Red Bank To Present Draft Master Plan For Review By 'Stakeholders'

RED BANK, NJ — The borough's draft 2023 Master Plan is now available for review online or in person at the Planning and Zoning Office, the borough has announced.

And the borough professionals who worked closely on the plan emphasized that it's a plan for the "residents and stakeholders of Red Bank," said Community Development Director Shawna Ebanks.

"It is a Planning Board document and will be the basis for development in the borough for the next 10 to 20 years," she said, so the board is looking for as much public input as possible.

The Red Bank Planning Board will meet on Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Borough Council chambers at the Municipal Building for a public hearing on the draft plan.

"I'm thrilled the draft master plan is now available for the residents to review. We've been working on this for a year and I'm excited to hear feedback from the residents, so many of whom participated in the many public comment and information gathering sessions," said Planning Board Chairman Dan Mancuso.

The board has held three meetings since June for public input as the plan was being prepared by BFJ Planning, New York.

Ebanks said the meeting is advertised as a public hearing but she said the board is not required to take any action on that date. In fact, she said the board will work with the public as long as needed to ensure the plan is satisfactory to residents and other stakeholders.

"It's the vision they want for the town," Ebanks added.

The public can come to the meeting that night or watch it on Zoom, she said.

The master plan can now be accessed online here: 2023 DRAFT Master Plan.

The 166-page plan offers a wealth of information about the borough after a thorough examination of the town.

Ebanks said the first half of the report focuses primarily on data - information about existing demographics, land use and community facilities.

Another part of the plan, Section 4, is the Small Areas Plan, focusing on specific areas: Sunset Park Area, Route 35 Gateway Area and the Hospital Area, she said.

Looking to the future for development, Sections 5, 6 and 7 recommend strategies for the borough to achieve its goals.

For example, Section 7 focuses on five broad areas to consider going forward:

• Land Use
• Circulation and Mobility
• Economic Development
• Community Facilities, Resources and Programming
• Sustainability, Resilience and Infrastructure

Within each topic, the professionals offer many recommendations about ways to achieve improvements.

For example, under Land Use, some ideas proposed include:

• Exploring "revisions to the BR-1 zoning district to allow for taller buildings along Monmouth and West Front Streets, with corresponding adjustments to bulk and density provisions, to focus development and facilitate a transition between the downtown core and the train station area and Shrewsbury Avenue neighborhood business corridor."
• "Create design guidelines for the Shrewsbury Avenue business corridor to preserve its distinct look, cultural heritage, and sense of place. The guidelines would focus on supporting the traditional pedestrian-scaled, mixed-use development and an active streetscape."
• "Pursue Transit Village designation with the New Jersey Department of Transportation, through creation of a new Transit Village Zone and implementation of a redevelopment process with NJ Transit and its designated developer."
• "Explore a range of strategies to implement the Housing Plan Element and Fair Share Plan and increase the availability of affordable housing and the diversity of housing choices in Red Bank," along with suggested ways to achieve this.

In terms of providing more opportunities for housing, the study concluded that "As a largely built-out community with limited vacant land, most of Red Bank’s development potential comes in the form of redevelopment of existing constructed properties."

The plan proposes certain "zoning map changes as well as use, area, and bulk revisions that would have the effect of increasing development potential in some selected areas of the borough. This is particularly true around the train station area and certain corridors (e.g. Monmouth and Front Streets)," the plan said in one of its conclusions.

The borough last had a comprehensive master planning effort in 1995, and since then, has completed periodic re-examination reports, according to the plan's introductory comments.

Re-examination reports are required to be prepared by the Planning Board at least once every 10 years. Since its last full master plan, the borough has completed four reexaminations in 2002, 2008, 2009, and 2019, the report said.

In 2022, Red Bank began the process to develop a full new master plan. The Master Plan Committee members are:

• Dan Mancuso, Planning Board Chairman
• Dave Cassidy, Planning Board member
• Kristina Bonatakis, Planning Board and Environmental Commission member
• Pasquale Menna, Former Mayor of Red Bank
• Darren McConnell, Interim Business Administrator and Police Chief
• Shawna Ebanks, Director of Community Development

Planning Board Chairman Mancuso reminded residents, "I encourage everyone with any interest to attend our upcoming public hearings or send comments or questions to our planning office."

To provide any comments, questions or suggestions prior to the meeting, the borough said residents can contact Director of Community Development Ebanks at sebanks@redbanknj.org or call 732-858-8352.