'No' to Drive-Throughs Near Residences

"Onerous" as the attorney representing a proposed Walgreens thinks it is, Red Bank's governing body unanimously passed a zoning ordinance amendment at its Wednesday night meeting designed to regulate the building of drive-throughs in new businesses in the borough.


It's something Borough Council has been considering for some time. And it happens to coincide with the proposed, contentious Walgreens application (which includes a pharmacy drive-through) for the Rassas Buick dealership site near the historically traffic-clogged Broad Street/Newman Springs Road intersection. However, the ordinance change would not affect the Walgreens application, since it was submitted prior to its passing.

Besides, council members chimed in, the primary concern of Walgreens objectors has been traffic, not necessarily the proposed drive-through that would come with it.  

The attorney who hoped to sway council's ultimate unanimous decision to pass the ordinance — that would restrict business drive-throughs to 100 feet or more from abutting residential zones and at least 15 feet from residential property lines — is Martin McGann.

In addition to representing the owner of the Rassas property for which the Walgreens is proposed, has represented various pharmacy and bank developers, he told council.

He called drive-throughs the wave of the future and a major benefit to "seniors, the handicapped, mothers with young kids in the car, people who don't have to leave pets on a hot day … It's not good to rush into something like this without giving it much thought.

"There are other ways you can regulate drive-throughs without something as onerous as this. All your zones essentially touch residential properties. You place a heavy burden on property owners to comply."

Not so, Borough Attorney Daniel O'Hern said. This ordinance applies to whatever proposal may abut purely residential zones, not mixed use zones, which do exist. O'Hern lives near the proposed Walgreens on the Little Silver side and people in that neighborhood have raised objections.

McGann asked if it was "the noise that emanates from drive-through windows" was the issue. If so, he suggested, rather than adding the new zoning restriction to the books, council should just enforce the existing state and borough noise ordinances.

Coffee Corral owner Russ Crosson objected to the drive-through restrictions, saying that it would adversely affect the development of his property at the Shrewsbury Avenue site on the West Side. He said he has been considering installing a drive-through at the coffee shop and was working on a plan for a bank with a drive-through.

The site abuts a residential zone.

Councilman Art Murphy agreed that drive-throughs offer a welcomed convenience for a challenged population, citing how helpful to his wife, with small children, that convenience has been. Still, he voted along with the other council members, to approve the zoning change.

As convenient as they are, officials said, in accordance with the zoning officer's recommendation, they should not be too close to solely residential zones.

The Walgreens application has not yet been heard.