A 7-Eleven, 24 Hours and 37 Years

In 1975, Red Bank's then council granted site plan approval to the operators of a convenience store on the corner of Spring and East Front Streets, a site now home to a Welsh Farms, with a couple of minor conditions. Now, Philip San Filippo, the attorney for Dina Enterprises, the group looking to turn the Welsh Farms into a , says not one of them has anything to do with the store's hours of operations.

At the borough's meeting Monday night, those operating hours were again the primary topic of discussion. For decades the Welsh Farms - as well as previous stores - has operated daily under a 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. schedule. San Filippo says that schedule doesn't matter, that the owner of the convenience store has the right to keep the store open around the clock if he so choose. The board, however, thinks otherwise.

The argument, which devolved into one of semantics several times over the three plus hours the meeting lasted Monday night, is that, originally, the council did not mandate a specific set of hours of operation. While the original site plan indicated that the convenience store would operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., San Filippo argued that it was the owner's decision, not the borough's.

According to the board, whose approval Dina Enterprises needs in order to convert the Welsh Farms into a 7-Eleven, the original site plan, even if it's not explicitly clear, was approved on the basis that its all day, not all night and all day, schedule would be followed. Filippo countered by saying that the fact that the convenience store has not operated on an around-the-clock basis for decades shouldn't factor into the decision.

Mayor Pat Menna offered to seek a ruling on the intention of the site plan by seeking out two still living council members who approved the site plan in 1975, though San Filippo did not pursue that avenue further.

Similar to the , neighborhood residents crowded council chambers to protest the proposed 7-Eleven. Residents worry that the new store could result in increased traffic and noise, a late-night criminal element coming into the neighborhood, and a decreased quality of life thanks to signs and light fixtures that never turn off.

The planning board will likely reach a decision on the matter at its next meeting on April 16.