RED BANK — There may be fewer cars circling the borough in search of parking once new signage is put in place by Red Bank RiverCenter.
During its March 13 meeting, the Borough Council approved a request by the downtown alliance to place signage throughout the borough to guide motorists to nearby parking lots. Nancy Adams, executive director of the River- Center, said the plan is to place signs at 12 locations, mostly on the east side of the borough.
“We are going to be installing these with [the council’s] permission at existing light poles, mostly at corners,” she said. “It basically is just going to say ‘Borough Lot,’ just to get people down mostly to the east side.
“It is a little challenging on the streets that are one-way onto Broad [Street] because the police get mad if we send traffic that way.”
She said RiverCenter has already redesigned about two-thirds of the signs around the borough.
Mayor Pasquale Menna signed off on the sign proposal but made a few requests.
“If you can get them up as quickly as possible before Memorial Day, I would recommend [you do so], and [you can also] use night-reflective lettering,” Menna said. “I don’t care what color it is; just get them up as quickly as possible.”
At the meeting, the council also approved the RiverCenter budget of $512,000 for 2013, half of which will be used for salaries. The remainder will be used to fund decorations, plantings and marketing for the downtown shopping district, events and festivals throughout the year.
Adams explained that the downtown alliance is funded without taxing homeowners.
“Our organization is funded without any residential taxpayer dollars other than when we work together with the borough on different projects,” she said. “Our entire budget is funded by a self-imposed assessment on the commercial properties in the district.
“This is an added assessment. And I’ve been here five-and-a-half years, and we have never raised it. There is also supplemental income.”
During the meeting, the council unanimously approved the budget, which includes $253,153 allocated for administration and overhead, $32,195 for debt service and $34,100 for events. The budget also allocates $99,172 for marketing and recruitment, $89,000 for capital improvements and $4,500 for outreach and communications.
According to the borough’s resolution, RiverCenter imposes a 10.2-cent per $100 of assessed valuation tax rate on properties located on Broad Street, a 13.7-cent tax rate for properties on Monmouth Street and properties on the corner of Broad and Monmouth streets, and a rate of 9.7 cents and 10.2 cents for the remainder of the special improvement districts (SID). The budget is also supplemented through various festivals held in town, including the International Flavour Festival to be held on April 28 and the Red Bank Guinness Oyster Festival on Sept. 22.
According to Adams, RiverCenter has increased marketing to benefit the business community.
“We increased our services greatly — in particular, our events and our marketing,” Adams said.
“We are having a lot more interest, and hopefully our work is helping with that,” she said. “We think the increased marketing, while it is definitely marketed for customer recruits, also works as a business recruitment.”
Councilman Michael DuPont said the work of the borough and RiverCenter has decreased the town’s business vacancy rate.
“Here in Red Bank, it is my understanding that we are below 4 percent,” DuPont said. “I think that is in large part, if not [solely], due to the board and its vision.”
“We didn’t get here just through overnight actions; we got here through planning and visions,” he said. “I think RiverCenter’s board, together with this budget, exhibits the vision we need to make sure that Red Bank continues to have a thriving business community.”
Councilman Ed Zipprich acknowledged that getting the vacancy rate to where it is today took a lot of work.
“I think back a couple of years ago about all the criticism we all took about the vacancy rate, and I just want to commend RiverCenter for their outstanding effort in attracting new businesses to our downtown,” he said. “I know how much effort went into that.”
RiverCenter was created in 1991 to revitalize a then-dwindling commercial district. Businesses included in the SID pay an additional tax for the services provided by RiverCenter, which include streetscaping, advertising and special events.
The SID includes approximately 350 properties within the boundaries of Shrewsbury Avenue, Broad Street, West Front Street and Spring Street, but does not include some side streets.
Contact Kenny Walter at [email protected]