By STEVEN VIERA
Staff Writer
RED BANK — A series of resolutions to facilitate the construction of a parking garage and other downtown redevelopment initiatives nearly stalled out before the Borough Council.
At the Borough Council’s meeting on Aug. 10, Mayor Pasquale Menna — a Democrat — sided with his Republican colleagues and cast four tie-breaking votes to authorize an escrow account and to appoint planners for borough projects in the face of opposition from both council Democrats and Council President Cindy Burnham, who is not affiliated with either party.
On Resolution 16-212, which would permit the borough to enter an escrow agreement with the owners of 55 W. Front St., Burnham joined Democrats Ed Zipprich and Kathy Horgan to vote “no,” while the council’s three Republican members — Linda Schwabenbauer, Mark Taylor and Michael Whelan — voted in favor.
Despite the fact that the escrow account would allow the owners of 55 W. Front St. to reimburse the borough for professional services relating to the redevelopment of the site, Burnham explained she opposed the resolution because she did not think the property in question deserved to be included as part of an area in need of redevelopment.
In July, the council voted to designate the borough-owned White Street Parking Lot and, at the request of the property owners, 55 W. Front St. as a non-condemnation area in need of redevelopment, which would enable the borough to craft site-specific zoning ordinances. At first, the designation was intended to speed construction on a parking garage on the White Street lot, but residents and council members alike criticized the inclusion of 55 W. Front St. as a way of granting the property owners a way to skirt Red Bank’s Zoning Board.
“This just reeks of spot zoning,” Zipprich said in reference to the inclusion of the West Front Street property.
Menna, in his first tie-breaking vote of the night, sided with Republicans and voted in favor of the resolution.
The next item on the agenda, Resolution 16-213, would appoint CME Associates of Howell as professional planners and provide “redevelopment planning services” to Red Bank, which would enable CME to make site-specific zoning recommendations for the Borough Council to accept or reject. In July, CME recommended to Red Bank’s Planning Board and Borough Council that the White Street Parking Lot and 55 W. Front St. be designated as one area in need of redevelopment.
Before the vote, Burhnam asked if the RiverCenter, a nonprofit that represents many of the borough’s businesses, had signed an agreement to pay for half of the $80,000 required for the next phase of redevelopment costs, like environmental analyses. Menna said that he had sent a memorandum to RiverCenter, which had previously agreed to pay the expenses, but had not heard back from the organization.
However, RiverCenter’s Executive Director Jim Scavone addressed members of the dais and explained that he had emailed the mayor “about a month ago,” but did not receive a response.
“We have not signed the memorandum of understanding because we asked for a guarantee that the garage would be built,” Scavone said. “We understand that you cannot give a guarantee, but we ask that if, in two years, construction on a garage has not begun, that we would get the money back. So that’s what we’re waiting to understand — if that can happen or not.”
Scavone elaborated, saying that while businesses were “100 percent” in favor of a garage, RiverCenter did not want to commit funds without an assurance that work would proceed on the garage because similar efforts to address Red Bank’s parking problems had almost reached fruition before falling apart in the past.
Arguing that she did not want taxpayers to foot the entire bill, Burnham moved to table the resolution until an agreement could be reached with RiverCenter, although Borough Administrator Stanley Sickels explained the funds would come from parking fees.
Burnham, Zipprich and Horgan voted to table the resolution, but the Republicans voted against tabling, so Menna — in his second tie-breaking vote — joined the Republicans and voted against tabling it.
The council then voted to adopt the resolution, and once again, Burnham, Zipprich and Horgan voted against it, and Schwabenbauer, Taylor and Whelan voted for it, so Menna cast his third tie-breaking vote of the night in favor.
On Resolution 16-214, which would appoint CME as professional planners for 55 W. Front St., the familiar voting pattern emerged as Burnham and the Democrats voted against and the Republicans voted for it, with Menna joining the Republicans yet again.
After the meeting, Menna pointed out that there were other issues in the memorandum between the borough and RiverCenter, but he was “not at liberty” to discuss them.
In other business during the meeting, the Borough Council passed an ordinance revising its noise regulations to allow businesses to play music until midnight on Fridays, Saturdays and “days preceding recognized federal holidays” and eliminated a provision that prevented businesses within 100 feet of residential zones from conducting business between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.