Red Bank revives plan for parking garage
Defeated in 2001, deck proposal to get another look, mayor says
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

Plans for a municipal parking garage in Red Bank have resurfaced.Officials confirmed last week that the Borough Council Parking Committee and Red Bank RiverCenter are discussing a proposal for a mixed-use, multi-level parking deck, with retail on the ground floor, on the site of the White Street parking lot.

Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr. said last week that he and the committee are taking another look at the issue of a parking garage, but that it would be premature for him to comment on whether the garage proposal would be put before the council this summer.

“Last time this proposal came up,” said McKenna, “there was a lot of misinformation spread by people.”

But Councilwoman Jennifer Beck said Wednesday that any proposal for a garage at the White Street location will be “dead on arrival” if the concerns of the residents from 2001 have not been addressed.

“I think there are other locations we should look at,” she said. “There is already a difficult traffic pattern there. The area is already congested. The infrastructure of White Street and Monmouth Street cannot handle 500 or 600 more cars.”

Beck also said that she believes taxpayers’ money should not be used for the construction of any garage in the borough.

“The Linden Street lots are almost always empty or underutilized,” said Beck. “What are we going to do to get more people to park over there?”

Beck said that since she has only heard rumors about the parking garage resurfacing, she is going to request a briefing from the committee at the next council meeting.

Councilwoman Sharon Lee, a member of the Parking Committee along with Councilmen Robert J. Bifani and Arthur Murphy, said that plans for the municipal garage are very similar to the garage plans that were first proposed in 2001.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” she said in an interview last week. “I think it looks quite attractive.”

She said that because of development in the borough, a parking garage seems like the best option for the town.

“The only place to go in Red Bank is up,” Lee said. “It seems to be workable.”

The White Street lot currently provides some 350 metered and permit parking stalls. The parking shortfall in Red Bank is estimated at about 1,500 spots.

Lee said the only funds available right now for building the garage would be the money collected from the parking meters in the downtown.

The idea for a parking garage in the borough was first discussed by council in 2001, before the parking committee was formed.

The project, at that time, had a projected cost of $8.4 million and had the support of Bifani and two former councilmen, Ivan Polonsky and Thomas Hintelmann, as well as McKenna.

The issue of a municipal garage became political and divisive. Those who opposed the deck said residents should not have to pay for the municipal garage, while the downtown business community lobbied vigorously for the garage.

After public hearings and amid growing opposition by residents, council members flip-flopped and voted 5-1 to defeat the proposal.

The idea for the parking deck was resurrected in August 2004 when developer Kalian Cos., Red Bank, put a proposal on the table to develop the 2.29-acre White Street parking lot.

McKenna said that the situation for the parking garage is more favorable than in 2001 when the idea was first proposed.

“Everything’s changed since then,” he said. “The cost is different. The revenues would be different.”

McKenna said that because of a shortage of parking in the downtown, a parking garage on White Street is one of the options the committee is looking at.

According to Lee, the committee has been looking at other towns with parking garages, like Princeton, which she said has a downtown similar to Red Bank’s.

“I hope for mixed-use space, with retail on the bottom,” she said. “It’s important that it not be an empty structure at any point in time.”

Lee said she does not know when the committee will bring the idea before the council and the public, but that the plan should be accepted by the public.

“Ultimately,” she said, “it’s the Red Bank citizens that are most impacted by this. We’re always willing to take suggestions from the community.”

Tricia Rumola, executive director of Red Bank RiverCenter, said in an interview last week that at the beginning of the year, she submitted to the council a letter asking for a reduction of parking ticket costs, an improvement in the public relations of the parking utility employees, and more locations for parking in the downtown, specifically a parking garage.

“We just put it all out there,” said Rumola. “We gave it to the parking committee to work on.”

She said that RiverCenter is waiting to see which direction the committee will take with regard to the garage, but she is hopeful that one will be proposed.

“We would like to see a parking garage in Red Bank, “ she said, “and we think the White Street location is best.”

Rumola said that RiverCenter would be in favor of adding additional parking meters in the downtown if that would lessen the burden of the cost of the garage on the taxpayers.

She said that if the project were to include a funding plan like the 2001 proposal, there will be no added costs to the merchants in town.