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Red Bank zoning board approves pavilion, allows eight-slip dock now with conditions
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Summary
The Red Bank Zoning Board of Adjustment on March 19, 2026 approved Spring Points plan to add a covered pavilion and landscaped promenade at 40 Riverside Avenue and to build an initial eight-slip dock (not to exceed 190 feet), subject to DEP and other outside approvals and a set of operational conditions.
The Red Bank Zoning Board of Adjustment voted unanimously on March 19, 2026 to approve a plan by Spring Point to add a covered pavilion and a phased marina at its senior-living campus at 40 Riverside Avenue, with the applicant agreeing to limit initial dock construction to no more than eight boat slips and to a dock length not to exceed 190 feet.
Applicant attorney John Junko told the board the project would not add residential units but would "add amenities to the project to serve those residents," including an open-walled pavilion, fire pits and seating on a reconstructed promenade and a floating dock to provide private slips for residents. "These amenities are on a deck that faces the river," Junko said during the presentation.
Planner Andrew Janiw and landscape architect Jack Carmen described the design as a refurbishment of an existing promenade aimed at improving quality of life for residents. Carmen told the board the garden and pathways were designed with resident input and emphasized therapeutic features: "Again, this is their backyard," he said, noting raised planters, seating sized for older users and native plantings.
Engineer Anthony Calvano said the application proposes to reconstruct the existing bulkhead and promenade and, in a two-phase plan, expand an existing four-slip dock. Calvano said a full build-out of 20 slips would trigger a parking requirement of 168 spaces under the boroughs code, while the site currently provides 162 spaces; that shortfall is the basis for the parking variance requested in the application. The applicant argued the slips will be available only to residents (and their guests) and therefore will not generate the additional parking demand associated with a public marina.
Board members pressed the applicant on several points, notably how far the proposed dock would extend into the Navasink River and whether nearby public kayak and paddleboard launch activity would be adversely affected. One member said he would "be surprised" if the DEP allowed a dock that far into the channel, and others expressed concern that new slips could increase guest traffic to the site.
After a brief recess for applicant and counsel to confer, the applicant proposed a compromise: approve the pavilion and promenade as presented but cap the initial dock at eight slips, with a maximum dock projection of 190 feet from the bulkhead. The board added conditions that require compliance with the town engineers T&M Associates review letter, confirmation of recorded public-access easement documentation for the Riverwalk, fire-department review, dark-sky downward-directed LED lighting and an operational regime that limits docking and related services to residents and their guests (no boat storage, sales, rentals, fueling or on-site boat services).
The approval is conditioned on the applicant obtaining all outside permits and approvals (including Monmouth County, soil conservation and NJDEP permits). The resolution requires the applicant to submit professional certification and as-built documentation verifying that improvements are constructed in accordance with the approved plans and testimony. The board recorded the motion and took a roll-call vote; the seven members present voted "yes."
Next steps: the boards resolution will be memorialized in writing, the applicant must deliver proof of the recorded Riverwalk easement and the required outside approvals, and the applicant may return on notice if it seeks to expand the dock in the future beyond the eight slips approved at this hearing.
