The council will hold its final session of 2018 Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s political plates begin shifting once again Wednesday night, the last council meeting for the governing body’s only two Republicans.
Borough hall would get a new phone system under a contract up for approval by the council. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Here’s a preview of the Red Bank borough council’s agenda for its semimonthly meeting Wednesday night:
Instead of taking their usual places on the dais, the mayor and council members sat around a large conference table for the meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council’s first-ever workshop-only meeting proved to be a marathon of matters large and small Wednesday night.
Among the topics discussed at the three-and-a-half-hour session: ways to “deal with the issue” of vehicles parked indefinitely outside the home of an unspecified Bank Street resident, though it was widely understood who that was.
The workshop sessions will be held in the council chambers. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s local-government groupies and gadflies will have another municipal meeting to add to their calendars starting next month.
A proposed ordinance change would allow Catch 19, a seafood restaurant that’s zoned as a club, to set up sidewalk dining like other downtown eateries. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A downtown Red Bank restaurant that’s zoned as a club would be able to join the trend of sidewalk cafés under a law tweak up for consideration Wednesday night.
Also on the borough council agenda: a new vendor for the concession stand in Riverside Gardens Park.
Councilman Erik Yngstrom now heads the all-Democrat parking committee. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After a post-election lull, Red Bank Democrats plan to bring in a parking consultant to offer guidance on how to fix parking issues downtown, Councilman Erik Yngstrom said Wednesday.
Cindy Burnham, seen here at a candidate’s forum last October, during her unsuccessful council re-election campaign. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A group of Red Bank residents formed by former Councilwoman Cindy Burnham filed suit Monday to derail efforts to build a garage for at least 773 vehicles in the heart of town.
Burnham, who failed in her re-election bid as a Republican-turned-independent in November after one term, said although she supports the construction of a garage, the eight-story structure permitted under a redevelopment plan authorized by the council last week is “just too high.”
Count Basie Theatre security worker Dennis O’Keefe working the entrance to the borough hall parking lot Wednesday night. A restaurant owner cited theater activity for creating parking issues last weekend. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
An effort to coax a 773-vehicle garage into the heart of Red Bank cleared another speedbump Wednesday night.
At its semimonthly meeting, the borough council authorized a request for proposals, or RFP, from developers interested in building on the 2.3-acre municipal lot on White Street.
But first, it tweaked the requirements to be more environmentally friendly.
Read More
Got a parking plan for White Street? The borough will accept proposals from qualified developers until April 26. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A call for ideas to remake the White Street lot into a parking garage anchors a busy Red Bank council agenda Wednesday night.
Up for discussion for the the first time is a request for proposals, or RFP, to transform the 2.3-acre municipal parking lot on White Street into a facility that nearly triples the current capacity of 273 vehicles while adding, possibly, housing and retail space.
The home page of the new Red Bank borough website. Information technology director Joe Fagliarone, below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After years of talk, Red Bank finally has a new website.
Launched without fanfare late last month, the new portal to local government information services replaces a clunker that in its final months couldn’t find the mayor’s name in a search.
The Independent Engine House on Mechanic Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank ‘s second firehouse auction in two years attracted four times the number of bidders as the first one, but ended at a lower top bid.
David Glassberg of Little Silver was the apparent bid winner of the Independent Engine Company, at 32 Mechanic Street opposite Globe Court.
Mayor Pasquale Menna at Wednesday’s council meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Things got snippy Wednesday night when Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna claimed he was being dissed by two council members.
A routine discussion over a scheduling question briefly turned into the latest in a recent series of episodes in which the mayor squared off against fellow Democrats Kathy Horgan and Ed Zipprich, and they aligned themselves with the council’s lone independent.
The Independent Engine House on Mechanic Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
For the second time in little more than two years, Red Bank is looking to unload a firehouse.
On Wednesday night, without discussion, the council unanimously agreed to put the home of the Independent Engine Company, at 32 Mechanic Street opposite Globe Court, up for sealed-bid auction on August 30.
Marcos Ramirez shows customer Chris Hawkins his haircut at the newly opened Red Bank R Barber Shop on Shrewsbury Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly reported that Playa Bowls needs variances to open. The plan has been approved and no variances were needed, according to borough officials.]
