News
RB Senior Facility Scales Back Plans For Addition
By John Burton
RED BANK - The Atrium at Navesink Harbor, a senior housing facility, had proposed to construct a 12-story addition on its neighboring property, which might have set the stage for protracted hearings and a possible legal battle with some area neighbors. Instead, the Riverside Avenue retirement community scaled back its plans to a size and scope previously approved by the zoning board, likely eliminating potential opposition.
Representatives for the Atrium at Navesink Harbor appeared before the borough zoning board last Thursday seeking approval for their plan to construct a six-story addition on its adjacent property.
The planned addition would include 60 independent residential units bringing the total units for both the original site and the addition to 177; a "considerable reduction in intensity of use," said the facility's attorney, Glenn Pantel, about the plan for the 249 total units that would have occurred if the facility had sought to move forward with its 12-story addition.
The Atrium, 40 Riverside Avenue, is a continuing care retirement community (CCRC), containing independent living units, assisted and nursing care capability, allowing its residents to continue living in the same complex as they age or their conditions dictate changing needs.
The facility has residents who range in age up 103 with the average of 87, explained Charles R. Mooney, senior vice president for administrative service and business development for Springpoint Senior Living, the parent company for the Presbyterian Home at Red Bank Inc., the applicant for the proposed expansion.
American Baptist Estates of Red Bank constructed the facility in 1968, which had been called Navesink Harbor. In 2006 Presbyterian Homes and Services (PHS), Princeton, had purchased the site, rebranding it as Navesink Harbor and then the Atrium at Navesink Harbor.
Over the last decade the planned addition has been under scrutiny by officials, under attack by opponents and eventually under the review of judges.
The plans first came to the foreground while it was Navesink Harbor, when the facility had acquired 36 Riverside Avenue, the neighboring property, with the intention of demolishing the apartment building that had stood there, to build the new space.
The remaining residents of the aging apartment complex, the Navesink Gables, had objected to the razing of their home. Joining them in opposition were the residents of the Riverview Towers high-rise cooperative apartment complex, 28 Riverside Avenue, who voiced concerns about what the large addition would mean for many residents' views and property values should they have to overlook the senior housing addition.
The application became the source of lengthy, and at times contentious zoning board hearings, which ultimately resulted in the board denying the application. But on appeal a state Superior Court judge invalidated the board's decision, on the grounds that senior housing posed an inherently beneficial use, remanding the matter back to the board.
Navesink Harbor spent much time in negotiations with Riverview Towers to strike a compromise. In the interim the site was sold to PHS, the largest not-for-profit senior housing provider in the state, which renovated the existing facility (and has since changed its name to Springpoint).
The board and Riverview Towers eventually approved plans for the Navesink Harbor to construct a six-story addition. But when word got around about two years ago that the facility had intended to double-down on the addition, adding another six floors, Riverview Towers' residents began offering their objections.
At last week's meeting, attorney Pantel offered the board a letter from the lawyer representing River view Towers, in essence withdrawing their objections as the plan again meets the original agreed upon draft.
"At the end of the day it was an economic decision," to scale back the project, Mooney explained after the hearing, but acknowledging, "It was also the concerns of the residents of Riverview Towers."
The plan is basically the same as previously approved, but for some minor architectural and engineering changes that would need board approval, Mooney said.
So far there are commitments for 31, or 61 percent, of the proposed 60 units, which Mooney said, "represents a commercially viable project." He and his board hope to have commitments for 75 percent by September.
The facility is a not-for-profit entity, with its two nursing care floors, tax exempt. However, the remainder of the 40 Riverside Avenue facility pays property taxes, $350,000 in 2009, Mooney said.
The addition would pay property taxes, he said.
The board will again take up this application on June 3.
