RBC student center approved by Zoning Board 30K-square-foot building will house gym, classrooms BY LAYLI WHYTE Correspondent Architect's rendering of the proposed new gym addition to Red Bank Catholic High School RED BANK - After nearly eight months of ongoing, though sporadic testimony, the application to construct a Student Center on Red Bank Catholic High School (RBC) property was finally approved by the borough Zoning Board the week of June 18. The application by RBC calls for the demolition of an existing garage and dwelling on the campus, which are currently being used for storage and the boiler plant for the school, and the construction of a 30,000-square-foot student center. The footprint of the new building would be 19,000 square feet and three stories, which would include a gym, a fitness room, sports team locker rooms, offices for coaches and athletic directors and two classrooms. The project required several variances, including a use variance, parking variance, design waivers and major site plan approval. The site is in the CCD-2 zone, which does not permit educational use. The 5.4-acre RBC property also consists of St. James Church and St. James Grammar School, as well as some accessory buildings. The hearing had been carried numerous times because of the difficulty the board has had in assembling a quorum, since so many members have had varying degrees of conflicts of interest ranging from having been parishioners of St. James Church or former students themselves of the school. With a board of only five members, the applicant needed, and received, affirmative votes by all five voting members. Although the hearing was supposed to be limited to a vote since all testimony had been heard previously, some of the board members had not been present at previous meetings and listened to the tapes from the meetings in order to be eligible to vote. Members like Josephine Lee, who listened to the tapes, had questions of her own, mostly concerning the ongoing issue of RBC students parking in municipal lots and along residential streets, rather than in the parking spaces leased by the school for students. "It is a reality that students who do drive to school," she said, "drive into town. How can the school develop a policy that would somehow restrict or diminish that?" Parking has been a problem for RBC for some time, with several members of the Borough Council stating publicly in the past that the perceived parking problem in downtown Red Bank is exacerbated by RBC students parking in municipal parking lots while attending school. RBC Principal Robert Abatemarco said at the meeting that creating a parking policy is not the problem, but enforcing it is. "A policy is only good if we can enforce it," he said, adding that RBC is always working to find more parking spaces for students and ones closer to the school. Currently the school has agreements with several property owners for parking spaces, including the borough, from which it leases 70 spaces at Count Basie Field. Abatemarco said that only about 28 students make use of those spaces, despite the fact that the school sends a shuttle bus twice during the morning to transport the students to the school. Altogether, the school leases 168 spaces throughout the borough for use by students. The school provides on-site parking for its teachers and staff. He also said that he has met with Red Bank RiverCenter on more than one occasion to help find a solution to the parking problem. Board member Thomas Williams, who chaired the meeting, suggested a list of conditions to which the school would have to agree in order for the application to be approved. Those conditions included placing a cap on enrollment to become effective September 2008, as well as agreeing, in the case that the borough elects to build a parking garage, to lease between 150 and 200 spaces from the borough. Abatemarco said that in the event that the borough does build a garage, an idea that has been discussed and rebuffed several times over the past decade, the school would very likely lease those spaces. The current enrollment at the school is 1,138, and Abatemarco said there is a five-year plan to decrease the school population to 1,015 students.