BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — The borough may become the home of a Ruby Tuesday restaurant if an application for a use variance is approved by the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The first hearing on the application is scheduled for June 28.
The restaurant chain is seeking preliminary and final site plan approval as well as a use variance to build a sit-down restaurant on property owned by Bruce Blackmore. The application lists the address as 120 Manalapan Ave.
Blackmore owns the Jersey Freeze ice cream stand and restaurant on Manalapan Avenue near Route 9.
According to Rick Johnson, senior vice president of Ruby Tuesday Inc., plans are to keep an existing Ruby Tuesday operating in the Freehold Raceway Mall, Freehold Township.
Although 95 percent of the 3.45-acre parcel on Manalapan Avenue is in Freehold Township, the applicant has also applied to Freehold Borough, where 1.35 acres are located, seeking a use variance for the expansion of parking on the Jersey Freeze lot, according to the application.
Freehold Township Assistant Planner Guy Leighton said that although an application has been made to the Freehold Township Planning Board for site plan approval, the application has not been heard by the board.
Leighton said the Showcase Realty building — a small house — next door to Jersey Freeze will be torn down to make room for the proposed restaurant.
According to an article published in the News Transcript in 2003, the Township Committee in Freehold Township awarded a retail consumption liquor license to Ruby Tuesday Inc. on June 18, 2003. According to information provided by township officials at that time, the restaurant chain submitted the highest bid for the license, $1,013,000.
Township Committeeman Raymond Kershaw said in the article that according to the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Ruby Tuesday’s winning bid was the largest amount ever received for a liquor license.
Attorney Mark Williams, of Howell, is expected to represent Ruby Tuesday at the June 28 zoning board hearing. Board members may also hear from Kevin Haney of Bohler Engineering, Watchung; a representative from Atlantic Traffic Design Engineers, Watchung; and Jeff Shaumburg of Geotechnical Engineering, Watchung.