good evening everybody This planning board will come to order this 9th day of April Time is 700 p.m Adequate notice of this meeting has been posted at Bur Hall file with B clerk and mailed to the Asbury Park Press and the two river time
Call please Mayor Portman here Thomas Welsh Christina Bonitakis here Damuso here Demen here Barbara Boaz absent Megan Massie absent Wilson BB
here Hernandez here Fred Stone here And Brian Parnean here Okay before we get started the very important thing Who would rather be across the street watching the New Jersey Symphony play Star Wars: The Force Awakens than be here i have two
tickets You are welcome to them free of charge because I couldn't do anything with them today And if you haven't seen the New Jersey Symphony do a Star Wars movie or Looney Tunes or Harry Potter it is unbelievable because it is technically perfect I have two orchestra seats on the aisle If anyone wants them
they are yours The mo the the show starts at 7:30 You are welcome to them Come up and take them and go see the show because that's where I would rather be So uh we have one administrative matter which is the meetings of March 22nd I'm not kidding You can come up and take
these and go anytime you want Um does anyone have a motion to approve the minutes of March 26th so move Second All in favor
all in favor any abstensions any nos i was You were here Yeah okay Okay we've got we're going to continue our public hearing in the Rebank train station redevelopment plan This is your opportunity to ask questions or make comments That's where we are That's
where we left off If no one has any questions I'll keep these tickets and go across the street myself Um questions or comments from anyone in the public about the plan i'm going to put these back over here Come on up Marielle
You can sit right there if you want or there I don't care I wasn't sure if I was going to get a second shot but just pull that mic real close Rockstar close Tell us who you are and your address again for the record
Mary 95 Hudson Avenue I felt last time I got lost in the weeds so I'm going to stick to my written comments but I just wanted to start by saying that I don't oppose development at the train station but I would like to
see something that is in keeping with the character of the town and something that does not overwhelm our infrastructure and our our traffic uh circulation I'm also an advocate for affordable housing This is something
I've been interested in for a number of years I've done a lot of research and I think that a lot of people really don't understand what affordable housing means in the context of New Jerseyy's housing policy And in my mind it is a big
problem because I do think it's exacerbating um the housing crisis here in New Jersey by increasing real estate speculation and driving rents up across the board And interestingly this uh week the mayor
of Tom's River was on um the front page of the Asbury Park Press two for two days complaining about the number of homeless in Tom's River And there was also an article about Summit New Jersey which is
one of the wealthiest towns in Essex County and they also have a homeless problem So I think the housing policy is actually uh making things worse and now homelessness is at record high heights
in New Jersey I think Red Bank's history is filled with um unintended consequences you know lunch break which started out as a local food pantry for families in the neighborhood that were ma having trouble making ends meet now
has created a situation where we are a magnet for the homeless They come from all over Massachusetts the Carolas Pennsylvania Um we also have a history of unfulfilled promises here Uh has
anybody seen the boat ramp lately or the skate park and we also have a long history of really bad zoning decisions and anybody who's driven past Roger Mumford's Great Wall on Hudson Avenue uh
that bears witness to that So the question here tonight is does the BFJ are those the correct letters susan Bf I always get them mixed up Redevelopment plan adhered to the master
plan So this redevelopment plan takes a vague wish list most of which will never be implemented and seek seeks to codify changes to the zoning around the chain train station In so doing it basically
echoes the Denho plan And I have to ask who does BFJ work for i don't feel that they work for the taxpayers of Redbank who pay their fees I'm sorry I'm not a good public speaker anymore
So of most concern to me is the gratuitous inclusion of a potential change in the traffic pattern on the east side of the train station which appears in the Denho's proposal Right now there are six entries and exits to
the east side surface lots and the BFJ plan identifies the potential to reduce that to two eliminating vehicle access at Oakland Street and reducing the width of entryways within yards of busy train crossings that frequently back up
traffic throughout town The master plan calls for a comprehensive study of existing and projected traffic and safety conditions throughout Redbank Why include this proposed
wound which is kind of ridiculous in the plan ahead of a comprehensive study By doing so BFJ seems to be tailoring its plan to meet the needs of Denho's properties Absent a comprehensive circulation study BFJ makes assumptions
about parking requirements that are inadequate Every train station from here to Raway has surface parking for commuters but the BFJ plan does not address the need for surface commuter parking in Redbank As a woman I avoid garage parking in favor of surface
parking for safety reasons when I am alone The master plan map figure 12 indicates that more than half of residential neighborhoods in Redbank are a 20 to 30 minute walk to the train station To state that those commuters who already
live here are all going to walk use bikes and scooters to catch a train or wait in line to enter a backedup garage is clearly the work of people who have never had to jump out of a car and run down Chestnut Street to catch a train when the gates are down I caught the
6:35 a.m to Newark for many years and I have never driven 7/10en of a car to the train station Density calculations in the BFJ plan are manipulated to meet the master plan If density is calculated
based on buildable land area of 7.5 acres the density proposed exceeds maximum proposed by the MA master plan I refer to page 12 The BFJ plan also fails to maintain residential buffers as
recommended on page nine of the master plan since the adjacent neighborhood density is less than six units per acre Figure eight on the master plan The recommended 15 set feet setback on West
Street on page 97 of the master plan is reduced to five feet on the redevelopment plan page 12 The transit village designation requires a minimum of 3.5 stories and 15 units
per acre Building density with is met by the current zoning in the train station overlay district the uh transit transit whatever the to I forget what that is Um oh transit oriented development concept
assumes a reduction on the need for cars but mass transit here is woefully inadequate How many people here on the board or in this room have taken a bus to Shopright or Trader Joe's a doctor's
appointment a concert a county park to the beach or to visit a friend or to buy shoes or any other necessity in Mammoth County in the last 12 months To expect that the residents of 320 luxury apartments are going to hop on a bus to
Whole Foods is really unrealistic What we really need is a light rail line from Keyport to Briel with spurs to Highlands Long Branch and Asbury Park before we can truly be a transit village In spite
of BFJ claims to the contrary the public forums were poorly attended If you discount the New Jersey and Denhulse reps the finance guys who were there promoting the pilot council zoning planning board members and burrow employees There were only a handful of
burrow residents at the August and December meetings which were scheduled at very inconvenient times for the general public and none of the residents there really looked too pleased with the the presentations Limits on height and
density were paramount in everyone's mind but the structure of the forums were such that BFJ can cherrypick how the public input is interpreted and presented Take for example board number one where we had to put our stickers on
what we approved of what we didn't It really didn't give attendees an opportunity to weigh in on a sixth floor building If one had been pictured I guarantee it would have had a great many red dots Although Mr Manuso has assured
us that limits will be placed on the train station redevelopment limits that I hope won't involve his dead body I am asking that this body not approve the report without amendment Why give blanket approval to a plan that opens
wide a door to development that is just too big for our town's infrastructure and roads to handle now is the time to plan an alternate route before the train leaves the station I have been to many zoning board meetings where the pressure
to approve variances is enormous This process governed by New Jersey land use law and affordable housing policy favors developers Ironically Red Bank which has never employed exclusionary zoning and has always been a haven for the working
class is made less affordable by the so-called solution to the housing crisis The standards contained within this redevelopment plan supersede any conflicting res regulations in the Redbank planning and development regulations This is a direct quote from
the plan I consider this entire redevelopment process quite frankly a scam Starting with a master plan survey that could have been completed multiple times by anyone on the planet Every step step is driven by previous actions
assumptions and recommendations and there doesn't seem to be any way to put the brakes on or to change course These hearings in which the legal council admonishes the public for seeking information from the planning department and lectures about the limits of the
board's authority and options seems to be really truly a waste of everybody's time and I thank you for your time this evening But you are the stewards of your community The decisions you make will decide what Redbank is for the next 50
years And I ask you to send BFJ back to amend this plan so that it maintains the character and the safety character of Redbank and the safety of Redbank residents Thank you Mary Ellen And I I um I didn't
say this before and I should have Uh we have a five minute limit for comments My apologies that I did not say that up front Um if we get everyone who wants to speak and someone wants to come back up for to finish or to amend their comment
they are welcome to but initial comments are five minutes Anyone else like to come up hello Uh Drew Logan 26 Allen Place I am a renter here in Redbank Uh this is probably the first time you guys will be hearing from a renter about this issue
Uh frankly I'm getting pretty annoyed by in my opinion the asinine complaints by people that own homes in town and don't really know what it's like in today's rental market I moved here last summer I was a week away from the only
option for me and my girlfriend being a $4,000 a month apartment We got incredibly lucky and we're not paying that and we found a different place But right now there's 40 rental vacancies in town Only 16 of those are under 3,000 a
month and only a handful of those are you know even viable Um there's one solution to that It's supply We The town needs supply Nobody my age I just turned 30 None of my
friends can afford to live here My own sister can't afford to live here I don't understand what the holdup is Uh especially with the sentiment around town Seems like nobody wants young families to move here because that's really the only logical complaint uh to
be against apartment buildings Um like if you I think we all know what that the buying market for houses in town looks like It's frankly insane right now Uh I
think I've resolved myself to the fact that I'm not going to be able to buy a house here in the next couple years and that's fine But for people that want to live here and young couples that are looking to put roots down here and start families where do you expect them to live if there's only 20 vacant