By JOHN T. WARD
Kicking off its second decade of covering the endless comings and goings of Red Bank merchants, redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn has the scoop on these churnings:
• The debut of new dance studio
• One barber shop opens, and another relocates
• The departure of a “hippie shop” and plans by a tailor to replace it
• A fruit bowl business plans to open
• RiverCenter puts a bow on 2015
All that and more awaits, just around the “read more” corner… Read More
The Red Lantern restaurant won clearance to open at 132 Broad Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The dizzying transformation of downtown Red Bank into a place to dine, for those who can find parking, got another boost Monday night.
The borough planning board approved a plan to convert retail space at 132 Broad Street to a restaurant, despite a shortfall of 25 parking spots.
The former Liberty Hose firehouse at 40 White Street in Red Bank won borough zoning board approval last week for conversion to a retail store with two apartments on the second floor, according to planning and zoning director Glenn Carter. The vote was unanimous, with one abstention, he said.
An illegal expansion into a breezeway beside Pazzo Restaurant drew criticism, but won planning board approval. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank restaurant’s request for permission to keep an already-built extension drew pointed criticism from borough planning board members Monday night.
“I hate it,” board vice chairman Dan Mancuso told an owner of Pazzo Restaurant.
The former storefront at 132 Broad Street is the subject of a request for an Asian restaurant called Red Lantern, which needs a parking variance. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[UPDATE: Borough planning and zoning director Glenn Carter tells us the plan for the former firehouse at 40 White Street has been amended to a proposed retail use, from an earlier request for a restaurant. The original version of this story has been changed to reflect that.]
By JOHN T. WARD
Plans for two restaurants and a retail space the agendas of Red Bank’s planning and zoning board meetings this week.
Mike Gambale removes fresh product from the oven at Hot Bagels Brooklyn’s Finest, a deli that opened Friday morning in a former used-car lot at Maple Avenue and Broad Street in Red Bank. The business was the subject of a last-minute, and successful bid for some minor variances needed to open earlier this week.
Gambale owns the shop with Nikos Zaires, who grew up working with his father in a Brooklyn bagel shop. “This is his recipe,” said Zaires, and the result is “a true Brooklyn bagel: kettle-cooked and baked.” (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Nikos Zaires and Mike Gambale in their new shop, Hot Bagels Brooklyn’s Finest. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A just-about-ready-to-open bagel shop got the green light from the Red Bank planning board Monday night.
But hearings on two other proposed new restaurants were rescheduled once again. And yet another eatery, this one with the word “eatery” in its name, opened on Broad Street Monday.
It’s all here in the latest serving of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Test baking is already underway at Hot Bagels Brooklyn’s Finest, at Broad Street and Maple Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Will the owners of a brand-new, ready-to-open bagel store get the OK for the walk-in refrigerator they need to operate? Will the owners of a former downtown firehouse get the green light to build a restaurant there? Will a new Asian eatery be allowed in a former mattress store?
Those three questions loom over Monday night’s Red Bank planing board agenda.
Architect Richard Arzberger’s rendering of the proposed Total Storage facility at Central Avenue and Berry Street. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank-area homes and businesses could use some more elbow room, the owner of a proposed 500-unit self-storage facility told the borough planning board Monday night.
And the project would be built in the right place, board members said in giving the plan unanimous approval.
Architectural renderings show a proposed restaurant at the former Liberty Hose firehouse, above, and a three-story storage facility on Central Avenue, below. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Be careful: the Red Bank planning board’s plate is hot Monday night.
The agenda calls for the board to hear testimony on three high-profile plans, two of which would add to the borough’s burgeoning restaurant market.
Business owner David Prown pleads his case to Councilman Art Murphy Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council put off a vote on a plan to expand the paid parking zone in the central business district after calls by merchants and residents for enforcement of existing law Wednesday night.
The objections to the expansion plan came despite a move by the council to enable 15-minute parking in the expansion district west of Maple Avenue.
An ordinance scheduled for a vote Wednesday night would expand paid parking on Monmouth Street and part of Bridge Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Following objections by merchants, a proposed expansion of Red Bank’s paid parking zone may be modified, said Mayor Pasquale Menna.
The plan, scheduled for an adoption vote Wednesday evening, could be altered to include some short-term parking spaces for customers of stores and other businesses west of Maple Avenue, Menna told redbankgreen Tuesday.