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.”

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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 ()

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ DONUTS BREWS DEBATE

Plans for the former Laird’s Stationery space in Fair Haven have borough residents abuzz. What’s Going On Here? Click ‘read more’ for the answer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

January 8, 2019 - 12:45 pm | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: ACME CENTER MAKEOVER OK’D

Three renderings of the proposed monument sign that proved a sticking point for planning board members. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A makeover of Fair Haven’s dowdy Acme shopping center won borough planning board approval Tuesday night, but minus a proposed slab of signage that dominated a three-hour meeting.

April 19, 2017 - 6:11 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: ACME CENTER CHANGES DETAILED

Forman Street resident Bonnie Moore photographs an exhibit used in the hearing. Below, an illustration showing proposed changes to building 1, on the western end of the site. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Overdue for a new look, the 1950s-vintage Fair Haven strip mall anchored by an Acme supermarket is also badly in need of a new parking scheme, its owner told the borough planning board Thursday night.

It would get both by the end of October if the board approves an extensive makeover plan in coming weeks, Dan Hughes, a principal in the company that bought it for for $5.8 million two years ago, told the board.

March 24, 2017 - 7:00 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: ACME CENTER TO GET MAKEOVER

Plans call for the creation of a pedestrian passageway linking the north and south parking lots through the former Laird’s Stationery space next door to the existing Post Office. The “salon & spa” sign is for illustration purposes only. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The owner of the Fair Haven strip mall anchored by an Acme supermarket plans extensive renovations to the site, according to documents filed with the borough last week.

The plans include dividing the former Laird’s Stationery space in two to create a pedestrian breezeway linking the front and rear parking lots. But they leave unanswered questions about whether other longtime tenants might be forced out, as the owners of Laird’s contend they were.

December 22, 2016 - 3:45 pm | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: BIKE SHOP CALLING IT QUITS

Bike Haven will close by the end of September, its owner says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A second longtime retailer is leaving the Fair Haven Shopping Center.

But unlike Laird’s Stationery, which is temporarily relocating to smaller quarters in the center after getting squeezed out of its home by a steep rent increase, Bike Haven is simply calling it quits, owner Cliff Wittenberg tells redbankgreen. And a rent hike is only the final nail in the tire.

August 31, 2016 - 8:58 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: AT LAIRD’S, A SIGN OF CHANGE

Marking the end of an era, Fantastic Signs owner John Oakley and his 12-year-old daughter, Charlotte, removed the cursive sign atop Laird’s Stationery in Fair Haven Tuesday afternoon.

As previously reported, the store, which traces its lineage back more than half a century, will close by the end of September, after a new landlord declined to renew the lease.

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August 23, 2016 - 4:43 pm | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: LAIRD’S GETTING SQUEEZED OUT

Bob and Rose Budnick outside their store with longtime customer Katherine Brounley. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Tucked into the corner of a Fair Haven strip mall, marked with minimal signage, Laird’s Stationery is easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. But locals know it, and know it as a jam-packed emporium of not only paper goods and office supplies, but everything from backpacks to wiffle bats.

“The register never stops ringing,” owner Bob Budnick said early this week, as three customers converged at the front desk to pay for their purchases. “This store is woven into the fabric of a lot of people’s lives.”

But the register is about to stop ringing, here at least, and the business may be doomed, said Budnick and his wife.

July 13, 2016 - 1:59 pm | Comments ()

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Serving Red Bank and Greater Red Bank, NJ

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

FAIR HAVEN: DUNKIN’ DONUTS BREWS DEBATE

FAIR HAVEN: ACME CENTER MAKEOVER OK’D

FAIR HAVEN: ACME CENTER CHANGES DETAILED

FAIR HAVEN: ACME CENTER TO GET MAKEOVER

FAIR HAVEN: BIKE SHOP CALLING IT QUITS

FAIR HAVEN: AT LAIRD’S, A SIGN OF CHANGE

FAIR HAVEN: LAIRD’S GETTING SQUEEZED OUT