FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ COMMENTS LESS HEATED

This time a year ago, Fair Haven was a town divided. The issue? Whether to allow a Dunkin’ coffee shop to fill a vacancy in the River Road strip mall anchored by an Acme supermarket. The back-and-forth on the Fair Haven, NJ Facebook page got so nasty that the moderator shut down commenting on the issue.

Well this week, seven months after the planning board approved the shop, the still-empty retail space got its Dunkin’ sign, and the moderator allowed a resumption of comments. So how’d that go?

April 1, 2020 - 7:31 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: SHELL GETS SHOP OK ON THIRD TRY

The car wash at left is to be replaced by a convenience store. (April, 2019 photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

After a favorable zoning change last year, Red Bank’s lone Shell station won approval to add a convenience store Monday night.

A neighbor called the proposal “lipstick on a pig.” The planning board’s chairman called it “a better pig.”

February 4, 2020 - 7:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: SHELL TO TRY YET AGAIN

The latest plan calls for replacing the car wash, at left above, with a convenience store. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Five months after yanking a plan to add a Dunkin’ coffee shop, the owner of Red Bank ‘s lone Shell station will once again try for a convenience store.

Station owner Waseem Chaudhary’s proposal is the third he’s floated in the past seven years.

December 26, 2019 - 11:00 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: DOTS WHAT WE LIKE… AND DON’T

Residents placed red dots on the names of restaurants they would not want to see open in town. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj After a prolonged battle over a Dunkin’ donut shop, Fair Haven residents took an “arts and crafts” approach to starting a new dialogue about fast food Tuesday night.

October 30, 2019 - 8:00 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: NEW RESTAURANT LAW TABLED

Mayor Ben Lucarelli, right, with Council President Jon Peters at Monday’s council meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Steam continued to rise Monday night from last month’s controversial planning board decision to allow a Dunkin’ coffee shop to open in Fair Haven.

At issue at the council’s semimonthly meeting was a proposed ordinance that would all but ban fast-food restaurants, even as advocates acknowledged it was no more than a “stopgap” measure.

September 10, 2019 - 9:46 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ WINS BOARD APPROVAL

Though turns would still be allowed in both directions on River Road, the shopping center’s eastern driveway will be changed to exit-only, under a condition set by the board. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj More than a year after it was proposed, a Dunkin’ coffee shop won approval to operate in Fair Haven Monday night.

The 6-2 planning board vote, shortly before 11 p.m. capped months of passionate debate over traffic safety, a fast-food law that went MIA and the shop’s potential impact on the small-town character of the borough.

Read More »

August 21, 2019 - 1:41 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ TRAFFIC FIXES OFFERED

A consultant to the planning board recommends that left turns from the shopping center’s eastern driveway, above, be prohibited. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Attempting to address concerns over traffic safety, an engineer for a hotly debated Dunkin’ coffee shop proposed in Fair Haven has offered an idea he says will safeguard pedestrians.

Another traffic engineer, this one hired by the borough planning board, has also made some suggestions, redbankgreen has learned.

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August 2, 2019 - 6:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: SHELL YANKS DUNKIN’ PLAN

The plan called for remodeling the gas station and replacing the car wash, at left above, with a drive-thru Dunkin’ shop. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj A plan to create a Dunkin’ coffee shop in Red Bank for Parkway-bound commuters is dead.

A lawyer for the owner of the Shell gas station at Newman Springs Road and Shrewsbury Avenue tells redbankgreen the proposal has been withdrawn.

August 1, 2019 - 1:00 pm | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: DRIVE-THRU, BAG BANS INTRO’D

By JOHN T. WARD

Stopping short, for now, of re-banning fast-food restaurants, Fair Haven officials took steps Monday night to instead prohibit drive-thru restaurants.

The borough council also plans to have the town join a rapidly growing list of New Jersey towns that have banned single-use plastic shopping bags.

June 25, 2019 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ RETURNS, HOT AS EVER

Shopping center principal Dan Hughes listens as objector Tracy Cole speaks. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj After a four-month detour over legal issues, a hearing on a plan to open a Dunkin’ coffee shop in Fair Haven resumed Tuesday night, just as hot as before.

