.
Architect Adrian Melji with a rendering of the revised project’s Bodman Place side looking northwest from Riverside Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Filling in a horseshoe void, Saxum Real Estate won planning board approval Monday night for changes to a massive apartment project in Red Bank.
Pay attention: that’s the message Red Bank police hope to get across to motorists as they conduct a special distracted-driving enforcement detail in April.
Red Bank police checking out a car left on Drs. James Parker Boulevard as snow came down hard Saturday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank plow operators had an easier time than in the past making their way down borough streets during the weekend snowstorm, police Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
Fewer illegally parked cars also resulted in a dramatic drop in the number of violation notices being issued.
With a blizzard expected to wallop the New Jersey coast starting Friday evening, Red Bank police are reminding residents to get their vehicles into driveways and public parking lots to allow plows through. More →
Cars parked illegally on South Street following a snowfall last February. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With the first snow of 2022 in the forecast, Red Bank police advised residents not to park their cars on borough streets Thursday night.
A 2017 ordinance requires vehicles be removed from all streets during and immediately after snowstorms to allow for plowing.
Two days after construction of a new sanitary sewer line in downtown Red Bank was suspended through the Christmas weekend, a work crew was back to repair a water leak Thursday morning.
Construction of a new sewer line on Broad Street has been suspended through the Christmas weekend, Red Bank officials announced Monday.
Motorists traveling into Red Bank via southbound Route 35 may encounter delays Thursday as a utility crew continues post-accident work at Pearl, Water and Wall streets.
Put down the cellphone and pay attention: that’s the message Red Bank police hope to get across to motorists as they conduct a special distracted-driving enforcement detail in April.
Yet another century-old building in Fair Haven’s historic downtown is up on blocks.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
Message board at Johnny Jazz Park on Shrewsbury Avenue reminds residents to get cars off the street during a snowfall in February, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Business Administrator Ziad Shehady suggested raising the penalty for snow parking violations to as much as $300 Wednesday.
But Councilwoman Kate Triggiano vowed the fine would never be raised “into that stratosphere.”
Red Bank snowplows working around a car parked on Garfield Place Sunday afternoon. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The second snowstorm of February generated half as many parking tickets as the first, Red Bank police said Monday.
Red Bank snowplows stuggled to clear Cedar Street, above, after last week’s two-day snowstorm. The story was a bit different on Madison Avenue, below.
As reported by redbankgreen, police issued a near-record number of $38 tickets during the storm for violations of a borough ordinance requiring that all vehicles be removed from all streets during snow emergencies.
Still, the move-your-car message seems to be getting through, and compliance levels were also high, public works director Cliff Keen told the borough council Wednesday.
“I think residents are starting to understand that if the cars are off the road it makes our job a lot easier,” he said. That includes not driving and “competing with our snowplows,” he said.
With another storm expected to drop 4-to-8 inches more snow Sunday, residents who don’t have access to driveways may park vehicles in two municipal lots. Details here. (Video above courtesy of Suzanne Viscomi; below by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
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Cars and trucks parked on Bridge Avenue early Tuesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank police issued a near-record number of parking violations during the snowstorm that began Sunday, redbankgreen has learned.
An easterly view along River Road from Cedar Street earlier this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
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By JOHN T. WARD
Electricity supplier JCP&L may be unplugging itself from an agreement to install low-energy streetlamps in Fair Haven, Environmental Commission Chairman Ralph Wyndrum said Wednesday night.
That prompted some choice words about the utility from commission member and former councilman Jon Peters. Among them: “They are the princes and princesses of darkness.”
Yes, the flashing sign shown above has a typo. But starting Friday, the eastbound lane of East Bergen Place from Broad Street to South Street in Red Bank will be closed for utility work, the borough announced Wednesday.
Under the proposal, most of Henry Street would be eliminated and a new playground built alongside Mohawk Pond. (CME Associates graphic. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A street that effectively serves as shortcut past the main entrance to Count Basie Fields would be closed to traffic under a concept plan discussed by the Red Bank council Wednesday night.
Monmouth Street between Broad Street and Maple Avenue would become a pedestrian plaza all day on Sundays as part of a recovery plan. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Details for turning two downtown Red Bank streets into part-time dining and shopping plazas hinge largely on pending clarity from Trenton, borough officials said Tuesday.
On a Zoom/conference call with merchants, borough officials said they need information from Governor Phil Murphy on key issues before they can finalize plans for allotting sidewalk and street space among restaurants, retailers and others.
Broad Street would be closed from the intersection with Front Street, above, to Wallace Street three nights a week under the plan. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two major streets in the heart of downtown Red Bank would be closed to traffic to allow mid-street dining and shopping under action taken by the borough council Wednesday night.
The economic recovery measure needed lightning-fast approval so the business district “can to be ready the second we get the call” from Trenton about expected loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, said Councilwoman Kate Triggiano.