RED BANK: COUNCIL WRAP
Council Councilwoman Kate Triggiano, center top row, chaired the meeting for the first time since her January 1 election as council president. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council debated several issues with less friction Wednesday night than often seen over the past two years.
RED BANK: COUNCIL OKS MAIN, TIE-IN COSTS
A Montana Construction crew working on Broad Street earlier this month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Broad Street in Red Bank will get a new, $1.3 million water main, following council action to expand a $2.7 million sanitary sewer project that has disrupted downtown traffic for the past three months.
And property owners won’t have to pay thousands of dollars to replace their water connections, as some had feared.
RED BANK: SCHOOL CITED FOR ‘CHARACTER’
The Red Bank Charter School was one of 67 schools nationwide named as a ‘School of Character’ for 2022 by character.org.
RED BANK: SPCA CONTRACT UNDER REVIEW
Debbie Nagel, who then served as the borough’s backup animal control officer, with a raccoon pup rescued from a tree on Brown Place last May. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Just six months in, Red Bank is rethinking its deal for animal control services with the Monmouth County SPCA.
The agreement generated a firestorm last spring, in part because it ended an in-house service provided by a borough employee who many residents praised for his dedication to the task.
RED BANK: ROAD SAFETY ON COUNCIL AGENDA
Bodman Place meets Riverside Avenue between 176 Riverside, at left, and the Colony House apartments, center. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Restarting an effort that failed four years ago, the Red Bank council is expected to again press for the installation of a traffic light at a busy intersection.
Also on the agenda for the council’s semimonthly meeting Wednesday night is a request that Monmouth County create new crosswalks on busy Shrewsbury Avenue.
RED BANK: FIRE DESTROYS DELI MART
Volunteer firefighters on the roof of the Town & Country Deli. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s second fire in 36 hours destroyed a Red Bank convenience store and deli early Saturday.
RED BANK: DENHOLTZ LOCKS UP KEY CORNER
Denholtz Properties now owns four properties at the northwest corner of East Front Street and Wharf Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
In a move sure to dial up expectations for a possible Broad to the river project, Red Bank-based developer Denholtz Properties has added to its holdings on a key downtown block.
Company CEO Steve Denholtz says the firm does not have a plan to fulfill the century-old dream of panoramic Navesink River views from Broad Street. But he’s still not ruling it out.
RED BANK: DENHOLTZ BUYS BUILDING & LOT
Denholtz Properties is adding the parking lot at 133 Broad Street to its portfolio, which already includes the office building at 137-139 Broad, at right. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A privately owned downtown Red Bank parking lot that all but screams for development is about to get a new owner, redbankgreen has learned: the borough’s busiest builder. Read More
RED BANK: NO INJURIES IN YACHT BLAZE
Volunteer firefighters battled the blaze in close quarters on a dock and ramp. Below, onlookers at Riverview Medical Center. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
No one was injured in the dramatic waterfront blaze that destroyed and sank a yacht docked at a Navesink River marina Thursday night, Red Bank Fire Chief Nick Ferraro told redbankgreen.
RED BANK: HOSPITAL ENVELOPED IN SMOKE
A dockside boat fire blanketed Red Bank’s Riverview Medical Center in smoke Thursday evening.
RED BANK: HPC REJECTS TWO PLANS, OKS ONE
The Dublin House Pub’s plan called for the enclosure of an existing porch and balconies. (Rendering by Michael Savarese Associates. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Historic Preservation Commission nixed proposed makeovers of two downtown buildings as inappropriate Wednesday night.
A third plan, to give a corner building a “midcentury modern” look, sailed to approval.
RED BANK: YNGSTROM QUITS, CITING TOXICITY
Erik Yngstrom celebrates his first election to council in 2016. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Citing political “divisiveness” and “toxic rhetoric” about his recent marriage, Erik Yngstrom resigned from the Red Bank council Wednesday morning.
His departure from the all-Democratic governing body sets the table for a possible power shift back to party regulars headed by Councilman Ed Zipprich, an outcome Yngstrom said would only make things worse.
RED BANK: PRC SHRINKS PROPOSAL AGAIN
The latest plan calls for additions at 141 West Front Street to top out at six stories. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
UPDATE: The January 20 zoning board hearing on this plan was cancelled. The board next meets on March 3.