For three hours, opponents predicted traffic and safety problems at the Acme-anchored shopping center on River Road where the shop would operate. The site’s principal owner called that scenario “ridiculous.”

Read More »

June 19, 2019 - 9:25 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: FAST-FOOD LAW NEEDS RE-DO

Borough attorney Sal Alfieri and planning consultant Fred Heyer at Monday’s council meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A missing-in-action law that banned fast food restaurants in Fair Haven is effectively revoked and will have to be rewritten, the borough’s attorney said Monday night.

In that case, the next one needs to address “ambiguities” that enabled a proposed — and controversial — Dunkin’ coffee shop to clear the first hurdle to possible approval, officials and residents said.

May 14, 2019 - 11:45 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: FAST-FOOD LAW GOES M.I.A.

Former Councilwoman Bea Sena reads minutes from a 2002 council meeting at which she voiced concern that parts of the borough code had gone missing. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Fast food joints in Fair Haven? Why, there oughta be a law, say some residents, angered by a pending proposal for a Dunkin’ coffee shop.

Well, it turns out there is — or was — a borough ordinance explicitly prohibiting fast food restaurants. But it seems to have vanished from the town’s official code book, a resident told the borough council Monday night.

What that means to the most controversial planning board application in recent history, as well as others expected to soon follow, immediately became a lightning rod issue.

April 30, 2019 - 9:40 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: NO CALL ON DUNKIN’ APPEALS

After a four-hour session, the Fair Haven zoning board adjourned its hearing on a proposed Dunkin’ shop without a decision Thursday night.

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April 5, 2019 - 3:00 pm | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: LAWYERS GET DOWN TO DUNKIN’

Planning board attorney Douglas Kovats, right, leads a joint swearing-in of witnesses at the February 19 hearing. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Even Fair Haven residents hopped up about a proposed Dunkin’ shop might want to fortify themselves with extra caffeine Thursday.

That’s because a zoning board hearing on the controversial plan could prove to be a seminar in arcane land use law.

April 3, 2019 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ PLAN UNDER APPEAL

The Dunkin’ shop would occupy space alongside a new breezeway in the Acme shopping center. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj The spillover crowd that was treated to an hour of arcane legal arguments over a proposed Dunkin’ Donuts in Fair Haven last month may soon get a free refill.

Lawyers for two objectors have filed appeals over whether the planning board has jurisdiction to hear the coffee shop’s application, leading to a detour in the case, redbankgreen has confirmed.

March 8, 2019 - 5:25 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ GETS SPILLOVER CROWD

The shop would occupy newly renovated space formerly home to Laird’s stationery store. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Fair Haven residents steamed over the possibility of a Dunkin’ Donuts opening in town had to keep a lid on it Tuesday night.

Instead, a three-hour planning board hearing that required a change of venue to accommodate a spillover crowd was dominated by occasionally hostile cross-examination of a traffic consultant by lawyers representing two objectors.

February 20, 2019 - 9:00 am | Comments ()

Red Bank Green

Serving Red Bank and Greater Red Bank, NJ

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ COMMENTS LESS HEATED

RED BANK: SHELL GETS SHOP OK ON THIRD TRY

RED BANK: SHELL TO TRY YET AGAIN

FAIR HAVEN: DOTS WHAT WE LIKE… AND DON’T

FAIR HAVEN: NEW RESTAURANT LAW TABLED

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ WINS BOARD APPROVAL

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ TRAFFIC FIXES OFFERED

RED BANK: SHELL YANKS DUNKIN’ PLAN

FAIR HAVEN: DRIVE-THRU, BAG BANS INTRO’D

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ RETURNS, HOT AS EVER

FAIR HAVEN: FAST-FOOD LAW NEEDS RE-DO

FAIR HAVEN: FAST-FOOD LAW GOES M.I.A.

FAIR HAVEN: NO CALL ON DUNKIN’ APPEALS

FAIR HAVEN: LAWYERS GET DOWN TO DUNKIN’

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ PLAN UNDER APPEAL

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ GETS SPILLOVER CROWD