apartments and they're all luxury apartments i don't know why that's a boogie boogeyman term for housing here Every new apartment building is in the 2500 to $4,000 range But if you get a mortgage right now in town on a $800,000
house you're paying five or 6,000 a month So if our only option for young couples young professionals is to rent an apartment for half of what we'd be paying for a mortgage cuz you know we don't have the liquid cash to be putting down a down payment on those kinds of
houses here We need more apartments And frankly I would push for 800 instead of 400 but I know that's a very unpopular opinion Um maybe we could put 400 somewhere else in town That would be great Um but I would really like to urge
the planning board specifically and the council members on the planning board to think about who this will impact the most positively and the most negatively A lot of the complaints I've been hearing is aesthetics You know I want to
look at a big building There's apartment buildings around town that are 10 12 stories here How did how did those get approved when were those approved um they've been here I've lived right behind that giant block uh apartment building over by Molly Pitcher I I don't
know how long that's been there but I think a vibrant pedestrian area and apartment buildings to replace a decored parking lot and vacant lots and vacant buildings sounds like a great idea and I frankly don't understand how there's any
opposition to that And that's it Thank you True Anyone from else sean good evening How are you good evening Aside I just want to thank everyone who's just
speak into the mic please I don't hear the recordings when I listen back to it and it's really Thanks I appreciate it Right up Just hold it Hold it I want to thank everyone Let us know who you are and where you live McMahon My
wife Mari's here with me as well Hi We've been lucky enough to live in Redbank since 1993 And we need we need your address too 288 Spring Street Thank you
And I I just want to say you know I love this community and this young man who just spoke When my wife and I moved here um we already had three children We couldn't afford a house either And uh we
rented the second floor of a two family house You know where I'm on on Mechanic Street And uh we lived there and had a fourth child And luckily the owner of the house on the first floor was a
mortgage broker and wanted us out because I think we were making too much noise up there and helped us And we got a house And it's hard It's hard It was hard then It's always going to be hard It's never going to be easy I don't think we're against each other here I
think when I heard Miss Mess speak and by the way just so you know Miss Mess has served this community for how many years Dan right On the school board and everything we're all part of this community So we're not against each
other I think we're talking about scope here right we're talking about scope We we love this community We live in this community right um I served on the school board for six years and uh we
want this to work for all of us So yes do we want affordable housing for everyone of course right but you have to look around right red Bank's being asked to do far more than all these other towns right you're not going to have
this meeting in Rumson You're not going to have it in Fair Haven You're not going to have it in Little Silver We're being asked to do far more than all of the surrounding community And we embrace that because we're that community aren't
we but let's keep the scope in mind Are we looking to do too much are we not looking to the future and seeing to ourselves right now yes Believe me I rode the train to Newark
for 27 years Now the rership's down Is that going to change i don't know But don't we want to keep that option open right Don't we want to keep open more parking for commuters if we
need it i agree with Barry Allen I would love it if the buses were our main route You know my dad took the bus up to the train station for many years People don't do that anymore So keep the scope in mind I
think we look around and one of the reasons why a lot of people are concerned is that we see too much density you know not enough planning around things not enough
setbacks not enough you know pedestrian you know um easement right so that's what we want You know I really think we want as a town to not be against each other I don't I don't I
don't feel that we are but to have scope in what we're doing So it seems too dense to me when I look at the plan You know I'm familiar with the area Very happy that that uh St Anony's
didn't sell their parking lot you know and it keeps a little more open space there Um but yeah let's be careful right and again developers are entitled to make their money There's no doubt about it
But let's care about ourselves Let's care about ourselves They can you know make their money but let's care about ourselves Thank you Thanks John Anyone else everyone out the hill 64 street Um I
just like to remind people here and especially the chair that this is not a star chamber This is not a place for individuals to come and make comments about other people in the film This is a court or whatever you call a board that
is here to take comments and questions about the the plan which is before us today and you know I am very good as well at going around accusing people even in this room of making I made a
note of this what they said making as comments that is not what we should be here doing so I want to move on though to the business in hand and in particular the amount of consultation consultation has been fairly
typical of what we expect in this time Now I'm going to go back to the master plan The master plan I think has already been described as being inadequate but I'll remind you the master plan the input I had was 180
characters If you remember have you remember the questionnaire 180 characters at the time that was uh the number of characters you were allowed to um to post in I know a lot of people's here favorite in
Twitter and besides we we don't even know and it's already been described as well that u a lot of it was just done by stickers on a on a piece of paper and and so we have it with this uh this um
development at redevelopment of the as well Two meetings at which have already been described as inadequate A really rocky road or really should you say an empty road of uh of consultation when
even Miss Ebanks didn't know what the hell was happening in the next few weeks You didn't and people here will say so it's it's tonight and and now we're going to be
talking about plan similar once again to the master plan which as you've Mr Manuso once said when we were at the meeting to introduce them or to take on the master plan said this is not this is not a tick the box exercise This is not
a road map for this town This is just a a thing to actually satisfy the people back up at the state That is what you said And so I would urge people once again to
actually put this back on the table Ask your consultant to go back and produce a plan that's acceptable to the community And you know we are not we are not nimbies There are people here who call me a nimi We are not
nimbies We are not here saying no we don't want progress No it's all or nothing We're not saying that you know there are people here there are people even in this room with years of experience of town planning and working in housing and working on safe
roads Maybe not in Redbank but all you're all you're doing is ignoring them I expect this evening not to stay at the end because you'll probably just rub us down a bit but I expect this evening that you will pass this But I would urge you again to put
this uh this plan back Ignore the timetable Ignore the timetable that's been set by uh NJT Ignore the timetable that's been set by Denhold because they seem to have a lot of uh input on
this Get back consult the people who live in the town This is a two square mile town It's a town that accepts We know we know we have to have affordable housing We know that uh almost every aspect of
that but it's just what the community can stand And you know this here it's really hilarious 800 apartments Yeah You know you have a thousand apartments It's going to make no difference to to rentals in this place So please
uh send it on the table refer it back Thank you Anyone else in the public have any comments or questions bill come on up Name and address for the record Good evening My name is William
Pu 90 Bank Street and I'm speaking officially as the president of the Greater Red Bank and of CP The first major question that I have I don't know whether uh Miss Babachi is
here today Is she here yes she right behind you Right Uh I'd like to know first question uh did you engage the NAACP at all in uh your preparations we as the board excuse me you mean we as
the board no Uh this Susan you want to come up and sit over here sit on that side mic Wherever the microphone takes you Last chance for anyone to go see Star Wars across the street starts in one minute
You want to miss the MCP we've known each other a long time It's had nothing to do with you This process this redevelopment plan process we did not engage specifically with the NAACP or any other advocacy organization engage with the public as a
whole as part of the workshops in the summer and the fall as well as tonight two weeks ago All right So my followup question is that the last time that uh we engaged and also uh during the time
that you presented uh the master plan you were uh basically told that there is an existential problem of uh displacement of uh African-Americans from this basic oasis amidst several
wealthy new uh Jersey wealthy communities like Romson Gold Snake and your response to that was that this is happening everywhere and there's nothing that can be done about it Is that a
correct statement or a fair statement no What I said two weeks ago was that it is a regional issue and we are seeing it in many communities throughout the tri-state area and it is a larger problem and issue than one site and one development can address Uh so I'm not saying that it cannot be solved but that
there will be other ways to solve it This this singular site and this potential redevelopment really cannot on its own affect problem of displacement here in Redbank fourth region So then a comment that I make then is that if I went to a
midwife and I said I wanted a baby develop uh what you call it delivered and the baby was breached Okay legs come in first And the midwife said "Well
um uh that's something that we cannot handle in this area and whatever but uh if you like we can continue and pull this baby out legs first." I don't think I would go with that So I see the fact
that uh the plans that we have right now do not address the issues that uh Miss Mess is uh talking about She sees a whole bunch of homeless people in uh in
Redbank and they're not black people There are all races of people and part of the reason that they're homeless is that they can't afford all these exorbitant luxury housing that we're
putting up There is no shortage of luxury housing in Red Bank There isn't there gloves and gloves and gloves of it But there is a shortage of affordable
housing and the whole situation gets a little bit more exacerbated by the speculation that goes on There are developers that are willing to pay a million dollars for a matchbox
collect a few of them and then create high density luxury units And what happens then is that the rest of the state looks at Red Bank like we are wealthy We're not we're
not a what you call an output district So how does that affect us we get cuts in our school funding and then the burden of taxation shifts now to the low income people that have been paying taxes and
sustaining this environment for many many years Dan you and I have lived in this area for a very very long time We're good friends I remember when uh you were at Eggghhead and you introduced me to the Dana Drive
and you've forgotten more than some people know about technology today You're a good friend and Mr Portman you're a good friend too I mean you have a very very patient listening uh attitude and I think that's a great
