By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – A new chapter opens for the borough’s governing council with the end of Mayor Pasquale “Pat” Menna’s term this year. At the regular council meeting and workshop session Dec. 14, Menna concluded 34 years serving the borough – 18 years as a council member and 16 years as mayor – as he presided over the remainder of discussions on agenda items during a meeting that lasted over three hours.
Newly elected Mayor Billy Portman will be presiding over the council next year.
After council members and residents delivered words of appreciation for Menna, the governing body got to work, discussing a proposed short-term rental ordinance.
The ordinance has been on the council agenda twice, but since no conclusion was reached regarding defining regulations for these types of rentals – such as AirBnB and Vrbo – the council was forced to withdraw the ordinance at the Wednesday meeting.
The borough council felt the need for the ordinance because, according to its website, “certain transitory uses of residential properties tend to negatively affect the residential character of the community and, if unregulated, can be injurious to the health, safety and welfare of the community.”
Most municipalities have clearly defined ownership and operations of short-term rentals to maintain the quality of life in residential neighborhoods, but since language that needs to be crafted into the licensing for a short-term rental ordinance still needs to be “fully vetted” in Red Bank, Menna said, “I am concerned about passing the ordinance.”
He noted that the council needs to draft an ordinance that protects the integrity of residential districts because failing to do so comes at the risk of “further deterioration” of those districts.
Council member Michael Ballard, who chairs the code committee and has been drafting the language for the ordinance, said the original version restricted short-term rentals to the borough’s commercial zone. That ordinance was pulled back on Menna’s recommendation and shared with the borough’s planning and development director which led to the inclusion of residential zones in the modified version.
“I didn’t specifically urge or did not want expansion into the residential neighborhoods,” Menna clarified. He said he was anticipating the council would include other areas that could be permitted to operate short-term rentals, “not just the commercial, but hospital zone district and the transit district by the train or highway,” he said.
Council president Kate Triggiano drew comparisons with Sea Bright’s ordinance for short-term rentals which she finds to be “a fair ordinance” and addresses concerns that are similar to Red Bank’s.
“My main concern is choosing certain zones out of the entire town as opposed to having it be a policy for the whole borough,” she said. Sea Bright’s ordinance addresses concerns like permittable age for operating the rentals, noise regulations, maximum rental days allowed within a calendar year, basic fire safety stands and many more.
Triggiano said the decision needs to be open for public comments.
“I just feel it’s too ambiguous at this point,” said council member Kathy Horgan at the meeting, her last on council; she will be succeeded by John Jackson in the new year. Horgan said the short-term rental ordinance needs more fine-tuning.
“Short-term rentals can be dispersed throughout the town, but it has to be regulated,” Horgan said.
Although Ballard wanted to table the ordinance to be reworked and brought back at the next meeting, Menna said tabling the motion wasn’t an option with the new year rapidly approaching.
Borough attorney Dan Antonelli confirmed that first readings of an ordinance at the council’s workshop session cannot be carried over into next year for second readings; procedurally the item had to be withdrawn from the agenda and reintroduced next year.
In other items on the agenda, the council approved a resolution seeking a state grant to remediate and develop the former landfill into the Sunset Park project site located on the West Side of the borough at the end of Sunset Avenue.
According to agenda details on the borough’s website, the borough has engaged “FHI Studio to undertake three small area plans, one of which is the Sunset Park area.” FHI Studio along with BJF Planning have been drafting the borough’s Master Plan.
In collaboration with Monmouth Conservation Foundation, the borough has enlisted FHI to apply for the EPA Area Wide Assessment Grant. FHI will provide professional planning supportive services for the application of the grant and will continue to provide strategic planning to advance the Sunset Park development as part of the small area planning work.
The article originally appeared in the December 22 – 28, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
