Red Bank municipal officials have introduced an ordinance that would, if adopted, allow individuals and business operators to lease out parking spaces they control to anyone with whom they make an agreement.
A public hearing and second reading of the ordinance has been scheduled for the July 18 meeting of the Red Bank Borough Council.
The council may vote to adopt the ordinance following the public hearing.
Councilman Erik Yngstrom, who is the Parking Committee chairman, said a number of business operators have requested a solution to a problem in the borough. He said the business operators have reported there are an insufficient number of parking spaces set aside at their locations for people who visit Red Bank to shop, and attend the theater and other events.
“This (proposed ordinance) came about from a good contingent of businesses coming together,” Yngstrom said.
According to the ordinance that was introduced on June 27, Red Bank has an “inadequate” number of parking stalls available to meet the current demand of vehicles that require parking in the borough. The lack of parking spaces places limitations on the number of vehicles that can secure a parking stall and allow people to visit businesses.
The ordinance as proposed would secure a lease agreement between the Count Basie Center for the Arts and the municipality. The agreement would permit borough officials to lease out parking spaces at Borough Hall to attendees of the theater when the parking spots are not being used for municipal purposes.
Borough Hall is located at 90 Monmouth St. and the Count Basie is at 99 Monmouth St.
“This is going to allow for a lot of open spaces,” Yngstrom said.
Homeowners in Red Bank would be prohibited from renting out parking spaces that were originally designated for their private or residential properties unless they meet certain requirements that would permit a lease agreement, according to the ordinance.
In order to rent parking spaces to visitors, the owner of a property would have to: obtain a development permit; complete a survey which notes the location and time of each parking space to be leased or rented; and provide a written statement indicating the availability of each parking space during the time it is available to be leased or rented, according to the ordinance.
The unanimous vote to introduce the ordinance came from council President Edward Zipprich, Councilwoman Kathleen Horgan, Councilman Michael Ballard, Councilman Mark Taylor, Councilman Michael Whelan and Yngstrom.
“We (the Parking Committee) came out unanimous on this,” Yngstrom said. “This ordinance is going to allow other businesses to lease parking spaces off-site.”
In related business, municipal officials previously awarded a $52,350 professional services contract to Walker Consultants and directed the firm to conduct a comprehensive parking study in Red Bank.
Borough officials said Walker Consultants is qualified to carry out the tasks associated with the parking study, but they did not enumerate those tasks.
A resolution awarding the contract to the New York firm was passed on May 30. Yngstrom said Walker Consultants would begin to conduct the study this month.
In an interview on July 10, Brian Bartholomew, a senior parking consultant with Walker Consultants, said the parking study will include an analysis of the parking spaces that are available in the downtown area. He said the firm will “analyze the occupancy and vacancy rates in the borough” before devising a plan to meet the current parking demand in Red Bank.
Bartholomew said the analysis will provide a snapshot of how to best address the need for an increase in parking options in Red Bank.
“We are anticipating full completion (of the study) by the end of the year,” he said.
In a subsequent interview, Yngstrom said, “The council is hiring a consultant to do a comprehensive parking study because we are aware that Red Bank, specifically the downtown business district, has parking issues that need to be addressed. We love having a vibrant downtown and want to maintain that, along with providing parking solutions that will attract more businesses to the area.”
“While we, as a council, understand there are parking problems, we also are not parking experts,” Yngstrom said.”Therefore, we brought in Walker Consultants, a highly regarded parking consulting firm, to evaluate every aspect of parking in the downtown business district and provide us with a plan on how to remedy the issues we are having.
“The goal of this study is to provide us with up-to-date data about the parking in Red Bank and to provide us with a plan to implement to fix it. One issue we are having is that the Count Basie will be shut down in July and August for renovations, so we need to make sure all the data collected is done while Count Basie is open to ensure we have accurate numbers,” he said.