credit to uh uh this community The unfortunate thing is that your attorney tells you not to engage with the NAACP because its president sued the town But why would the president of the
NAACP sue the town it's because you don't want to talk Okay Mr Hill says you've been lecturing Okay You made your presentation you gave a great deal of information and all that stuff but it
does not fit this community This community needs more Now you go into the uh uh municipal land use laws you'll find out that there's great leeway in uh you crafting all kinds of uh mechanisms
to meet your affirmative obligation Your obligation is affirmative Now I understand that uh M glor is uh is very very famous It's being adopted all over the uh uh the country It's not just
limited to New Jersey It's very very famous but it's infamous in New Jersey because we got a cadre of wealthy uh communities around here that have been fighting this thing for the past four decades Red Bank
started off as a very very affordable place where uh Middletown Aberdine and some other places were sending us their original contribution uh uh what you call it a RCA is one of which has now
been banned Another minute Bill Yes Just ring a bell when when I get out of here The last thing I'm going to do is bring a bell in here So and I'll do this There you go So
um Mary Allen and Allan Hill and others that are going to be speaking are pleading for you to amend look at this thing you know a little bit better uh father lock of trinity has agreed to uh allow a public
forum where it would not be you presenting to us but you listening to our needs and how uh we can kind of craft something that eventually will sustain this community So I gave you a
paper the last time that uh uh there's a a lawsuit asking for you to come to the court to talk because we are not able to talk outside of court That lawsuit will go for it But with Mr Portman being here
he basically adulterates this community which means that if we have to go for it the planning board is also going to have to join the lawsuit unless we can back up and talk more about how we can craft a better plan to sustain this community
Thank you for listening Thanks Phil bill being settled 72 Bank Street Um I'm just concerned about the uh apartment building being built Period Um it seems like 800 apartments is a lot Uh Red Bank
is very overcrowded Um there's already no parking spaces for people to go downtown or I had to park around the corner drop my mother off at the door just to find a park space just to come here Um and I
understand what is saying about um being able to afford an apartment and we all started off that way but I just don't see this making any sense of building 800 apartments um in that area It's 400
Oh 400 Yes that's right Right Drew Drew wants 800 He'd like 800 but the the plan the the zone here is no more than 400 I I think 400 is I Everybody is saying maybe revisit you know maybe come up with
another plan but I think it should be scrapped all together I just don't think it makes sense Rebank is a nice town It's not a city Um and I think you guys are looking at it as a city and it's not
It's people want to be able to if you want to build something build single family homes people Um it's nice to have when you're first starting out but when people want to build a foundation here once they start having their family
you want a porch a backyard or you know things like that to do um 400 apartments I think is just in excess and I just think that it should not be done So I just hope you take that into
Thank you Thank you Anyone else have any comments or questions pretty boy PO Box 2074 I lived there ever since 1969 My mother and father bought us up
from Florida I've been living in Red Bank frankly all my life Grand kids niece and nephews live here right now I think this if I want to pay a bill or whatnot it's ridiculous for all of this We can't get in and out of driveways
Young lady couldn't even get out of her driveway on Bank Street the other day So many cars on the side she have to fight That's a narrow street She have to fight to get out of her driveway So these units that y'all want to build they're not going to have one vehicle They're
not going to have one building They're going to have two or three buildings So where they going to park they're not going to be parking in the unit or underground Ain't going to be no room They're going to park on the streets You're going to have so many accidents here in Redbank lately because of
overcrowded people's coming up and down the street and they don't got hit by cars It takes you almost an hour now to get from here to Num Springs Road to the park at certain time Coming up Dr Park Boulevard you forget it Traffic is
backed all the way up And another thing they're fighting so hard for this unit to be built You go buy a car from a car dealer Young man sell you a car When he sell you that car gets a bonus don't he but selling you that car gets a bonus So
we fighting so hard for these apartments It's people's getting a bonus for this The fight for hard this apartment And some of you don't even live in the town Once you get paid you going out of town You're going to have to come back here to Monday morning to do work here Then you're gone again We got to deal with
this I don't think that's the right move Thank you Thank you Freddy Anyone else suzanne it's only 25 street I am not speaking
right before I part of or anything You know it was interesting Um the lady who just spoke um she said we're not a city You know I pretty much come to as many council meetings as possible I can't tell you how many times people say
it's a I do a little video It's a city It's a city It's a city Back when I first moved was here about 20 uh 2000 I remember um Councilman Dupont we call us a cool little town That's what I hope we don't lose our vibe of being a cool little town This town is not like any
other place It's amazing I came from a brick which is strip mall street mall strip mall brick town And it's great that you can walk down a neighbor down the street and go to Starbucks You can walk down the street and see a symphony I mean something so cool like this in the concerts in here by losing the
vibe is going to hurt I I can't tell you how many people have moved out But ironically there's no consequences People want to be here so badly Even though the taxes have gone up ridiculous amount people still want to come here So it's I definitely don't deny this is a hard balance right we want people to
come We want it to be affordable Homeowners don't want to lose value in their house but we don't want to lose the vibe I I think 400 seems enough not enough and not too much because you're looking at it and I know you're going to say you have to always speak about the issue on the table but you got to look
at it in as a whole for this this was it 2.7 square mile town that's getting built with that happen down the street here got built there proposal apartments by um uh coffee crowns getting built like there's so many little things are getting built in
totality I I don't even can't even imagine driving down the street at 4:30 :30 even today um was it TNM was doing look like he's doing a traffic study at the intersection of Dr James and bridge about two three weeks ago somebody got hit and the density and the traffic and
like an enforcement that's a whole other problem My point is how much can we handle this thing is huge To the point everyone's gonna have at least one car if not two How much are we going to lose our that are we going to have in this town to lose our um cool
little town status and we just become a city that apparently a lot of people already are calling us a city We're not Hoboken We want to be Hoboken We live in Hoboken We're Red Bank Let's not lose this cool little town vibe that we have here Thank
you I think Red Bank's expensive coach trying to live in Hoboken Mr Anderson Good evening John Anderson I'm the chairman of Red Bank River Center located in English Plaza in town Um you know I I don't want my um prior
questioning to be misunderstood as a lack of support for the plan as a whole River Center's um generally very supportive of the plan I think it's an exciting opportunity Um the housing component in particular is
um we think quite loudable Um not only does it resolve some problems around affordable housing It's a very challenging situation that you all have to deal with but hopefully it will bring more more people to town that will patronize our constituents shop at their
shops um dine in their restaurants We um we have one and only one concern and that surrounds the intensity of the commercial component of the project Um your ordinance as presently drafted if
it's adopted allows 17 different uses about 14 of those you know we have no problem with and I I don't even necessarily um suggest there should be any real cap on them The three that are are kind of critical to us that we like you to take a hard look at will be
retail restaurant and office Um you know we we represent um a bunch of businesses and a special improvement district that's been uh going strong for for the last 30 years River Center since the 90s
um these people work hard and they put in a lot of effort and they want their businesses to be a success What we um we're able to learn and I want to thank Miss um for her email clarifying how much commercial could go in if the floor
area ratio uh for non-residentials abided and it's about 66,000 square feet of commercial Um you know I just don't want to see that that all get dedicated to retail restaurant and office I don't think you all want to see that either
because I've heard people express a desire and a hope and an aspiration that there be schooling and preschools or daycare doctor's office or walk-in clinics None of those things are problematic from our standpoint I think they're good for the town and and
they're not um not unduly competitive with our district They're probably synergistic with our district We have a particular sensitivity to the retail restaurant and office It's not to say that there shouldn't be any of that there I'm not suggested they should be non-permitted uses They should absolutely be um permitted just like you
to take a look at maybe creating um a lower cap on those particular things so that you can get some of the other types of uses that you envision in this area and it doesn't all become like high-end retail or restaurant which I don't think is what you want and which I I think
would be um not synergistic with our district We want something that is a little bit more harmonious I think the way that you get that would be to look at the floor area ratio for the non-residential uses and think about possibly amending the plan to have just
an upper limitation on a couple of these uses where you have you know Mama Street Broad Street Wallace White front avenue corridor you have your Shbury Avenue corridor Shrewbury Avenue is not part of
our district but they'll be impacted by it as well and so I would just urge you to have a a little bit of a sensitivity to those types of uses where we have quite a bit of that in town already and just put a reasonable limitation on those things
Thank you Any else have any comments or questions mr Herman thank you Hi Uh Chris Hanigan 66 Oakland Street Um my comments really focus
actually have a couple questions Uh focus primarily on automobiles cars in particular Um one of the things that where I live there's clearly some parking issues Every time there's a Count Basy thing every time there's a thing at the Armory that
parking lot is completely full Especially when that happens at the same time So I was wondering one of my first questions has there been any u are there any ways to actually make it more desirable to for people to have one or no cars for these units to try and
mitigate the the parking uh you know the idea of having you know one bedroom gets one space two bedroom gets two spaces you know is it is it possible since it's a really dense area in town in a
problematic traffic area as well that we could put in place or look at or amend uh to this plan so keep in mind we don't have an actual site plan yet No I I understand And for everybody to know this this is us
