Opponents say zoning ordinance bad for boro
Beck: Measure would allow developers to dictate zoning policy
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

With a proposed zoning ordinance in place to be voted on at the next Red Bank Borough Council meeting, some council members still have serious concerns about the measure.

Councilwoman Jennifer Beck said in an interview earlier this week that she sees the ordinance, which would establish a procedure for developers and other applicants to request zoning changes, as potentially very detrimental to the borough.

“I think this ordinance will do more harm to the borough than any other ordinance I have voted on in my four years on council,” said Beck.

The ordinance was recently proposed by the new borough attorney, Kenneth Pringle. It would set up a procedure for developers and property owners to apply to the council for rezoning of specific areas of town.

Beck is not alone in her concerns about the ordinance. Both Councilmen Pasquale Menna and John P. Curley have spoken out at council meetings to question the need for, and implications of, the proposed ordinance .

“I want built-in safeguards so that the people’s will is reflected by the elected officials,” said Menna in an interview after the Jan. 25 council meeting. “The buck stops with the council.”

Curley said at the Feb. 7 council meeting that he believes the ordinance to be unnecessary.

“We are lending ourselves to blatant overdevelopment,” he said. “We’re opening up a Pandora’s box of overdevelopment.”

According to Donna Smith Barr, director of planning and zoning, only the council has the authority to enact zoning changes.

Until now, a request for zoning change was made informally to the council, then reviewed by the Planning Board ,which made recommendations on the change.

The proposed ordinance would establish a formal application process, which some members of council feel will streamline the process and make if friendlier to developers.

Beck said she thinks the current process of requesting a variance from the zoning board should remain.

“Let them go before the zoning board, and let them get turned down,” said Beck.

She said she believes if the ordinance is passed, it could open the door for developers to dictate the zoning policy of the borough.

“That ordinance will change the complexion of Red Bank forever,” said Beck.

Pringle first brought the ordinance to the council at the Jan. 25 meeting. He told the council he had received a phone call from Richard Brodsky, an attorney representing Metrovation (formerly Terranomics Development), Broad Street, who asked how a change in zoning could be handled.

Beck said the proposal the developers are interested in pursuing calls for a mixed-use building, with retail on the first level and residential units on the upper floors.

Pringle said at the Feb. 14 council meeting that the proposal includes interior parking that would require the area to be rezoned.

Beck said that the plan called for 105 residential units, when the parcel of land, a portion of the former Blaisdell Lumber site on Bridge Avenue, is zoned for only 14 residential units. Thus the need, she believes, for a procedure to rezone the area.

Beck said that with the amount of pressure already on the borough for development, this ordinance is the last thing the town needs.

“This will be the most important vote I will participate in during my four years on council,” she said, “except for the parking garage.”

Pringle said that this ordinance has been used by other municipalities and that he used the Ocean Township ordinance, almost word-for-word, as a model for one proposed in Red Bank.

Beck said she has concerns about this as well.

“I don’t think we should be necessarily following the lead of Ocean Township in this matter,” she said.

Beck said she believes it was this ordinance that started the chain of events that led to the resignation of Terrance Weldon, the former mayor of Ocean Township, in October 2002.

Weldon was arrested and convicted on charges of extortion regarding land deals in the township.

The proposed zoning ordinance is due to be voted on at the next council meeting on Monday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m.

“The master plan does say that we should have more residential buildings near the train station,” acknowledged Beck.

But her concerns don’t end with the zoning ordinance.

At last week’s council meeting, she also questioned the nomination of an alternate on the Borough Zoning Board of Adjustment.

On the meeting’s agenda, under “Mayoral Appointments,” Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr. nominated William Matsikoudis as Alternate No. 4 for the zoning board.

Beck said she did not believe his choice to be an appropriate one.

“There are many other citizens who are interested in serving on the zoning board,” said Beck. “A lot of them bring backgrounds that are better suited to serve.”

Beck said that she has known Matsikoudis for some time, and that she likes and respects him as a person, but that his political background is not what she would consider to be the best for a position on the zoning board.

Matsikoudis was accepted by the council by a vote of five to one, with only Beck voting no.

The position that Matsikoudis fills is one of two new alternate positions the state has recently allowed municipalities to add. Instead of two alternates, the zoning board will now have four.