Red Bank Council Majority Denounces Veto Of Short-Term Rental Law

RED BANK, NJ — Mayor Billy Portman's veto last week of a short-term rental ordinance passed by the Borough Council majority has prompted a call for a special meeting to override the veto.

Council President Michael Ballard, in a news release to area media, said he is requesting that a special meeting be called to "discuss the timeline and processes by which Mayor Billy Portman issued his veto, and whether the council is open to taking up a vote to override the veto."

The Borough Council majority team of Ballard and Councilmembers Ed Zipprich, Jacqueline Sturdivant, John Jackson and Angela Mirandi voted Feb. 8 to adopt the ordinance. Councilmember Kate Triggiano, aligned with Portman, voted against it.

Portman's veto, which Ballard said was the first such action in in 40 years, was announced to local media in a press release issued Wednesday night, Feb. 22. The council was informed officially by the borough clerk on Feb. 23. The mayoral veto was made within the the allowable period after the ordinance adoption.

"I maintain that his (Portman's) actions have violated the trust of the voters and expose him as a politician eager to resort to secret, backdoor shenanigans for political gain," Ballard said in his statement Monday.

The new ordinance that was approved - but is now not in effect after the veto - would have limited allowable short-term rentals to certain zones of the borough, but would ban it in strictly residential zones.

Portman, in his news release last Wednesday night, said: "Having received voluminous e-mails and feedback from Red Bank residents in support of allowing at least owner-occupied short-term rentals, I believe it is my obligation as mayor to veto this ordinance."

But Ballard said the veto goes against "impassioned pleas" from residents to limit short-term rentals.

Although Portman said last week that a public meeting to review the "contended" elements of the ordinance was not called as promised by the council, Ballard said there were numerous opportunities to hear from residents on the issue.

"This ordinance had been the subject of three council discussions in 2022 and another two council discussions in 2023," Ballard said in the news release.

"Over the course of these five public discussions, council heard a variety of impassioned pleas from residents to stop the spread of STRs into residential neighborhoods, and equally passionate rejections of such limitations from STR owners and real estate brokers, most of whom do not live in Red Bank.

"The Council also received volumes of emails from residents and out-of-town owners reflecting their respective desires. After over 15 hours of testimony, we passed an ordinance that allows STRs in commercial and mixed-use areas, but not residential zones," Ballard said.

He said Portman "blindsided all five yes-voting members by issuing a press release announcing he would, for the first time in Red Bank in over 40 years, veto a properly adopted borough ordinance. He did this after a three-and half-hour public meeting and subsequent 30-minute executive session the previous night where the mayor never mentioned his intent to veto the STR ordinance to the public or the council," Ballard said.

In his statement last week, Portman said the ordinance that was approved was "an effort to appease a few people in complete opposition to short-term rentals."

He said the council majority "ignored the simple and widely acceptable solution - to require that short-term rentals are owner-occupied," Portman said.

He said that solution would "eliminate the concerns raised about individual properties, while preserving the rights of Red Bank homeowners in all districts."

Apart from the discussion of the merits of the ordinance, Ballard said he was concerned about the way the council was informed of the veto.

He said he first learned of the veto through emails the night of Feb. 22, after the council meeting, from local press and then the next day "I awoke to an Asbury Park-based free newspaper’s front-page headline screaming of the veto, with Portman’s press release published inside," referring to the triCity News.

"This means that Mayor Portman provided his press release to an out-of-town publisher days before the public and the council were informed of this unprecedented rejection of norms and public opinion. The council was not officially notified of the veto until late morning, Thursday, Feb. 23, when the Borough Clerk forwarded the same release which had already been splashed across newspapers and websites around Monmouth County," Ballard said.

"Despite his campaign promises of transparency, civility and common-sense council interactions, Portman did the opposite by engaging in what I believe is nothing more than a political stunt aimed to slow down borough operations and serves as a wink and a nod to the demands of the money-based, non-resident political influencers and donors," Ballard said.

But Portman last week said his veto actually serves Red Bank residents.

"We heard from neighbors who had formed an informal supportive network of hosts, some of whom use the extra income in order to afford to stay in their homes. These ways of helping one another would no longer be allowed under Councilman Ballard's new ordinance effectively banning short-term rentals," Portman said last week.

Under the now-vetoed ordinance, short-term rentals would be permitted in the Business/Residential 1 and 2 zones; Central Commercial District 1 and 2 zones, and Light Industrial, Neighborhood Business, Highway Business, Waterfront Development and Professional Office zones, with various restrictions outlined in the ordinance. The rentals are not permitted in residential zones.

The ordinance as adopted Feb. 8 can be seen on the Borough Council agenda here.

Portman invited any resident who has any concerns about this issue to e-mail him at wportman@redbanknj.org or to see him in his office hours every Monday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.