sending our recommendation or not to the PL to the the council about the redevelopment plan We don't have the site plan from the developer yet There'll be a whole another set of meetings for that to talk very
specifically about the site itself and their their plans to to build But go ahead Susan Yeah there are ways which we get more specific in the site plan phase So you know presumably the the owner of this building would dedicate spaces assign them to their residents Um the
planning board could talk as part of site plan about um whether those spaces are rented separately or together with uh with the apartment unit Um there's there's sort of pros and cons to both but if you do have separate but it's additional fee if you park then that that's a disincentive to have a lot of
cars Obviously the the for this plan it's it's minimums and maximums So the minimums are based on the bedrooms So a onebedroom unit has fewer required Um twobedroom threebedroom goes up Um there's also an overall maximum which is a little bit unusual You don't currently
have that in your zoning code So that's something we wanted to get in there An overall maximum of surface parking whether it's in the garage or whether it's on on the internal streets Um so that there is some kind of upper limit to the number of spaces that could conceivably go on this overall site But
a lot of those details on specifically how many spaces each unit will get how you might incentivize or disincentivize parking will be addressed at the site plan stage So then I have my comment about that is you know basically what's
happened to date is we've received a plan from a developer that we're building a plan around because we do that they'll build it right you know that's that's kind of I've been here for a while as well and
seen that happen a couple of times within this town So you know I just ask you to keep that in consideration and like number of people what's been said here that let's build something that fits the town well you know and actually
does what it needs to do for us and for future people living affordable housing you know all number of the comments I've already said I'm not gonna repeat them but I you know have stamina as well Uh my other uh thing is around uh traffic I
mean often my driveway gets parked in front you know it's like people are just everywhere And you know West Street and those turns the bus orientation that I know these are all you know it's kind of it's not necessarily going to be like
that but I I think the bus coming around on West Street around Wanitos and parking there There's a lot to think about that I think traffic study is a big big part of this and it's and we're not looking at it We're not considering
we're not because we don't have a plan yet I I know But but actually I'll just point out that one of the requirements of the proposed plan is that that traffic and circulation study actually be completed prior to submission of site plan That the components of that study
are agreed upon with the bureau So you know exactly what's being studied You know the parameters All of that happens before they ever submit site plan Although I will remind everyone that never in all my years of being here have I ever seen a traffic plan submitted by
a developer that didn't support the development So don't think that's going to happen because it's not Yeah I Well I I know that that's really and the the other part of this is New Jersey Transit will be incredibly concerned about the
buses and how they route So that is something that's going to get weighed in on big time by them because that's their business But don't expect a traffic plan to ever make you Exactly my point So I think the the idea
of minimizing this to some degree and ensuring that it fits with the town is is something that will mitigate that traffic issue Thank you Chris are are you related to Donna
who donna Heligan Uh it's Hanigan Hanigan Okay you're right And I wrote Hanigan down here I still got it wrong Sorry about that Mr Herman run while you can How much of the show is left your five
minutes are left for sure Good evening My name is Jay Herman Uh I live at 11 Vista Place I've lived at Redbank for 30 years I'm happy to say Um I've been investing in commercial property in Redbank for about 35 years
Uh I love it here I get my passport checked when I leave town Um and for starters I want to applaud uh the planning board and American Council for getting this plan as far as it's gotten to date I think that all of you have
done uh a really good job at u something that um was difficult Um next I'd like to say uh that I support uh virtually everything that John Anderson said um about the
commercial component Um I do have concerns I I think that uh what you're doing with this plan assuming you were to approve it and mayor and council were to approve it is you are um substantially benefiting an area that
really needs the benefit Um so I think that what you're proposing for the train station area uh will will make a wonderful little neighborhood there Uh I also think that creating 400 new units
in town is terrific Um everyone whether they're for the project or not I think acknowledges that there's a shortage of housing and affordable housing So I think all that's good but I think you have another opportunity uh tonight and that is to help a couple
of commercial areas that need help Uh I'm talking about the immediate commercial area at the train station and I'm talking about Shrewsbury Avenue Um uh owning I don't own any commercial property in either of those
neighborhoods but owning property there is difficult Uh finding good tenants uh who can pay the rent and whatnot is difficult the 400 units if you approve them will help those neighborhoods tremendously um because you will be
creating permanent customers But to the extent that you also develop new commercial space that's brand new state-of-the-art terrific buildings then also only build it well um is going to prevent you from helping those
neighborhoods in need of them I'm talking about the commercial neighborhoods nearby Uh if you didn't build uh very much commercial there then uh those neighborhoods would benefit The the stores in closest proximity to the
train station would change overnight They would be much better looking People would invest in their properties The same thing on the Street Avenue And I think you have an opportunity um you're proposing to help one neighborhood really well and I support it uh you have
an opportunity to help several neighborhoods and it wouldn't take much but as John Anderson suggested limit the amount of commercial space particularly in uh retail office
and restaurant Uh those are the areas that would compete most with um with those other neighborhoods even with Broad Street Um so uh uh as John said most of the uses that are listed are terrific To the extent
you have a museum a daycare center uh an athletic facility of some sort those would be great Those are not competitive with the other commercial neighborhoods in town But more restaurants more retail more office would be competitive So I
would urge in your recommendation to merit council that you recommend that there be a cap far below what the planner is suggesting you might allow for commercial So again to summarize my thoughts it's hard for me to be this
brief having gone to law school but um I support your u this proposal I just hope that you will consider those thoughts on limiting the commercial use Thank you Thank you Chair
Anyone else in the public have any comments or questions regarding this bill raising her You're fine Sorry you Steve 39 Avenue Um so I really had a a sort of a general question which you know tempted to sort
of get an answer by you know trolling through uh all the articles that I found on Google and and various other parts of the internet Um the master plan and the other plan which was
created Um I'm actually just trying to understand who is actually driving this project in terms of who is who has you know which authority or which group has decided that this is a great idea for the town I mean obviously there there's
a um you know a push from New Jersey Transit to build you know a series of of transit villages throughout New Jersey and there's probably you know a dozen or more of them along along the tracks You know I used to go into the town for 20 years I used to see them going up all
the way along the tracks Um as far as I understand part of their core reason for doing that is to increase ridership Um which is which is fair enough You know they're a they're a going concern They want to make sure they get as many
people on their trains as possible Um one of the things I've also read and I think it was in a you know this was a study that was done or sort of outlined in um Red Bay Green last week was that ridership figures are dramatically down since co um
and this nobody really knows whether or not those people are going to come back whether or not building a huge transit village is actually going to make a huge amount of difference in terms of getting extra people on the train So I guess one of my other you know my my core question
is are we basically just going along with a plan that has been floated by New Jersey Transit simply because it's their land and quite frankly they can do whatever they want with it and sticking 400 units on it and prospectively
increasing their ridership makes sense or as a town as a as a council as a planning board do we think it's a great idea because we need more housing uh we need more units We
think creating a nice little um supposedly walkable area is a great idea I'm just trying to get a sense of what are the key drivers for this development because you know personally you know I agree with with a bunch of the other people that have spoken
tonight um in terms of just the size and the scale of it I think is probably too big Uh I don't disagree that we could do something in that area to make it you know certainly prettier than it currently is Um but in terms of the type
of housing and the type of units and the number of them you know could it be as I think I said in the last time I was in could it be you know a different type of development um some large you know or largeish
uh you know um apartment buildings some smaller single family homes like the lady mentioned earlier Um just my sense is that it is such a huge development Um and I'm not really sure what's driving it because I would imagine if you were
to you know um have a referendum on this I would bet count to a penny uh that probably most people in the town would say it's actually too big and we don't support it So that was just the question I'm not sure To to answer your primary
question New Jersey Transit owns a lot of the land Yeah They chose a developer okay who I'm assuming is working on their site plan to submit Yeah To develop the property So it's a a combination I'd suggest of those two
with with New Jersey Transit being the primary driver of the development because not much could be done on this area without New Jersey Transit's blessing or desire to have it developed as they have clearly done in almost every town north
of here Um so that's the my answer to your to your primary question So I guess I mean ultimately the burrow is in the driver's seat here Jersey transit can't build whatever they want on the site They need planning board
approval whoever proposes something on the site with the burough council to adopt this redevelopment plan if that's what they choose to do and then the site plan ultimately goes to the planning board So the bureau does have the power here Um as I said two weeks ago um nothing in this redevelopment plan
compels the bureau to adopt this plan nothing compels them to reach a developer agreement with any developer Um it's you know it's a plan That's all it is So the burough does have control The bureau is in the driver's seat Um and it is something that the burough's
plans for decades has has supported in theory You know the idea of density around the train station It's not a new idea It's been in the plans since at least the mid 90s Uh so quite a while now This is just happens to be a moment in time when you know New Jersey Transit is interested in this there's a
