Future of waterfront lot remains a concern
Borough in talks with NJDEP on unused parcel
BY SHARON LEFF Staff Writer

River Cove

Members of the Red Bank Borough Council are meeting with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection about a parcel of borough-owned riverfront property, but in the interim the land remains unused.

Referred to as the River Cove, or Block 8 Lot 1, the small vacant lot along the Navesink at the foot of Maple Avenue provides public access to the water and is a potential area for residents to launch nonmotorized watercrafts.

In the beginning of June, community members organized and cleaned up the lot to create a path to the river. Two mounds of dirt and building debris still need to be removed.

Cindy Burnham, a Fair Haven resident and Red Bank property owner, said she wants to see action taken to ensure the property's ownership remains with the borough.

Burnham's interest in the waterfront lot predated the borough's hiring of an appraiser in March to assess the value of the property. She spoke up at a council meeting in April, advocating for the borough to keep the lot for public use, including a boat launch.

Some council members were in favor of selling the property to offset the budget increase, but at a meeting in May, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna said the lot would remain an open lot and there are no plans to sell it.

Burnham wants the property added to the Open Space inventory to guarantee its continued public ownership.

"We could have gone ahead and cleaned this lot up and had use of it this summer but the town is dragging its feet," Burnham said. "I think they're hoping the people are going to forget about this issue as we move into the winter and they're going to try to sell it still."

Burnham said that since the cleanup day, vegetation has grown over the trail again.

She said maintaining the property is important "because there is no place in Red Bank on the east side of town to literally put your feet in the water. You can't put your feet in the water. There is not one place."

"You cannot launch any kind of a boat in Red Bank on the east side of town. There's not really boat access in Marine Park and there's none in Riverside Gardens," Burnham said.

Councilwoman Mary Grace Cangemi said the borough is meeting with representatives from the state Department of Environmental Protection but there are many rules regarding wetlands that the borough must follow.

"That's the biggest reason for a delay in terms of clean up or work down there," Cangemi said.

She said in addition to cleaning up the site, the borough must send a letter of intent to the DEP if it intends to pursue any further development of the site.

"We are moving forward," she said. "I would like to see movement on this as soon as possible."

She said while there is nothing that restricts the sale of that property, she would not like to see that happen.

"It would be sold with my objection," she said.

Burnham said that as development in the borough continues the community's natural resources need to be preserved.

"So much development has gone on in Red Bank. So much riverfront property is owned personally or has been sold to developers that we need to save whatever we can," she said.

Burnham said River Cove is a diamond in the rough.

"It's a wonderful place to walk out in the water. It complements the rowing club on the left [and it could] be such a great natural asset for children, for schools … for summer recreation to go down and build a canoe and learn how to launch it, teaching water safety, even swimming," she said.

Burnham said cleaning up the lot and creating the natural launching point wouldn't be very costly. She said local companies and residents have volunteered their services. She said the main cost will be getting rid of the parking lot blacktop and replacing it so that runoff doesn't go into the water. Burnham said she there are also possible grants that could subsidize the cost.

"It's just important to save any waterfront property, especially something we already have. It's going to take little monies to preserve it," she said.

Burnham said the people of Red Bank care about maintaining the waterfront.

"People in Red Bank are tired of development. The infrastructure can't take it. Red Bank people are tired of looking at office buildings and empty condos and this is just a wonderful project," she said.