Planning Board Defers to Zoners on Hotel Height

Red Bank’s is asking the borough’s zoning board to decide whether a developer should be granted an ordinance to build a riverfront hotel more than 50 feet tall.

A developer is looking to build a six-story, 76-room Hampton Inn and Suites on a small parcel of riverfront property just off of Route 35 entering Red Bank. Plans call for the hotel to be approximately 80 feet tall. A recently discovered borough ordinance, however, restricts the height of buildings in the riverfront redevelopment zone to just 50 feet.

With the board facing two lawsuits – though, admittedly, both come from the same source – board solicitor Michael Leckstein recommended a stay of the application following a 45-minute executive session during the board’s regular meeting Wednesday night. Emphasizing that he believes board jurisdiction remains with the planning board concerning the hotel project, Leckstein said it’s in the best interest of the borough to seek an interpretation of the height ordinance form Red Bank’s zoning board.

The ordinance in question was first revealed during the planning board’s last meeting in December. Ron Gasiorowski, the attorney representing borough resident and project opponent Stephen Mitchell, objected to the application based on the ordinance’s restrictions, which were previously unknown to developer RBank Capital LLC as well as the planning board and its engineer.

That meeting ended with the applicant’s request to carry the meeting to the New Year. This time around, it was the board, expressing concern over pending litigation, which asked to carry the application. Now, it’s up to the zoning board to decide if a building of more than 50 feet belongs on the 1.04-acre site, the home of an abandoned gas station, or not. The overarching application still remains with the planning board, Leckstein said.

“We believe in the interpretation (of the ordinance),” Gasiorowksi said following the meeting. “Whether I’m right or wrong, case law says it’s up to the zoning board to decide.”

According to Gasiorowski, the height restriction comes into play because the hotel is located too close to both the Navesink River and Rector Place. The measurement involves the proposed hotel’s distance from both the river – at high tide - and the adjacent roadways, which bookend the parcel of land. Gasiorowski and Mitchell have contended from the start that the plan requires approval from the zoning board.

Attorney Martin McGann, representing RBank principal Larry Cohen, objected to the board’s request for a stay but relented after Leckstein said the only alternative would be for a planning vote, one that would likely not favor the developer and his project.

Agitated by yet another delay in a process that has been put off several times in the last few months alone, McGann said the board was allowing Gasiorowski to shift the jurisdiction.

“It’s not our obligation. He’s (Gasiorowski) raised an issue that does not apply to us,” McGann said. “He chose the forum. He chose the zoning forum, not I. I have an application here (with the planning board).”

Check out Patch's Hampton Inn and Suite's topic page for more information and history about the project.