By JOHN T. WARD
More than two years after it was first proposed, a massive addition to an existing building in downtown Red Bank keeps getting less massive.
With the third round of revisions made in the hope of satisfying the zoning board this week, PRC Group has reduced its ask to 58 residential units, down from the original 150, and from 99 last summer.
RED BANK: MAKEOVERS TO GET HPC REVIEWS
Denholtz Properties plans to redo the existing building at Broad Street and Reckless Place. (Rendering by Rotwein + Blake. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Buildings at two high-visibility corners in downtown Red Bank would get makeovers under plans scheduled for review this week by the Historic Preservation Commission.
Here’s what’s on deck.
RED BANK: WIND, RAIN KNOCK OUT POWER
Wind and rain knocked out electrical power to about 254 JCP&L customers in the area of River Road and Harris Park in Red Bank early Monday. Restoration was expected by 5 a.m., according to the company’s outage map.
RED BANK: MASKS ‘STRONGLY’ URGED
Public meetings at borough hall will go remote again, and visitors and employees will be required to wear masks. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank issued a declaration Friday evening “strongly urging” mask-wearing in stores and restaurants to minimize transmission of the resurgent COVID-19 virus.
Mask-wearing in publicly owned buildings will be mandated.
RED BANK: STURDIVANT TEES UP REDEV, ADMIN
Councilwoman Jacqueline Sturdivant, framed in green, at Wednesday’s meeting. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Newly elected Red Bank Councilwoman Jacqueline Sturdivant this week followed through on a campaign pledge by proposing the borough Redevelopment Agency be disbanded.
She also proposed resetting the power of the borough business administrator, a role she called “authoritarian.”
RED BANK: WINDY WEEKEND EXPECTED
Strong winds are expected to push ‘feels-like’ temperatures below zero on the Greater Red Bank Green this weekend, according to the National Weather Service
The region may be spared the snow accumulation expected elsewhere in New Jersey. But an “arctic plunge” beginning Friday night combined with potentially damaging winds could create wind-chills of minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit Saturday.
Uncertainty remains about an expected mix of rain and snow Sunday night, but we could see up to two inches of precipitation, the NWS said in the extended forecast below, issued early Friday morning. (NWS graphic. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: DALPRA LEAVING PARKS & REC JOB
Del DalPra at Count Basie Park in August, 2021. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After just nine months on the job, Red Bank parks and recreation director Louis ‘Del’ DalPra is leaving the position.
RED BANK: MASK MANDATE EXPECTED
Mayor Pasquale Menna, right, and Congressman Frank Pallone were masked-up at the Red Bank reorganization January 1. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna is expected to issue an executive order mandating indoor mask-wearing to slow the spread of the resurgent COVID-19 virus.
The order, which could come as soon as Thursday, was motivated by “the pain that is being felt in our community,” Menna said at the monthly council workshop Wednesday night.
RED BANK: DAY OF BITTER COLD FORECAST
Near-zero temperatures gripped the Greater Red Bank Green early Tuesday as Arctic air brought conditions expected to last through the day, according to the National Weather Service.
As seen in the screengrab from the Weather Channel at right, the wind-lowered “feels like” temperature was 4 degrees Fahrenheit shortly before 6:30 a.m. According to NWS, that’s the lowest since February 1, 2019.
RED BANK: CRIME & ARREST REPORTS
The crime and arrest reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for December, 2021. This information is unedited; see below for additional information.
CRIMES
Theft: A patrol unit responded to the area of Broad St. on 12/04/2021 for a report of the theft of a bicycle. Owner stated a silver and green in color Giant brand bicycle valued at $500.00 was stolen from the rear of a business. Ptl. Preston Mellaci.
RED BANK: CEO NEEDED, ADVISER SAYS
Joe Hartnett, right, with Ken DeRoberts at a Red Bank council meeting in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Whatever new form of government it might adopt, Red Bank needs a strong chief executive officer, a consultant who co-authored a critical review of borough operations said last week.
RED BANK: MEXICAN, GREEK EATERIES DEBUT
Mi Lupita’s Kitchen has opened at 78 Bridge Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s busy restaurant scene has two new entrants bringing traditions both cultural and familial to the table.
Read all about them, as well as a new smoke shop, in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.