By Allison Perrine
RED BANK – Yellowbrook Property LLC, owned by local developer Roger Mumford, brought plans for a $7 million, four-story, mixed-use building on Shrewsbury Avenue before the zoning board March 18.
Board members had mixed feelings about the plans for the residential and retail structure, dubbed “The Parker at Red Bank” at the corner of Shrewsbury Avenue and River Street. Yellowbrook is currently seeking initial site relief on a use and related variances but hopes to return for approval of more detailed site plans should the board decide to move forward, according to attorney Craig Gianetti of Day Pitney LLP.
“Our vision was to capture the look of the heart of Red Bank in the early 1900s with real brick, with beautiful windows…the detail is going to be world-class,” said Mumford. “The heart of the West Side hasn’t seen anything like this.”
The site currently holds two vacant single family residential dwellings. The plan is to demolish the existing structures and construct a four-story building that would include about 4,540 square feet of commercial retail space on the ground floor. The three higher floors would house 23 residential rental units, two of which will be affordable housing. Of the 23 units, 17 will be one-bedroom apartments and six will be two-bedroom.
According to Mumford, in order to build the “level of quality” he’s looking to bring to the project, “you can’t do it in a two- or three-story building. That’s just the reality of it.”
Behind the building, accessible from River Street, there will be 32 parking spaces available, two of which will include electric vehicle charging stations and an additional two which will be dedicated to handicap parking, according to civil engineer Brian Decina. There is also two-hour parking available along Shrewsbury Avenue during the day, but from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. there is no time limit, according to traffic engineer Frank Mitskovich.
Zoning board member Lauren Nicosia questioned whether the parking would be dedicated to residents only or if visitors of the retail space would be able to utilize it as well. She noted that sharing the parking between residents and retail shoppers could cause “a little bit more chaos.”
Additionally, board member Bruce Maida noted that “the norms of residential parking have changed with COVID,” and it “may never go back to the way it used to be” when each day, tenants would leave their homes to go to work.
Mitskovich said the parking lot situation has not yet been determined at this point. Some consideration has been made to share it. As businesses are beginning to reopen, however, he said he doesn’t feel all of the residents will be working remotely.
“The parking is really important – nothing worse than owning and operating a building that doesn’t have adequate parking,” said Mumford. He suggested that, if need be, the retail space could be made a bit smaller or another “creative” solution could be found. “Make no mistake about it – we’re not going to under-park this property when it comes to the residential application and a few thousand feet of retail is not going to generate a ton of (traffic) when it’s mostly pedestrian-driven.”
Maida also noted that the project seems “big” and is not sure the project is needed in Red Bank. Board member Sean Murphy said while he understands Maida’s point, he feels the project is “very in need” and he “believes in Mr. Mumford’s track record.”
“It does carry weight with me. He’s turned over some very nice projects in Red Bank; he’s done a lot for Red Bank. This is phase one of his application and I’m not finding too many problems with it,” Murphy said.
During the public comment portion on the application, resident Brad Jones, who lives across the street from the proposed project, said he feels the proposal is “beautiful” and could be a great addition to the West Side of Red Bank. “I think if anything, it would help preserve the West Side of town,” said Jones. “That lot right now, I think everyone would probably agree, it’s kind of an eyesore and it hasn’t been maintained.”
Resident Laura Camargo said she feels the building is “huge” and “very dense.” She also shared concerns about parking given that the traffic study was conducted last summer during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Eventually we are going to be back to normal… then what do we do afterwards when we have this huge building here on River Street which takes you down to the Red Bank Primary School and there’s no parking allowed currently there?” she questioned. “This is insane. People cannot cross safely because people do not stop.”
The virtual hearing held via Zoom reached its time limit during the March 18 meeting and will be carried to the May 20 meeting.
This article was originally published in the March 25-31, 2021 edition of The Two River Times.
