By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – At a 10 a.m. special meeting Friday, March 3, a handful of residents witnessed a council majority override the rarely used mayoral veto in Red Bank.
On Feb. 22 Mayor Billy Portman wielded his veto power to revoke a heavily debated ordinance that restricts short-term rentals – like those through Airbnb – in the borough.
Council president Michael Ballard’s call for the special meeting quickly followed the veto as he accused Portman in a press release of “blindsiding” most of the council.
The revocation was short-lived as a 4-1 council majority overturned the veto, reinstating the short-term rental ordinance originally passed by a 5-1 council majority Feb 8.
According to Ballard, instead of expressing his intent to nix the ordinance at the council meeting Feb. 22, Portman issued his veto via press release to a news outlet just hours after the meeting ended.
In his rebuttal release, Ballard accused Portman of reneging on his campaign promises of “transparency, civility and common-sense council interactions.” Ballard called the veto and statement a “political stunt” and alluded to Portman acquiescing to “money-based, non-resident political influencers and donors.”
Explaining his stand only through his initial release, Portman said the council majority, including Ballard and council members Angela Mirandi, Jacqueline Sturdivant, Ed Zipprich and John Jackson, had “ignored a simple solution” that would “require that short term rentals are owner-occupied. This would eliminate the concerns raised about individual properties, while preserving the rights of Red Bank homeowners in all districts.”
The ordinance allows short-term rentals in commercial zones but prohibits them in strictly residential zones. Residents have been debating the ordinance championed by Ballard since it was introduced last summer.
In past hearings, several residents have complained about disruptions caused by “transients” to quality of life in their neighborhoods while many homeowners have argued that short-term rentals allow them to afford to live in the borough.
Similar appeals continued at the special meeting between residents who favored the veto and those who supported the decision to override it.
“I am banned, under the ordinance, because I live in a residential area,” said Amanda Doremus, a resident of Garfield Place. Doremus told the council she owns an owner-occupied rental frequented mostly by nurses and people attending funerals and has never had any complaints.
She argued that the council was operating out of “hurt feelings” because of the way Portman announced his veto, but noted he “exercised his right” and there is “no ambiguity” in a mayoral veto. “It’s a veto. Everyone knows what a veto is. Go back to the drawing board. Have a conversation,” Doremus said.
Hudson Avenue resident Mary Ellen Mess said she was in favor of council overriding the veto while acknowledging that the ordinance “probably needs to be more finely tuned.”
“I would like to see it enacted primarily to stem the tide of incursion into our town by investors,” she said.
Ballard said the ordinance was reviewed several times before it was finalized and is meant to be inclusive. “We took in everybody’s comments and we do what we think is best for the entire town, not for certain individuals, not for certain areas,” he said.
There is a “nationwide movement,” according to Ballard, to restrict short-term rentals across the country.
Portman reiterated his suggestion that making the rentals owner-occupied would solve “95% of the issues” before his veto was overturned by council 4-1, clearing the requisite two-thirds majority needed by New Jersey League of Municipalities for the override. Mirandi was at the meeting but did not vote as she was excused before it was called.
Council member Kate Triggiano was the sole “no” vote to override the veto; she was also the sole vote against the ordinance initially. When asked by a resident at the special meeting if she knew about the veto before the press release, Triggiano said she did know about the mayor’s intentions and “wasn’t blindsided.”
An ordinance to impose a 3% transient accommodation occupancy tax on short-term rentals was tabled at the Friday meeting and will be discussed at the regular council meeting, Wednesday, March 8.
The article originally appeared in the March 9 – 15, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