developer who also owns property sort of a confluence of factors and that's why we're here at this moment but ultimately the burough does have control over what happens the site that's great I'm glad you said that because you actually preempted my my second question which was does the board
does the council have the power which it sounds like they do the ability to either veto the plan or to substantially change it If one you know uh I pluck this straight out the
constitution the will of the people have the ability or the desire for it to be something different Um so it sounds it sounds like you do Okay Um and I guess finally the last thing uh I'll be quick because I'll probably use
my five minutes up What would it take for or the council to reconsider the plan or the the outline plan that's that's that's been put forward
I don't have an answer to that question It really is probably how everyone on the board and then if this board acts the council feels about the general scope of the project And I don't think we're there yet Not sure that last
bit made a lot of sense I'm not a politician but I No I know I know you're not I know I'm just I'm just trying to get a sense of you know I think I think what it is there's a lot of people in the town that sort of feel a bit helpless and they feel that they're bit they're a bit voiceless and I think they
feel that they don't have much of a say and I think you know they feel that they can come to these meetings and they can voice their opinions but I think a lot of people feel that they're brushed aside but they're I don't think they feel they really have a
um a voice which can really sway anything I think they can they feel that they can talk to the blue in the face but at the end of the day you know decisions have been made or or decisions are going to be made and and and they don't have a mechanism to really make
any difference that may or may not be true but but personally you know I've spokeen to a lot of people in the town and a lot of them feel that way so you know I just wanted to make that point so you guys sort of understood the way a lot of the people that you know that live here pay the taxes here and are and
our long-term residency sort of feel about it You know I I I totally get it And the reason and we as our attorney pointed out at the last meeting we don't even have to have these hearings legally but we want to have them so that the public can at
least tell us what they think And I hope everyone comes back if this is approved by the council and if there's a plan submitted later this year And if you don't like it or you do like it Um so thumbs up for Drew for being the only
person who wants 800 units Um I appreciate every there's still going to be over $4,000 each apart from the sort the handful of affordable units So yeah the the market the market stinks and I'm involved in real estate and I think the market is out of control
Um and when when houses were selling for 200,000 when previously someone might have been alive when they were selling for 50 I'm sure they felt the same way And as I said before if your long lost aunt left you an acre of land in the
middle of Redbank when she passed away and all of a sudden you're sitting on this my guess is no one would build a park on it you'd all want to maximize your acres value as a developer does or in New
Jersey Transit's case wanting what they want out of the land which is units and people to drive take the train No doubt about it Um which is difficult but it's important to me and and to to everybody else that the public at least have an
opportunity to have their say I don't believe a decision has been made Um Certainly not about the development itself having not seen a plan Um you know I really appreciate everyone being here I mean I'd rather be across street watching the symphony but um I It's
interesting you say there isn't a plan And and and I understand the fact there isn't There's a general there's a general plan but there's a general plan The general plan is it's 400 units So whether it's you know 400 units that's that shape or 400 units that's that
shape it's still 400 units and it's going to be huge and it's going to be you know it's going to be a great big block of concrete in the Red Bank So whatever it ultimately winds up looking like we know it's going to be a massive development Um and I think if New Jersey Transers was was open to 10 stories the
developer would build 10 stories Um but I think they realize that that's not anything that anyone here is looking for I guess and again maybe this is maybe you can help me out with this but once thing is built I dare say it's
going to be um in terms of the and I know we can't talk about the finances but in terms of revenue in terms of money So so again I'm going to preempt that because because we don't because we don't know the answer Can do New Jersey
Transit get some of the money back from each of the units or do they just and and nobody nobody here knows the answer to that we've never dealt with dealt with because no one's at because because no one's at that again This is just a plan
If you're a huge development so many more of these have happened in loads of towns all over New Jersey How can nobody know who is actually going to benefit financially from it how can you not know even have a vague idea I mean seriously because the town doesn't the town I know
you don't want to hear the answer but the town's not involved in that The town's not the property owner The town the town isn't the town isn't making money off of this So I know people don't I know people don't want that answer Was making money off it I would say that's
great Fantastic Maybe you can bring our taxes down Maybe it's a great way of actually earning revenue for the town doesn't own the town doesn't own the right and the town doesn't own the town doesn't own the property I mean but Susan do you have an idea just a general idea is it
just is the question how is the deal structured between the developer and New Jersey Transit i vary by every town every case different It's going to be dependent on whatever development agreement you all would not you but the burough council would come up with with the developer whatever agreement is happening between the developer and New
Jersey Trans is that is that made transparent to us the the deal that the Mr Mayor yeah I doubt that a Well well to the extent that New Jersey Transit is a public entity I imagine you could probably open an agreement between New
Jersey Transit and the developer to that extent If New Jersey Transit wasn't a public entity and it was just a private developer dealing with a private developer then no it wouldn't there'd be no insight into it But Redbank doesn't play a role into that calculation because it's a it's it's New Jersey
Transit and the developer All all all we do as the town is set what the zone plan is and then they work within that within that scope And it doesn't mean we can't ask the developer and New Jersey Transit
when they're here And I know there are grants that I believe there are grants which are um are what better term given out by the state based on the fact that it's a transit village I mean it's not a huge amount of money It's probably a few
hundred grand per year or whatever and you're if you're a designated which we are not a transit village yet Yeah Well exactly But and again that was one of one of the other questions going on now um was whether that was a deciding factor on whether or not the
town or the board would decide that it's a great idea because they're going to get some funding from the state I don't know It's certainly not of any consideration of this board because we don't know anything about that The 80 affordable units are important to us No
we like the idea of having 80 affordable units for people By the way that's 80 minimum Yeah that's true At this point it's 80 minimum It could be more In terms of of how much they're allowed to Excuse me I have a followup I want to
have a discussion It's two to some of your points Yeah Our job here right is the plan is a zoning device right it's well this it's about
recommending or not to the mayor and council that it's consistent that it's consistent with the master plan and then they get to decide whether or not it is and we'll vote on that So so let me just clarify that just so everyone is 100% such a great lawyer because I want to
make sure everybody understands this is the planning board's plan This this is not to determine whether it's consistent with the master plan you the planning board of course wants to devise a plan that is consistent with the master plan but this isn't a consistency review
which is what we did at the which was what we've done previously in other types of meetings You're actually making up this plan from scratch So you can do whatever you want within this plan You want it to be consistent with the master
plan I mean you theoretically and I you you could make it so that the only thing that's permitted in this is single family homes if you wanted to But that's what the pling board felt was appropriate So so there's no there's no there's no gun at your head saying you have to do it one way or the other way So just I just want everyone to
understand that that that that about what's actually here But by the plan yes we have a mechanism by which to impact what's being presented to us in far
greater detail and more coherent detail than we would just relying on the standard zoning Correct So so so when Mr Anderson stands up and says he wants those type of he wants you to look at those type of definitions and those type
of restrictions He's absolutely right You could do that I'm not saying whether you should or shouldn't That's the decision for the board But you could there's no one who can tell you what And I think that's what Susan said earlier There's nothing there's no one out there that can tell you New Jersey Transit can't tell you this is the plan you have
to do But the other challenge we have in in doing this and this is kind of where it gets complicated and why we have to wait on the site plan is we don't know what the
economics will bear in the fulfillment of the plan Right so we have to shoot for a framework that lacks a certain amount of specificity that some people may
want because without the representations of the developer and our ability to analyze the finances of we don't know what is feasible We don't know
if 50 three-story rowouses are feasible versus I guess they aren't uh versus you know a four-story building or a five-story building Am am I I mean is that you know that's
pretty much right on I mean I'm sitting here wondering if the market can actually absorb 320 If there's 480 or affordable and there's 320 left I wonder if the market can absorb 320 rental units at the price I'm guessing the
developer is going to want because they've not they the developer but the the market has covered that everywhere else in town so far But there's buildings that are going up now and this could happen at 320
units I don't think they're all going to rent for the same amount of money I just don't I don't I don't see you know people ask me all the time who the hell is paying $4 or $5,000 a month to rent in Redbank and there are people who have sold their houses on the peninsula but want to stay nearby for a year or two
Perhaps they have kids in college and move to Redbank because they can afford $4,000 a month I don't think there's 320 of those out there but that's just my opinion Um what tools will we have when when and
if we get to a point where the developer submits a site plan in the context of this what tools do we have uh to uh what we have to analyze the
economic feasibility and representations of the development Economic feasibility never you don't have any because economic feasibility never falls into a zoning application No I mean in the sense of
if the if the developer represents that he requires five stories to make it happen or four stories what tools do we have to assess that representation so it's going to be like any application you've ever received ever in this board There's
