News
YMCA Files Suit With Borough Over Rejection of Expansion Plan
By John Burton
RED BANK - The Community YMCA will again lock legal horns with borough.
The YMCA, which is already embroiled in a lawsuit over disputed ownership of the Children's Cultural Center building, 51 Monmouth Street, on May 18 filed suit against the borough Zoning Board of Adjustment, seeking to have the state Superior Court, in Freehold, overturn the board's rejection of the YMCA's application to expand and renovate its facility, 166 Maple Avenue.
"The action of the Defendant Borough of Red Bank Zoning Board of Adjustment, was an abuse of its discretionary authority in that the action taken was in all regards, arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable and otherwise wrongful," stated the YMCA's complaint, filed by its attorney, Martin A. McGann Jr.
The Y had been seeking the board's approval to construct a 40,361 square-foot addition to its existing 55,537 square-foot facility on its Maple Avenue campus. The addition was proposed to contain a new pool, gymnasium, and all manner of other amenities geared toward its younger and senior citizen members, as well as upgrading its existing space. The need for the work, according to the court filings was, "...to provide greater opportunities to strengthen and advance lifestyle health through physical activities and education, social connectivity amongst diverse population, and senior citizen activities for its members, children, youth and families in the Borough of Red Bank and the surrounding communities."
After numerous lengthy board hearings, and amended plans, the Y failed to garner the necessary five affirmative votes to secure the needed "D" use variance.
The facility is considered a commercial recreational facility, not a permitted use within the professional office zone district, encompassing that portion of Maple Avenue.
Board members, and some members of the public, expressed concerns about the size and scope of the project and the impact it would have on the surrounding area, especially on traffic, which is already congested as Maple serves as a spur of state Highway 35 through the borough.
However, attorney McGann alleged in his court filing the resolution of denial adopted by the board, "lacks a factual basis for its negative finings and provides nothing more than conclusions unsupported by fact or applicable Land Use Law..."
Representatives for the YMCA, which is a not-forprofit tax exempt property, had argued there is a commercial recreational facility just south of the Bergen Place intersection, less than 1,000 feet, the Atlantic Club.
Armed with that argument the Y sought to have the zoning changed in the area to permit its use. But both the planning board and then the borough council voted against that proposal, expressing concerns it would undermine the intent of the borough existing master plan, which is a sort of blue print for planning and zoning in the municipality.
(Some zoning board member took exception to changing the zoning, as well, charging it was a move to undermine their board's authority.)
In response to a request for comment concerning this legal action, Pam Martino, the Y's director of Media and Communications, issued a statement via e-mail: "Since 1874 The Community YMCA has served the residents of Red Bank, and we wish to build our capacity to continue to meet ever evolving needs of local children and families.
The Y remains hopeful that the appeal process can lead to a mutually acceptable solution."
Marc Leckstein, the attorney representing the zoning board, this week declined to comment as the board has yet to deliberate on the complaint.
The Y and the borough are waging another legal struggle as the two argue over the ownership of the Monmouth Street property, which is destined for the courts, too. Some years back, the borough had given the site to the Children's Cultural Center, an arts and educational program intended for area youth. The center, in chronic financial strife, merged with the Y, with the Y assuming all responsibilities for the program and the necessary renovation of the structure. But the Y had decided to sell the property and argues the borough owes it for some work on the building's adjoining firehouse.
The borough counters the Y doesn't have the right to sell it, as the building was granted for the purpose of running the cultural center, or it would revert back to the town's ownership, and officials, in court filings, dispute the Y's claims for reimbursement.
That matter is pending in Superior Court.
