An Open Letter to the Planning Board with cc to the Village Council and others:
Dear Mr. Joel, Planning Board Members, and Planning Board Professional Staff:
First let me state that I am not an attorney, let alone one with expertise in municipal law. And so, the views and opinions I express in this email are those of a layman. But a layman who has lived in Ridgewood for 48 years and one who cares deeply about our community. I should also state that I am a big supporter of building a garage on the Hudson St. site.
I understand that the Village Planner has been directed by the Village Council “to conduct a study for Redevelopment of the Hudson Street Municipal Parking Lot, allowing the Village more options moving forward with garage construction plans that could potentially save significant taxpayer dollars and build time.” I find the rationale for the directive to be misleading and incomplete.
According to an email I received from Mr. Matt Rogers, Village attorney, “The Local Redevelopment and Housing Law permits municipalities to consider property(ies) within its borders for redevelopment if the property meets certain criteria. The Statute was designed to promote the rehabilitation and/or the reconstruction of properties that have long gone without attention, particularly in commercial locations or areas. There is a process prescribed by the Statute that must be followed in order to take advantage of the statute’s benefits, which allows the municipality to avoid the public bidding process and negotiate directly with one or any entities that the municipality wants to consider for the project in mind. The Council can start the process by requesting the a (sic) study be performed by the Planner to determine if the property, in this case the Hudson Street parking lot, meets the criteria of the Statute. If it does and the process is completed, then the Village can negotiate directly with any contractor it so wishes. As you know, there has already been a presentation from PIKE at a Council meeting, where it became apparent that they can both provide a design and build the garage. The thought is that by utilizing the statute, the Village can avoid the time it takes to bid out design and then bid out to find a contractor to build the design. Additionally, it is the hope that by directly negotiating with the a (sic) contractor, the Village can also save money on the cost for several reasons. It will hopefully work and provide those benefits. If not, then the bidding process can always be utilized.”
There is no way the Hudson St. parking lot can be considered “long gone without attention.” It is obvious to me that this approach is being used by the Mayor to allow her to short circuit the process for her to be able to use Pike Construction, her chosen option. I don’t believe the Planning Board should allow itself to serve as an enabler.
As I mentioned earlier I am a big believer in the need to build a garage on the Hudson St. site. I supported the thorough, detailed, and transparent work the previous Council had undertaken in that regard, and was most disappointed when their plans were thwarted.
In contrast, for the past year the current Village Council has been totally opaque in its activities re the garage, excepting for a snippet here or there by the Mayor. I listened to the Village Council Meeting of 2017AUG02 and I was shocked to see that Councilmen Voigt and Walsh were totally out of the loop. My understanding is that the Mayor has limited her deliberations to Councilmen Hache and Sedon, and two Village Staff Members, the Village Manager and the CFO.
I personally do not like the Pike design. I find their design to be esthetically unattractive, and frankly insulting to the beautiful architecture we value in Ridgewood. As I mentioned in a Village Council meeting, the only thing lacking from the design is a neon sign that says “Welcome to Newark Airport.”
Before you expend any energy, resources, and public funds in carrying out the Mayor’s directive, I believe you should ask the Mayor to first undertake a transparent process that would fully and openly inform the Ridgewood Residents of her plans.
FYI, I understand the Mayor has recently written the Council concerning Parking Garage Options. I tried to OPRA a copy but was refused on account of its being “deliberative.” I will do all that I can to obtain a copy. We live in America not Soviet Russia!
Thank you,
Rurik Halaby
Mr. Halaby- do wait and see how the Village’s most recent real estate purchase becomes yet another white elephant. Municipal governments are not good at owning, developing and managing real estate or pools for that matter…Perhaps think about agreeing to a garage design guidelines, vote on it and grant a private entity a concession to develop, construct and the garage under a tightly controlled long term lease. Village resources can then be saved for Village business, such as paying legal fees and judgements.
An old fool equating an OPRA denial to living in Russia.
Gas bag emitting toxic fumes.
Rurik, any reasonable development or re-development of downtown would place the parking burden on the developer. If their properties are going to exacerbate the existing parking problem, they should be providing the solution. This golden ticket you are attempting to gift to potential developers places the financial burden on the Village. Simpy stated, you want an approval, what are you going to do for us?
He just won’t shut up.
Don’t address any comments to Rurik here because he does not read the blog. He states that all the time. Oh, wait, he DOES read the blog, he contributes to the blog. What a two-faced pitiful dishrag.
He’s entitled to his opinion. I don’t know why comments need to be so rude and discriminatory.
“discriminatory” ??????????????????????????????????
9:36, well we know who wrote that.
9:36 I agree. He is entitled to his opinion. I don’t quite understand why writers to the Blog feel they have to blast the writer if it is someone they personally dislike. Does it give you a “feel good” to do so? Try to ignore the author and look at what he/she says. There is often some good ideas or thoughts in the article–even if you despise the author personally. Can’t we at least try to treat others as you would want to be treated?
If you act like a disrespectful nasty jerk people will treat you like you are one
5:26. Hahahahaha. Mr. Halibut is the most disrespectful despicable man in town. He deserves zero respect. Clearly you do not know him at all
Ridgewood – stigma free?
Bravo Mr. Halaby. Ridgewood needs more grownups like You!