nothing special about it It's going to be a normal application when the developer comes in your setting So for instance the town right now has height limitations that are in the zoning ordinance When they come in here if they exceed the height height ordinance they need a variance And then you and you've
done plenty of those applications here You're setting what the height is You're setting you're you're setting all these parameters You're creating the zone code You're saying that you want how many how many stories are we talking six right so six and five That's what you're
saying So the applicant comes in with five stories or six stories You can't tell them no If you if you if you if the town has adopted a plan says you can build six stories here you can't say no make it five because you've said that they're allowed to have six And I think
that's what some of the public is saying They think it's too tall Now whether you do or don't I mean that's up that's up to the board But um but you are creating the zoning ordinance to determine what is going to be allowed in this place or not Once that zoning ordinance is in
place the the applicant comes in they present presumably a variance-free application which is the goal of any redevelopment plans that the applicant hopefully doesn't have any variances They come and if they do you weigh them the same way you weigh any normal uh
application but the standards are going to be set by this by the council if they adopt the plan that the planning board eventually sends to the count Really are absent kind of a quantitative mechanism at this point
to determine the economic feasibility of a of a site plan That's not the goal Yeah we never do and it's not a role yet I've sat here many times and wondered I'm like that thing's going to die and sometimes they have and have
come back in one way or another And I and and I will tell you that the developer would love nothing more than more than five or six stories Yeah I assure you they would want more Anyone else in the public have any
questions bill come on up again You got another five minutes Just ask one last thing Sorry this will be really quick One of the things I sort of read and again maybe this is out of date now but one of the things was in the master plan was it talked about the fact that you know type of units that there were in
the town and I'm assuming part of the conversation that and correct me if I'm wrong is that you know the idea is to try if possible to come up with something some kind of development which is going to be possibly more favorable
to young families like young gentleman over there was saying about you What do young families do i'm assuming that most of these units are going to be relatively probably going to be one two or threebedroom units not four bedroomedroom units One of the things
that was in the master plan I I read was that you know most of the stuff that's in town now are one two or threebedroom units if they're not family homes The lack of fourbedroom units is driving young families out of the town
That's a a sort of a statistic I sort of read in in the master plan Um I just wanted that and the price that the market is driving for four bedroom units make them impossible
I'm not lack of income It's not the same I think the last study I saw said that it takes now approximately $20,000 more plus the last year and a half of um salary take to buy a house at this
market rate So the market is but this isn't going to help any of that Basically all of these units are going to be are going to be top quality probably I I suspect that they would be but there would be 80 afford the minimum of 80 affordable units and those affordable
units are very prescribed by the state in order to count as an affordable unit You have to have a certain mix of three-bedroom units which are designed for families two bedrooms you're you're capped at your smaller units It's very specific in terms of the bedroom mix ADA requirements for example So so that's
really where you can pass control I mean no one is building four bedroomedroom units at train stations anywhere in New York So that's that's not the market side The affordable side you can have larger units Of course but I guess the point I'm just making is that this isn't going to solve any of that issue
Okay Thank you for listening Thank you for letting me drone on Come on Hold on Bill We have somebody who hasn't spoken yet Marjorie Cavalier of Bridge Avenue My five minutes are going to be a lot shorter than his So the first thing is a a comment I I
think you should eliminate the commercial in this development I think there are plenty of places around the train station that currently exist for grab and go Get coffee get on the train Um I went to both of the feedback
sessions and one of those the Denholes guy I think it was the the Denholes guy got up and said they're going to take a train car and plop it in the middle of that open space and have like a coffee kind of grab place You don't need that
You don't need that there There's plenty of places for people to go in that part of Red Bay Well please come back when they have a plan here with that train car and tell them that Well I mean you are you may create a zoning ordinance and you could eliminate commercial there
You do have that power correct yes Yeah So you could just kind of wipe out that bottom floor Just wipe it out So my question the question maybe you know the answer to they've been building these transit villages up and down between
here and Newark Do you have any idea of what the occupancy rate is for those apartments and what the average rent that they're going for again that would vary town by town I'm sure there's a wide range I don't I don't have numbers on that And New
Jersey Transit might have that and if they do they'd be able to provide that to us at a later meeting at the end and well it seems to me that that's kind of a question on a lot of people's minds You know if they build these you know will they come kind of like Field of
Dreams kind of thing So you know it should be out there what these are going for on average And that seems to be a question that you all could ask That's it Thank you Less than there's four minutes left over or
whatever So Mr Fu welcome back Good evening again Mr Fu 90 back street uh part two All right So uh Miss Faceachi u informed us that uh she did not consult
with any agencies of sorts uh in her preparation and I just want to confirm that uh would that mean that it did not include fair share housing corporation whe did you engage Kevin
Walsh or Adam Gordon of Fair Share Housing Corporation no I mean you typically wouldn't for any kind of a reflement plan like this I'm sure that they'll be engaged in the burough's affordable housing plan that is probably underway but they wouldn't typically be engaged at this planning stage of what
we develop I basically I'm asking in terms of uh kind of refining your plans and what you were presenting in that in that frame of mind I mean I will say that 20% I'm sorry to cut you off 20% affordable set
aside is very typical of what fair share is looking for for affordable housing throughout the state So that's very standard metric And do you agree that that 20% is basically low uh and a low and moderate income
no I should have mentioned in addition to bedroom mix So one of the other ways that the state prescribes the affordable housing regulations is they have specific standards for very low income low income and moderate income low So you have very specific percentages of each of those units have to hit those
income categories So it's not all like for example 80% should be the moderate level It goes down to like 30% is still very low So some of those units will be affordable to people making 30% of the area median income and that's a state
requirement for affordable units So then um in uh your presentation I went through it several times and I did not see any indication at all anywhere of very low income which is basically one
of the problems that uh red bank faces and miss can probably speak more to it uh you have uh bonjovi and lunch break and the parker clinic catering to uh a lot of people that come to red bank because
we set up an environment that is really uh compassionate to uh these people and it could happen to any one of us one paycheck on some of the folks that go paycheck to paycheck and uh you you be you'll be uh
living in your car So I want to kind of comment a little bit on uh the speaker that just came before me in terms of uh uh I think scrapping the commercial um what do you call it uh requirement and
uh basically if you go to section uh 490-154 of uh the E code uh you'll find out that uh section five of that says is to preserve
established residential neighborhoods in and adjacent to the station That is a requirement in uh our eco 360 and uh I I'm kind of uh uh wondering whether
that's reflected in what is being presented when we have these uh highstory uh buildings and all that high density Can you uh speak to that i don't have the code in front of me
What's the section 154 490 154 section 5 to preserve established residential neighborhoods in and adjacent to the station overlay Overlay Yeah So that's the standard in
the existing train station district which if this redevelopment plan is reacted basically supersede that it'll be um the plan is to overall repeal that the overlay district if this plan is approved because there there would be no
need for the overlay This is not the overlay This is just a train the trains Yes the overlay district The train station district one No the this train station district is a overlay district There's the affordable housing overlay
district and then there's the train station overlay district There's two overlays that the bureau has Okay And this plan will supersede that Yes that would be superseded and then we would repeal the train station overlay district and there would be no need to
preserve that residential neighborhood Right that's kind of incorporated in this as well Yes And it's in the master plan and that's problematic basically So uh this is section two of my presentation and after everybody else
has spoken I have one last uh question to ask Anyone else from the public have any comments or questions marielle come And as much as River Center would like everyone who lives
here to go to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee I don't personally see that is practical for 400 units to have to leave the neighborhood to do everything
And there are places to get coffee You're right Bagel Station's been there for as long as I can remember I'll just add then that I don't think anyone's taking the business away from international market on the tacos I think the west side of my bank is going to thrive with all the new customers There's a great thriving business area
in that area Um and it's a real it's a real joy to see how many customers keep those businesses afloat and how much they come in So I think new customers are going to be great for that area I don't think that the markets compete They're different The other thing as well is we're talking we're not just
talking about coffee shops We're talking about potential banks nurseries daycarees performing arts spaces There's a whole host of other commercial uses that could take place in that ground floor
Go ahead Mariel Well I just I agree with Miss Hernandez that the Shersburg Avenue uh commercial district is probably more vibrant than Broad Street at this point um with the diversity
of businesses there So um I kind of disagree with an earlier comment that that area needs to revitalization because I think it's very vibrant right now I think when we talk about luxury housing and affordable housing and I
know um Susan referenced the income limits that allow people to qualify for the deed restricted affordable units and how much rent they have to pay But really we have a glut of luxury units in
town What we don't have is that middle ground Um and for you know those of us who have adult children we're very well aware of the problematic nature of the high rents because our own children are being priced out of town because they
