BOMBSHELL EVIDENCE: Official Emails Prove Ridgewood Officials KNEW About Wetlands on Schedler Site Despite Public Denial
the staff of the Ridewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood’s long-running saga over the Zabriskie-Schedler property has taken a dramatic turn. New details from official records, including explicit communications between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the Village’s engineering firm, strongly suggest that wetlands were confirmed on the site months before Village officials publicly minimized or denied their existence.
The core issue: Was the public deliberately misled about a crucial environmental factor while the Village Council signed off on contracts that explicitly referenced the wetlands?
The Smoking Gun: What the NJDEP Record Shows
Records indicate that NJDEP’s Land Use Permitting staff visually confirmed wetlands—located directly behind the historic Schedler house—during an April 2025 site inspection.
- May 7, 2025 (NJDEP to Suburban Engineering): The State informed Suburban that a “small isolated wetland” was found and asked the firm to either withdraw its application or apply for a Freshwater Wetlands General Permit No. 6 (GP-6).
- July 23, 2025 (NJDEP to Suburban): NJDEP formally confirmed the area was “jurisdictional,” citing the presence of cattails, standing water, and hydric soils, stating: “If it qualifies as a wetland, then it is one.”
Despite this clear confirmation from the State to their consultants, the public narrative remained dramatically different.
The November 5th Meeting: Claims vs. Contracts
Just minutes into the November 5th Village Council meeting, the contradiction became impossible to ignore:
- Contract Confirmation: Ridgewood’s own transparency binder contained a contract for future work by Suburban Engineering that explicitly listed a section for “Freshwater Wetlands” at Schedler.
- Official Denial: Moments later, when questioned by Councilmember Perron, Village Manager Keith Kazmark claimed, “We have no reason to believe based on Suburban’s investigation that there are wetlands on this site.”
This exchange raises urgent questions about due diligence and transparency: Did the Village Council approve a vendor contract without reading the scope of work, or did they sign off on language acknowledging wetlands while simultaneously denying their existence to the public?
The Problem with “General Permit 6”
The controversy deepened when officials displayed confusion over the meaning of a General Permit 6 (GP-6).
As confirmed by NJDEP protocol, the GP-6 permit is not used to deny wetlands—it is only offered after the wetlands are confirmed and establishes the conditions under which development around them can occur. This directly contradicts the Manager’s public stance that there was “no reason to believe” wetlands exist.
The SHPO/Historic Council Discrepancy
Adding to the confusion, officials from Suburban Engineering and even a representative from NJDEP publicly stated during meetings in July and August 2025 that “there are no wetlands” at Schedler, actively contradicting the State agency’s own internal documents.
This misinformation campaign may have directly impacted the Historic Sites Council’s review. The SHPO application was later approved by NJDEP’s Elizabeth Dragon, overruling the Historic Sites Council’s recommendation for temporary denial—all without the required wetlands letter of interpretation (LOI).
Taxpayer Demands: Answers on November 13th
With the soil contamination issues at Schedler now confirmed, the central question becomes: Is the toxic soil resting on confirmed wetlands? The publically available Matrix Engineering maps seem to suggest so.
All eyes are now on the upcoming remediation presentation:
- What: Matrix New World Engineering Soil Remediation Presentation
- When: November 13, 2025 at 6:30 p.m.
- Where: Youth Center at Village Hall
The community expects Matrix to address the critical overlap between the confirmed soil contamination and the confirmed wetlands at this meeting.
The committed residents who continue to read contracts and demand accountability—the true watchdogs of Ridgewood—deserve straight answers on how their tax dollars are being spent and how their environment is being protected.
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KK is a skunk…
And that’s being nice^^^ he is way worse
Wow.
We are WAY past your standard dirty local politics now.
This is “Orange Jumpsuit” territory.
Hope it was worth it!
Skunks get a bad rep. They are nice. I’d rather be sprayed than attacked.
Passaic County greaseball politics + a Ridgewood council of dingbats and dolts = COMEDY.
Cynthia O’Keefe’s public comment session was fantastic. Keith was totally defensive and looked like he was going to scream, while Cynthia never raised her voice and humiliated the council with nothing but facts.
KK telling residents don’t believe ur lying eyes.
KK in a bit of hot water? The contract stating there is a wetland sits in a binder in front of him yet he has the gall to state on video, no such wetlands exist.
Did he read the email from Ashleigh Windawi?
Thank You to the watchdogs that continue to prove this administration, especially Keith Kazmark, can’t be trusted and will lie at every turn.
When the swamp is literal and metaphorical. Shame on Keith Kazmark!
Keith,
Amazing how wetlands can disappear faster than public trust. One day you’re knee-deep in cattails, the next it’s a barren wasteland of denials and double-speak.
