Ridgewood mayor suggests two amendments for downtown housing
September 22, 2014 Last updated: Monday, September 22, 2014, 11:39 AM
By Laura Herzog
Staff Writer
The Ridgewood New
If two is usually better than one, what about when it comes to Master Plan amendments?
Last Tuesday, Mayor Paul Aronsohn surprised Planning Board members by suggesting the board split the currently proposed Master Plan amendment, to allow multifamily housing in the village’s central business district (CBD), into two amendments.
He also asked the board to consider reducing the proposed density, as in allowable units per acre.
One part of the newly bifurcated amendment, Aronsohn said, would consider the CBD’s “core” – East Ridgewood Avenue and Franklin Avenue – and the other would consider the CBD’s “periphery” – south of East Ridgewood Avenue and north of Franklin Avenue.
“We’re looking at a lot here. I think it would simplify it. I think it would allow the board to really focus,” Aronsohn said. “I think it would just help our decision.”
In another proposal, the mayor asked the board to consider modifying the density increase to a range around 30 to 40 units per acre, as opposed to the currently proposed 50 units per acre, which has been criticized as too great by opponents.
“I’m thinking closer to 30 makes sense,” he said.
A couple of Planning Board members expressed interest in further pursuing the ideas, which Chairman Charles Nalbantian said would be discussed more in the future, but most said the board should continue moving forward as it is.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-mayor-suggests-two-amendments-1.1093601#sthash.9hy3VdTP.dpuf
Sounds like the Mayor has a good idea here. It is a compromise between what the developers want and what the naysayers demand. Ultimately the whole issue comes down to compromise on both sides and the Mayor is helping to facilitating it.
naysayers… , you mean the people who dont want the Village destroyed ?
So now the Master Plan is something to be tweaked and molded to meet any developers’ needs?
So now changing the Master Plan is reduced to a “regular” negotiable item on the table and is open to regular and frequent changes?
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Modifications to the Master Plan should be difficult to implement and should be considered only rarely – when absolutely necessary.
Apparently this mayor and council seem to consider a Master Plan change as one of the many “regular work-a-day tools” at their disposal.
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Clearly the ambitious plans of developers do not fit into the “essence” of RW – as evidenced by a need to change the Master Plan.
Changing the “proposed changes” to the Master Plan misses the function of the Master Plan and the problem at hand…
The problem IS NOT that the “original proposed changes” to the Master Plan were too severe.
The problem IS that the developers desires DO NOT FIT AND DO NOT BELONG in RW.
Ahh… the old “compromise” trap.
Sometimes compromise is BAD.
Let me give you an example…
Let’s say I want to kill you and you want me to let you live.
What say we compromise and I beat the *%^ out of you and break your arms and legs?
What do you think? Is that a good compromise?
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Same with the Town…
Let’s say the developers want to kill the town?
Should we compromise and just let them beat it up?
So agree with these comments — there is a compromise in place already — its called the master plan. The master plan creates a balance between urban and suburban.
What’s wrong with you Mayor?
many on the planning board that night were skeptical of the mayor’s proposal that night. it clearly took many by surprise and you really have to question why he brought it up now. my best guess is that he sees the current amendment proposal is doomed and he wants to make sure something gets through. THAT ISN’T THE PROCESS!!
Let’s remember that the ordinance that allows these amendment proposals in the first place was pushed through by friends of developers (which includes their lawyers). They created a legal process that couldn’t be stopped or participated in by residents once it moved past debate at the council level (or so they thought – they didn’t count on something like the CBR). Recall how Al abruptly ceased debate on these and pushed the vote which brought them to the planning board. Now that the process isn’t working in their favor they are trying to split them up to make it look like a “compromise”.
Also remember this: The developers bought these properties knowing exactly what they were allowed to build. They were banking on being able to push through these amendments that quadruple the number of units/acre currently allowed. That’s just bad business decision making (unless you have some reason to believe your amendment will be helped along). Certainly helps explain why saraceno stormed out in the middle of the cross by his attorney of the CBR planner as it was clear he wasn’t going to rattle her.
If the current amendment proposals are voted down the developers have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a better plan. It is not the town’s job to tell the developers how much more they can get away with than is currently allowed – that’s like asking a cop how much faster you can drive over the speed limit while he’s writing you a ticket.
This is the process the developers and their attorneys created…stop whining because it’s not going your way now!!
Why should we, the residents, compromise? We are under no obligation to help these land speculators make money. They knew what they could build when they bought the properties. They just thought they could bully their way in.
Mayor must BUTT OUT.