RED BANK — A revised application before the Red Bank Planning Board for a Hampton Inn & Suites on Rector Place is once again drawing opposition.
The board began hearing the application by RBank Capital LLC during the July 15 meeting.
According to Martin McGann, attorney for the applicant, the hotel proposal is substantially the same as an earlier version for the same site, which was denied by both the planning and zoning boards in 2012.
The current application proposes a 82.25- foot-tall, 42,000-square-foot hotel with six stories and 76 rooms on the site of a vacant gas station in the borough’s Waterfront Development (WD) zone.
The hotel would be built on the corner of Rector Place and Route 35 on an irregular 1.04-acre site. Plans include a pool and deck along the Navesink River.
“The deck will have a lounge area as well as a small pool to be used by guests, overlooking the river,” McGann said.
A proposal for a Hampton Inn at this location was first presented to the borough in 2011.
At the time, a Red Bank resident was the lone objector to the plan. It was later revealed that he was acting on behalf of the ownership of a hotel located in Tinton Falls.
However, the Borough Council adopted three ordinances last July that set the height limits at 75 feet in the WD zone, where height limits were previously 50, 75 or 140 feet.
The ordinances also classify the site of the proposed hotel as within the WD zone, and the remaining properties on Rector Place were placed in a newly established residential zone.
The current application is seeking several variances, including a height variance to permit an 82.25-foot-tall hotel. Variances are also needed for setback requirements and illuminated signage.
The project currently before the board is being opposed by local real estate agent and Wallace Street resident Angela Agizzi, who is represented by attorney Ron Gasiorowski.
While Gasiorowski represents Agizzi, he is being retained by Tinton Falls Lodging Realty LLC, the owner of the DoubleTree inn on Hope Road in Tinton Falls, which funded the objector to the previous application.
According to Gasiorowski, there is a lawsuit pending against the borough over the Borough Council’s ordinance clarifying the zoning and establishing new height standards in the WD zone.
One of the issues in the proposal is an existing dock that would require an easement from the borough.
McGann said the developer would negotiate all of the terms of the dock with the Borough Council.
“The applicant will remain flexible and bend to the council’s wishes as to how that easement is to be treated,” he said.
A concern of board members was the proposal to provide both left- and right-turn egress from the hotel site, which McGann said his client would be willing to remove from plans.
“I’m going to solve your concerns — we’re not going to do that,” he said. “I spoke to my client at length about the issue. It will be right-hand-turn-only out. That issue can be put to rest.”
Stephen Mitchell, who opposed the previous application, again raised objections to the current application at the July 15 meeting.
“I didn’t hear any justification for the variances you are requesting,” Mitchell said, before being told the variances would be discussed at a later meeting.
He also asked whether the hotel, if constructed, would constitute a major development with regard to the stormwater management rules.
“My answer is ‘no’ because it is less than an acre of disturbance,” engineer Richard Kenderian of Maser Consulting said.
Gasiorowski’s cross-examination of the engineer was cut short at 10 p.m. — the time limit for board meetings. The application was carried.
The next hearing on the application is scheduled for Aug. 19.