Red Bank Councilman calls for Zoning Board member’s resignation

Red Bank Councilman Mark Taylor was sworn into office by Sen Jennifer Beck in January

Red Bank Councilman Mark Taylor today called for the resignation of Erik Yngstrom, a candidate for Borough Council, from the community’s Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Yngstrom spoke against the Mayor and Council’s action regarding a proposed development previously rejected by the Zoning Board at a council meeting on Wednesday night, according to a report on RedBankGreen. Yngstrom said the council’s introduction of an ordinance authorizing the redevelopment of 55 West Front Street, “feels a little fishy to me,” according to RBG. Taylor said that Yngstrom also said, “someone must know someone” and “What good is the zoning board, if you can just go to the Council to override our decision?”

The measure passed, 4-3, with Independent Councilwoman Cindy Burham, a former Republican, joining Democrats Kathy Horgan and Ed Zipprich in voting against. Burham had asked the council to table the ordinance for more time to study it. Mayor Pat Menna, a Democrat, was the tie breaking vote when Republican council members Taylor, Linda Schwabenbauer and Michael Whelan voted in favor of the ordinance introduction.

“At Wednesday’s Council meeting, in violation of his sworn public duty as a Zoning Board Member Erik Yngstrom used his position as a platform to make several inappropriately political comments in an effort to further his own Council candidacy,” said Taylor in a emailed statement. “The board on which he serves is intended to be a quasi-judicial body, with members whose judgments must be free from the taint of self-interest.”

“What is more disturbing than Erik’s lack of vision is his demonstrated ignorance regarding New Jersey’s redevelopment laws and their purpose which, as a member of our Zoning Board, we would hope he would embrace,” Taylor said.

Both Taylor and Yngstrom are attorneys.

Yngstrom was not available for comment when we called his law office.