wouldn't qualify if they're young professionals They don't meet the income limits for the affordable units but they can't afford the luxury units that people who come who are empty nesters who have equity in a home that they're selling they have a defined benefit
pension social security and a 401k they don't think twice about maybe dumping 4,000 a month into rent So and I do think the current train overlay
uh district zoning meets the requirements for a transit village We really don't have to change the zoning And I'm really confused about this process because on the one hand you say "Oh these things aren't going to be
built because we don't have the a plan." But by ac endorsing this plan accepting this plan sending it on to the council we're basically saying we support these zoning changes that will allow the developer to build a six-story building
And to say that he hasn't presented a site plan he already presented a plan Now yes the BFJ plan may have require him to change some of the facades to set back the stories the upper stories from
the the street level um facades But we're basically if you approve this plan you're opening the floodgates to a sixstory building And as our attorney said once that happens you can't tell
the developer no So what I'm asking you to do is to make some amendments then make them go for a variance Make them go for a variance Why are we opening the floodgates here
this process is so convoluted as is the whole affordable housing policy The way people qualify for it the way they find it the application process is a nightmare It's just it's the whole thing
is just terrible And it's so disappointing that once again Red Bank gets led down this path There are a whole bunch of people running around this town saying "What the heck is going on on Hudson Avenue who approved that
who approved that nightmare on the corner of Maple and Front Street what are people thinking when they built this stuff on Mammoth Street?" We wind up with this this these things that are poorly designed poorly constructed And you know we look at all this stuff and
say "Oh it's luxury apartments and everything's great and they have granite countertops." What is this stuff going to look like in 20 years as ownership changes i mean maybe people who can afford $4,000 um you know
apartments aren't careless We have a volunteer fire department folks And the firemen sometimes they complain because the trucks can't navigate some of these uh entryways to get into these buildings so they can actually fight fires And it
happened across the street from my house yes uh last week there was something going on across the street in the parking lot behind the uh Verizon building and the truck could not get in the driveway and it took them about 15
minutes to get the truck in the driveway Thankfully it was a false alarm but I mean these are things that we have to think about So if I can just comment on that um that the good thing about this uh is that we're not talking about this isn't a site plan And the things you're
talking about with the fire truck is exactly why they still have to come back for a site plan because they wouldn't be able to build what they want to build if the fire department says "Hey we can't get in that The buildings are too closed We can't get through the alleyway or whatever it is that they won't be able to do that because they won't meet the
fire code." Yes And and this ordinance has nothing to do with it I'm not negating anything you just said What I am saying though is that your issue about the fire department isn't part of this because the site plan will still have to come before this board and all those issues
get to be raised then and the fire the fire code says that it needs to be a certain width or the fire truck can't get in the height height's the biggest issue Yeah all that stuff that's going to be heard in a driveway and I have and having and I'm sure Susan can say the same thing having been a part of many
many redevelopment plans over the years in this job and as Susan probably is I have seen changes made at site plan phase because the site plan because the applicant comes in and they say well listen we have no variances no variances whatsoever they still have to change things because of uh because of the site
plan phase of it be for the exact reason you're talking about this whole is it seems to me that it's and on the one hand you say well this isn't really what a plan be it is a plan it is a plan that's what we're calling it a plan and
we're going to allow someone to build six stories on that location but on the same at the same time then we're being said well it's not really a site plan yet it's like you know well Mr piece is telling you what they want It
is a plan So so so I mean it's literally called a plan but it's not but it's not a site plan There is a there is a difference Yes All we have seen is renderings at this point I understand that But we know what's coming down the
pike And this if you adopt this it basically changes the zoning in the train station overlay district to allow bigger denser buildings And I really
still have a problem Susan with calculating density over 11 acres when the buildable area is actually 7.5 acres So you know and I'm not a planner It's a
lot of work for me to look through the master plan look through the uh the redevelopment plan try to find out where the consistencies are And now tonight I'm told that didn't matter I did all this work looking through all the
and you tell me "Oh well that's not really what we're doing here It seems like the purpose of this these meetings change every time I come." It's just the whole process is so convoluted But what I'm saying why are we adopting something that says you have permission to build
six stories but we're going to you know make you through jump through very many hoops in the site planning process So before we say yes you can build it I mean that's basically what's going on Well that's true And that's what state
law allows us to do is create a zone as we have everywhere in town In this zone we're saying five We're saying a maximum of of six stories and the developer would build would build 10 stories in a minute if we let them But
we can also say we want to maintain the density and the height that is already outlined by the train overlay district because we believe that that's adequate and that will meet the requirements of the application for the transit village
which I understand there are many council members who are very anxious to apply for that designation and get that designation But you know what that designation gets you because I looked the grants for 2025 were given to eight
transit villages and they run from maybe $200,000 to $600,000 for sidewalk repairs So in order to get this transit village designation it just seems to me that we're giving away a lot uh by by
adopting this redevelopment plan for very little in return Um because how many uh transit villages are there now in New Jersey 40 Well only eight of them got grants And it's just for sidewalk repair So it's not like we're going to
be designated a transit village and everybody's going to be walking everywhere and taking mass transit and nobody's going to need a car That's not how it works That's not how it works And I asked the question how many people here have hopped on a bus to take care
of any of their personal business my guess is very very few of us So a lot of people That's all I have to say I mean I know people take transit to New York I'm not talking about commuting to New York I'm talking about going to the grocery
store going to the beach going to a concert It just doesn't happen here I think it does actually I would push back against that People on the west side have lived for a long time without access to transportation I'm excited to see that we're actually invested in public transportation at all You know
for a long time there used to be no bus from Redbank to Brookdale and then there was and it increased the amount of students we were able to put in college So to me this is I hear I think it's a different perspective I hear 80 affordable housing units at a minimum I
hear 400 new people that come to see our town And I would disagree because I just have to put it on the record Um I would disagree that having lunch break here makes it so that become a homeless capital Um I sit in the a couple of committees that address homelessness and one of the issues that we have is that
other towns don't want to step up So it's not that Red Bank is trying to attract them is that the towns around us don't want to meet their legal requirement to have a code blue system And I think if you are engaged and I'm so glad to see so many residents engaged
it's okay for us to have that conversation with the neighbor and towns as to why they're not stepping up and they're just sending over over folks in their communities that are struggling to us instead of just meeting the law Well and I agree with you it's that and I do not begrudge the people the services
that they get here But it is a regional issue It's a statewide issue It's actually a national issue and it's not a red bank problem It's not these people are not homegrown here We It is a magnet It
was when the expansion for lunch break happened But you're absolutely correct The surrounding towns don't take any responsibility for providing services for these people or even contributing to
what the costs are And I wish we had but you know doing these uh band-aids giving people a meal or a bed when the temperature drops below 32 degrees that's keeping them alive but it's not
really helping them um you know find a stable living environment and much has been made about the social workers that we have employed in town and they do a wonderful job They I have spoken to the social workers
and they say I don't have any place to refer these people to There's no housing available Even Habcore is overwhelmed So when I say that we've become a magnet I want people to understand the services
are great but we need help and we need more than just band-aids We need places that these people can live And the 80 80 units are not going to solve the problem
nor are zero They're just going to make it worse Well you know I just think the entire policy is flawed and that it really needs to be revised That's my point here Thank you for and and just one comment the the train station
overlay allows 50 feet or five stories already So why change it yeah I shot one comment about the height I we talk about height and you I know as if it's the most horrible thing in the
world The fact is a developer wants to put a certain number of units If it doesn't go high it's going to spread out That's why we got something like station place where there's no setback If you could make if you if you could um negotiate with the developer to give
them a little height for a little more setback maybe if the odds aren't there something that looks better rather than a wall straight against the street That's why in the past people would talked about oh the boxes they're all boxy and they look horrible That's why
because they they are restricted on how high they can go Now you know for for one more story above what it is now I don't think that's a disaster In fact I think it may help things So we could get
more setback We could get more open space on the property and make it look better And and you you you kind of have these things that this intimation that whatever you're against is bad Much of
the things that you're against is not bad It's it's it's good And so it's just a matter of subjectivity and um you know at a certain point we have to make a decision that's best for the town and believe
that is empty parking lots It's been like that for decades and it's it's really um un it's really awful It's a waste of space It's it's ugly and we need to improve things And to say that
okay oh you're only providing 80 80 spaces and therefore we're not going to solve all the all the housing all the homeless problems in the in the city or in the state We're doing what we could You know it's a big problem It's a
humongous problem We're trying to do the best we could with what what our options are and to be a naysayer all the time and you don't want nothing Get rid of all commercial Get rid of get rid of it
