Reader says Building more apartments in town can provide a financial incentive to families to move to Ridgewood solely for the school system
I suppose Ridgewood residents are supposed to read this and decide that Ridgewood should have lots of apartments in town. If keeping empty nesters in around were the only factor at work in Ridgewood, I’d be all for building lots of apartments.
Towns like Ridgewood have to weigh other factors however. Most important is the impact on schools. Is there a study out that would show for example what percentage of families with school age children rent versus own?
As far as I know there is only anecdotal data for Ridgewood. It would be interesting to see how this percentage has changed for Ridgewood in recent years. Ridgewood taxes make it prohibitive for many to live here but renters can avoid some of the tax burden and still get access to the Ridgewood Public School system. Building more apartments in town can provide a financial incentive to families to move to Ridgewood solely for the school system.
I’ve not seen or heard any discussion of the tax structure of the proposed apartment complexes in town. One can assume that if the developers thought that their projects would bring measurable economic benefit to Ridgewood, they would have presented some sort of forecast by now. Their silence to this point is somewhat deafening.
It’s also time to have a more realistic discussion about what percentage of the proposed new apartments will be occupied by families with school aged children so that the town can make its own assessment of the economic impact.
A few small apts. in and around the center of town would have some appeal for some seniors with Ridgewood links.
But, that any seniors with grand kids would move here just for the schools.
I think that “a few small apartments” would be fine. However between the different projects under consideration, we are looking at hundreds of apartments.
I agree #1
One needs only to look at the RHS telephone directory to see that the apartments and rentals throughout Ridgewood are filled with families with school age children. My own observations, done while my kids attend/attended RHS, were that many of their classmates moved to Ridgewood in middle school or the beginning of high school. Some of my children’s friends are living in 1 bedroom apartments with their parents and siblings.
Good point #4. The “experts” once again predicted that very few school age children would be living in any of the apartments. I think we all know better based on real-world experience. Building any of these apartments would be trouble for the district. Perhaps a 55 and older only apartment might work, as long as it is enforced… Still, parking and traffic estimates were also suspect. While I think many apartment residents would favor the local shops, restaurants, grocery stores, I think they’d still have to go to the mall and outside of downtown Ridgewood more often than is currently being estimated. The assumption that they’d all take the train to work is flawed, too.
Nobody spends their entire life in a four-block radius and nobody can survive without a car in the suburbs.
Set a minimum age of 55 and people will have their grandchildren and nieces and nephews (or friends) living with them.