Solutions Sought for Potential Parking Problem

The way Danny Murphy sees it: Red Bank doesn’t actually have a parking problem; it has a parking perception problem. If the borough fails to implement a parking plan to go along with a new major development expected to hit the west side, however, perception could soon become reality.

Murphy, owner of on Bridge Avenue, addressed the Red Bank council prior to its meeting Wednesday night to draw attention to some parking concerns related to an approved multi-use development. He also took the opportunity to offers some suggestions as to how the borough can remedy what he believes will be a parking nightmare before it’s too late.

The issue centers on the project. Its developers have been after recently being granted several variances – a parking variance among them – by the borough’s Zoning Board. The development will include 92 apartments, as well as approximately 20,000 square feet of retail space and a brewpub. Though the plan includes a parking garage, it would only include 213 spots, a 50-spot reduction from when the plan first came before the board five years ago.

Not only does the development provide less parking than the borough deems necessary based on its own ordinances, but it’s being built, partially, on a lot that has long been used by both Danny’s and the nearby for overflow parking, of which there’s plenty, Murphy said.

“It’s going to be crucial in those first few months that we really have a good parking plan in place,” Murphy said of the West Side Lofts opening, expected in about two years. “It’s going to be a monster if we don’t deal with it.”

Among the suggestions Murphy made was a call for more signage to help steer visitors to available parking lots. Part of the perception that there’s no parking in Red Bank, he said, comes from the fact that visitors have no idea where the municipal lots are. It’s clear that people will eventually find parking if left to their own devices – Murphy pointed to the recent street fair which attracted thousands of people – but appropriate signage can go a long way to easing frustrations with visitors, he said.

Mayor Pat Menna put the onus on the Red Bank RiverCenter for failing to get the signage out there, to which RiverCenter Executive Director Nancy Adams told the council that the signs are quite literally on the way.

The problem, though, isn’t really with the downtown, but rather the west side in the Antiques District. Here there’s available parking, he said, but often visitors are hesitant to park more than a few steps away from their destination for fear, irrational though it may be, that their safety is at risk. The Red Bank Train Station is a perfect example, he said. There’s often plenty of parking there, but the area is dimly lit and does not have a consistent enough police presence, he said.

Based on his calculations, well, more likely his guesstimations, Murphy said there need to be more than 800 public parking spaces on the west side to accommodate the influx of traffic expected from the West Side Lofts. It’s not too shabby, though, as he said he believes there are about 700 spots currently. If the borough fails to account for that extra hundred spots, either by purchasing a lot, painting lines for street parking, or a combination of the two, there will be a parking problem in Red Bank, and this time for real.

“We’ve got two years to get this in place,” Murphy said of a plan. “We need to be prepared.”