completely Oh it's stupid Let's leave it like that for the next infinity It just it's so negative I I uh I I um you know we have to listen to that over and over and over again And we have to make a
decision for the best of the town Put your hand up first sir Come on up And and I will say Lou looked over at me when he said height because I am the height monster around here I don't like tall buildings Having lived in Riverview
Towers though I did enjoy the view um as the tallest building in town and and when built was the tallest building in M County before the channel club went up Um I think about opportunities like this that are lifetime opportunities because
this development will outlive all of us and will be here for probably a hundred years And it's and I and the reason I like to have these public hearings is because I think it's a big deal
And I I I want to hear what everyone including people on the board have to say about things like hike and it's crucial Sir can we have your name and address please yes Uh Lou Avarini I live on 91 Harrison Avenue
right Um and I'm just reacting to something that the other Lou in the room said Um that this is just one story more than we have now I just want to raise everyone's consciousness to the neighborhood And the fact
is we don't have five-story buildings in that neighborhood right now If you look at some quite beautiful or historic structures that are in the building you look across the street of the Anderson building three
stories You look to the Eisner buildings you know nearly 100 years old originally uh factories building um building uh clothing for World War I um and World War II Three stories
beautiful buildings So like most things in life I think the right answer is moderation You're right Anything is a a parking lot is ugly and it's not the highest and best use of that space 100% agree with that I've just questioned why
we need to change the ordinance to go from already we are allowing a height that is greater than the neighboring buildings We're allowing five Why why why is there a need to go to six
i I I just don't see that Thank you Luke And there is a five-story building there already Register building which is next to the hypo station which is now lofts There are three to probably five I was in the top one It also has a rooftop H how old
is that building brand new They just renovated it No How old is the building itself the building's ancient It was the old Red Bank Register building It just turned residential in the last couple years And Okay It's five stories I don't
know how tall it is but it's five stories It certainly is And they're lofts They And they've got very tall ceilings inside All the mechanicals are visible inside I was on the and it's got a rooftop which is pretty cool if you have the roof the top unit And well it
is possible to do things with structures that are three stories to add to them in a way that um doesn't necessarily destroy the view from their best side I mean the Anderson building when you go to the back of it what was added on I
don't necessarily agree with the architecture of it but it does go above the original height of three stories But again you know I'm talking about when you stand in the parking lot okay when you get off the train your view of the
other buildings should not be blocked by a tower that looks like it belongs in Elizabeth Thank you Anyone else yes come on up I have to take up this thing again
whereby and particularly in Mr mento's case just because we want we do not accept this plan doesn't mean we are just don't want anything don't I said in my last contribution that you know there are
plenty of other ideas out there are plenty so don't look people or just accuse people of being naysayers do not do that because as I said there's a lot of ideas out here you just haven't managed to find them or given people the
the forum to do it Mr Be was uh uh went on about um how you know we this is just going to go forward and this will just be a basis for the plans Of course it's a kind of invitation to developers and what we're doing here and what you're
doing is possibly passing a great big beautiful invitation with a big bow on it to developers to do what they will So keep keep in mind New Jersey Transit already picked their developer They're not going to hear from anyone else That's right So what I'm saying is
whatever you put through that builder or whoever will use that as a minimum They will use that as a minimum because we know that's what they do They don't think you know I'll trade off an extra story I'll put 15 feet of bruntage on
with little bushes They don't do that They don't do that they just maximize their opportunity on it So I'm just saying strip that invitation make it much more conforming to what the a community wants and you know I don't
have to tell you you've just got to look on social media and I haven't really got much time from social media but even not no one agrees with you on that comment Fine Considering how much how many of your comments I read on social media I find it very hard to believe that you
don't have time for Well this is this thing This is the thing You're the first person who ever first to face to face told me they read my Thank you very much But but what I'm saying is if you look at the overwhelming
uh responses right or wrongly I don't agree with all actually I don't agree with Mary Beth about the buses I do not agree with that but you know we're not a monolock I've never read that you agreed with anyone ever
lying I've never read any of your comments that agreed with anyone So once again is this is this me making a comment or are you giving a judgment on me thank you chairman You're welcome This is your last five minutes Yes promise it is the last
Uh uh this question is also addressed to uh Mayor Portman um if he's able to uh respond to that Are you aware that this year is the end of the repose for protection against uh
build this remedy could you just repeat that one more time are you aware that this year 2025 is the last year for repost on protection against builders remedy no I was not aware So that's not
right I was not aware Okay All right So uh the borrow is protected from uh builders just by planning and zoning to build uh after this period That's only when we
choose not to act Excuse me For a builder to get builder's remedy they we we have to not act as a town and a board Correct Which we've never done and would never let something
be built because we chose not to act Now you are also aware that u there's something also called the scarce resource restraint I'm not familiar with that Okay The best
resource receipt basically says that if you are not able to meet your obligation for affordable housing realistic obligation then the resources that are available for creating that affordable
housing has to be managed by uh some other entity other than uh the town So that is something that can happen Okay So basically I'm speaking from the uh point of view of the NAACP because
NAACP invented Mount Laura I don't know whether you are aware of that That was a case that was brought by NAACP that initiated the whole doctrine of Mount Mory I'm here representing that
organization and so far uh this town has opted not to engage with the NAACP in terms of uh uh maybe discussing things that have been brought up by so many other people Okay
So what I gather from this when I make my report is that there are misgivings about the plan as it stands right now You mean Mount Laurel excuse me You mean Mount Laurel yeah Yeah Right Right That
we we we as a town have not completely uh met our obligations and we are using up the resources Now from NAACP point of view if you told me you were going to build another cedar crossing with four
uh 100 units and 20% uh what you call it set aside for luxury I didn't even ask you to go ahead and build find us a builder to do that All right So the question is not being
able to find a builder to do that does not obiate your obligation to comply with the doctrine We agree with you Thank you Can I respond sure
Sean um M Mr is correct that the third round of the affordable housing required under Mount Borl is ending this summer and the fourth round will be starting the burough is undertaking an affordable housing plan I understand right um as is every town in the state by June 30th is
the deadline so that would be the next 10 years basically um so it's on text for this application or this plan it's not going to be directly relevant the 80 units if that's approved would then go forward for the next round the fourth round and I think would largely satisfy
your obligation but I don't have all the numbers but it's likely that once if we approve this plan we would satisfy that which has been dragging for a while But the bureau has always affirmatively achieved it obligation on affordable housing It's adopted all the
required plans every round and we'll do so in the next round as well Thank you for that Does anyone else have any comments or questions so if it makes you all feel better
um this is not a a slam dunk thing that we decided already to do And I will give you all a little bit of credit except Mr Hill Um because you've cast enough doubt in my
mind that I want to think about this some more Um so I would like a motion from someone on the board to carry this meeting until April 23rd at which time I believe we would make a decision one way or another on
the redevelopment plan Uh I will move that Thank you Mr Baby do we have a second sure I'll second Mayor second the plan call
Mayor Portman Yes Christina Bonitakis Yes Damuso Yes I just have a question What the plan we vote on it could we make recommendations to
change it yes absolutely So that's something I was ready to talk about tonight but I couldn't wait till April 23rd That's your opinion I don't I don't want to wait till the reason I'm I want to carry this to April 23rd is because I want to think about some changes to
Yeah I mean so the board again I I I can't be more clear on this that the board can make any changes they want to make to the plan It It's your plan It is It it's your plan Susan drafted it but but but it's ultimately your plan Susan can't tell you this is my plan I'm going you know you have to
do this right exact Exactly So this is your plan You can change it You can reject it You can do anything you want with it It's your plan And the majority of board members are going to decide what goes into that plan And uh you know you've all been around a long I know you've been on this board a long time
Yeah I know there I know there was commentary earlier from the public that it's already been decided and as Dan keeps saying it's not and also this board is not a lot of times doesn't vote unanimously So you you know nothing set in stone anything can happen
Um Wilson BB Yes It's Hernandez Yes Fred Stone Yes Brian Parnean Yes So ladies and gentlemen my usual speech about this This is your notice that we are carrying this to the April 23rd meeting There will be no further notice
to the public in the newspaper online Well that anyone can write whatever they want online Um but this is the the the notice to the public about this being carried to April 23rd that you want to do anything else
scheduled for April 23rd No that's it That's sounds like that's all that we'll be doing on April 23rd Also just one thing Dan I'm sorry True Um as you all know we are working on the housing element um
that needs to be adopted by June at the end of June I need two members of the uh board to um sit on our committee Who wants to do that it's on the housing element not the
affordable It's the whole entire housing element of the master plan Okay When when is it Sha well no I would sit on that All right Everyone the board's still in session so if you can please conversations outside can you can you like fuzz because
they're not listing folks if you could please keep it down We're still transacting business up here please Thank you Okay so um and Brian you'd want to sit on the um housing element committee Okay
great Thank you You'll get an email from me because we do need to meet with the planner to motion to adjurnn All in favor bye All right