Six years later, Red Bank townhouses might finally get built after town OK'd this change

RED BANK - After nearly six years, the lot at the intersection of Hudson Avenue and Harding Road could begin construction by the end of 2023.

Azalea Gardens, a townhouse and cottage project, returned to the zoning board Thursday night for revisions to its plans.

Instead of the original 16 townhouses and two cottages, the new plan would remove two houses for a total of 14 townhouses and two cottages. The two cottages will be sold as affordable housing, in which an affordable housing agency — and not the developer — would oversee the application process.

The new plans received unanimous approval, with some concerns being raised about cleaning contamination from a former gas station and the timeline of construction to begin.

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The original plan by the developer Ray Rap Realty was approved in August 2017. According to the website, townhouse prices begin at $975,000.

Voting to approve the changes, zoning board member Eileen Hogan said, “I would love to see it built yesterday.”

With the reduction of two townhouses, all remaining townhomes would receive two extra feet of width and each garage could fit two cars, according to the developer’s attorney Ed McKenna, the former Red Bank mayor.

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McKenna said each townhouse will also have its own lot and a homeowners association would maintain the neighborhood’s cleanliness. The previous plan would have created a condominium structure of ownership.

Andrew French, the developer’s site engineer, said the plan was mostly the same with the exception of the two townhouses that were removed. He said the new plan contains the same landscape designs and plantings.

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Addressing concerns about contamination from the former gas station, French said, “The soil conditions have been remediated, so on the site, the soils have been taken care of. It’s just the groundwater that has to be done. … That could be a process that takes some time, so that might not stop the construction. But ultimately the applicant is agreeing to make sure he sees that through and gets the remediation outcome completed.”

The borough’s zoning officer, Shawna Ebanks, asked about a timeline for the developer’s submission of its subdivision application, construction permits and other development paperwork.

McKenna said by the end of the year.

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Olivia Liu is a reporter covering transportation, Red Bank and western Monmouth County. She can be reached at oliu@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Red Bank NJ OKs change that might get Azalea Gardens townhouses built