A 40-foot-tall digital billboard would replace the existing display at 187 Riverside Avenue if approved. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
A hearing on a plan to erect a giant digital billboard at Red Bank’s northern gateway has been put off until late summer.
UPDATE: The May 18 zoning board meeting has been cancelled, according to a May 17 notice on the borough website.
Canopy Crossroad plans to lease 9 West Street, a portion of a building that also houses Red Bank Liquors. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed Red Bank marijuana shop that’s been a focal point in a running debate over cannabis zoning won approval from the borough planning board Monday night.
With a more welcoming council set to take office July 1, Canopy Crossroad now appears to have a clearer path to opening next door to Red Bank Liquors, though hurdles remain.
Plug Naturals LLC seeks board approval to create a cannabis store in a house on West Front Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An effort to tighten Red Bank’s controversial cannabis business zoning law faces a double-barreled challenge Monday night.
That’s when the owners of two proposed pot shops that would be less than 350 feet apart go to the planning board. Both are expected to argue they comply with the 2021 law.
A rendering of the proposed home of Canopy Crossroad at 9 West Street, next door to Red Bank Liquors. (Rendering by Stephen Raciti Architect. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan for a retail cannabis shop in Red Bank ran into some of the same objections fueling an effort to rewrite where such businesses can operate in town Monday night.
Among them: that it’s too close to a school.
An application to open a retail cannabis dispensary on West Street in Red Bank goes to the planning board Monday night – in the midst of a council effort to block it.
A proposed cannabis dispensary next door to Red Bank Liquors on West Street would be barred because it is within 1,000 feet of the Red Bank Charter School. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s pending cannabis zoning law does not comply with the borough’s Master Plan, the planning board found Monday night.
On a unanimous vote, the board rejected the controversial law, finding that it violates the plan’s goal of furthering economic development.
Azalea Gardens would be built on Harding Road, between Clay Street and Hudson Avenue. (Google Maps photo. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank may get an update on a long-pending downtown housing project this week.
Also on planning and zoning agendas: an EV charger law, and proposed zoning for cannabis businesses.
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.
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.
Zoning board member Sharon Lee addressing billboard company attorney Jennifer Krimko Thursday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank zoning board member ripped into representatives of a billboard company for what she called an “offensive” depiction of black males in its application materials Thursday night.
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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.
Planning board chairman Dan Mancuso at a meeting in October. The board ‘endorsed’ the primary school garden, below. (Photos by John T. Ward and Red Bank schools. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A draft of Red Bank’s first new Master Plan in decades will be available for public review this week, planning officials said Monday night.
At its opening session of 2023, and the first ever available via Zoom, the planning board also ‘endorsed’ the learning garden at the borough’s primary school, and learned that, so far, there are no other applications pending.
A sign recently installed outside one of Red Bank’s most prominent business addresses says there’s space “for lease” in the building, now home to a single tenant: Wells Fargo Bank.
Joseph Pallante writes a comment on a display as his daughter, Evalyse Pallante, looks on at a Red Bank Master Plan workshop Monday night.
Gianna Maita-Edwards writes a comment on a display at the session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
About two dozen Red Bank residents grabbed Sharpies to weigh in on the borough’s Master Plan Thursday night.
They gathered at the Red Bank Middle School despite heavy rain to share their thoughts on the first wholesale rewriting of the vision plan in almost three decades.
Hackensack Meridian Health’s Riverview Medical Center and its holdings comprise one of three areas of town that will get special focus in the Master Plan. (Google Map from Monmouth County property records. Click green circles for site details.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank residents will have two opportunities to weigh in on the borough’s ongoing Master Plan update next month.
Among the topics: the future of three discrete sections of town, including the area around the sprawling Riverview Medical Center.
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.
Saxum’s project would be built on the vacant former Visiting Nurse Association headquarter site at 176 Riverside Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two years after obtaining approval for a massive residential real estate project in Red Bank, Saxum Real Estate is heading back to the borough planning board in search of a booster.
The borough’s Master Plan consultant has created a website for public input. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Love it? Want to change it?
Red Bank residents and visitors can now weigh in on the borough’s Master Plan update-in-progress.
A rendering of the proposed development, as viewed from River Road and Cedar Avenue. (M&M Realty Partners. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
More than a century into its existence, Fair Haven is on track to get its first-ever apartment project following planning board approval Tuesday night.
The milestone went unmentioned, however, as the board spent three-plus hours reviewing plans for the multiuse development of stores and housing on a former gas station site.
A rendering of the proposed development, as viewed from River Road and Cedar Street. (M&M Realty Partners. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Though its approval might appear preordained, a plan for new stores and apartments on the site of a former gas station in Fair Haven received nearly three hours of close scrutiny by the planning board Tuesday night.
The project would be built on the former Sunoco site at River Road and Cedar Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposal for Fair Haven’s first multifamily development in modern times, if not borough history, is scheduled to go before the planning board Tuesday.
Monday night’s planning board meeting was lightly attended. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A New York City planning firm will run a series of public sessions and set up a web portal for comments while overhauling Red Bank’s Master Plan, planning board members said Monday night.
The promised outreach effort put the proposal by BFJ Planning “heads and tails above” four other pitches for the contract, said member David Cassidy.
The borough’s zoning map is among the topics up for Master Plan review. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The choice of a consultant to lead the rewriting of Red Bank’s Master Plan is expected to get a spotlight at the planning board meeting scheduled for Monday night.
After a demand by Councilman Michael Ballard for greater transparency, the board is expected to review its selection process.