How incriminating! The emails make it clear: wetlands existed—just not in the public narrative. Watch the meeting! Disgusting that the Village Manger tried to deny and coverup by threatening and shaming the public.
Starts at 2:30 mark
https://www.youtube.com/live/fFexqpobVKM?si=fCbyEBXOVDFZngjB
When your contract literally says ‘Freshwater Wetlands’ but you publicly state says ‘no wetlands,’ that’s not miscommunication—that’s orchestrated deception.
Ridgewood’s idea of efficient governance: they approve contracts, contradict themselves, coverup and rewrite environmental reality—all in one meeting.
And this is day one of the Open Space tax hike. Wait to see what else they’ve had up their sleeve.
This council deceived the public about the Open Space Tax on socials and paper mailed to residents. The constant messaging about buying property only added to the deception. There is really no transparency or trust with this council left at this point.
The paper trail doesn’t lie. Ridgewood officials knew the Schedler site contained wetlands — they just didn’t think anyone would find out.
When will the day come when we will see trails of paper being carried out in boxes by folks who don’t have the best interests of these folks at heart…………………………………….
No joke. This is serious.
Not soon enough!
General Permit 6 means wetlands. Keith Kazmark LIED!
and yet you keep voting for democrats …..wtf
There’s scum on both sides of the aisle.
So you are calling residents who have receipts scum? If the council and the village manager kazmark have nothing to hide. Then, there should be no issues, but it is when you are trying to. Intentionally deceive the public that has done their homework. And you look like a effing moron because you keep repeating the same thing over and over and over again. It does not give a warm fuzzy feeling of public trust. It is so eroded at this point. We need good people to step up. So we can end this clown show. It is the worst administration in the world. A history of ridgewood
He should resign immediately.
Too bad The Record doesn’t do basic reporting any longer.
Gannett did them in. Daily subscriber for 20+ years, canceled after the takeover. What a rag.
long gone before Gannett
Somebody had to publish this. This needs to go beyond Facebook. This is criminal
And yet we are in the middle of November 2025, and still the village never reached out to past and present employees regarding the contaminated soil that a few worked employees worked at these locations. They never received an email, they never received a letter ahead from the village. No phone calls, no sit down concern meeting for anyone’s well-being. Nothing. This matter has been going on for a long time. Every time this situation is brought up at a council meeting. Everyone’s rolling their eyes, they are still failing to address the issue.
Class action suit might get their attention….
Because there is no issue, unless town employees were eating the dirt. You discredit the issue with this nonsense!
Actually, for soil contamination, the exposure route of concern is inhalation, not ingestion. But I guess you were asleep for that lesson in toxicology class?
Someone should check out habernickle more closely. There are children sitting on soil where arcenic was reported where the stable was
The employees need to file their own lawsuit and speak up for themselves. Village staff can’t expect residents to fight the battle for them. Silence is complacency.
Paul Vagiana is funded by the developers of downtown. That money has bought everyone he surrounds himself with.
All these “Paul’s puppets” are master liers and are being funded by that dirty money!
Why did his restaurant close soon after 4 million dollars of tax payers money was filtered somehow through Healthbarn to his restaurant among others downtown yet NO paper trail. Where is the 4 million Healthbarn accepted on behalf of Ramon Hache and others?
11/13 mtg should be fun
Keep Voting Democrat!!
Want to make sure I understand this fully. The Village hired a contractor to perform a wetlands assessment which came back as a no, however the NJDEP officials did find wetlands and denied the LOI to the engineering company who did not disclose any of this to PauLIE or Kazmark? Sounds too good to be true that no one in the Ridgewood council would be aware of these facts and just planned to keep their plan for their ballfields rolling right along. Does anyone believe that the village was not aware of what was happening?
The contract confirming wetlands is in the council’s documents…
Why does this council and so many others who live here (NOT KK he is as dirty as they come but actual tax payers ) want to destroy this beautiful town. It’s changing way too quickly and not for the good. Why?
Power
Sports
The $300k contract, clearly stating wetlands, was addressed to Village Manager Keith Kazmark. He either didn’t read it — or he slipped it through, hoping no one would catch the truth.
This is the kind of experience that should serve as a reminder to vote for CHARACTER, because you can’t tell what will happen in the future, but can try to put in charge someone who will tell the truth, is not a greedy egomaniac, and does the right thing.
And voters stupidly voted yes to turn over more money to our town government to buy More Land?
Addressed to Village Manager Keith Kazmark, the contract raises serious questions: was it overlooked, or was it quietly advanced under the assumption that no one would notice the inconvenient truth? Given his past…
The latter. He knew without a shadow of doubt. Why get so hot and bothered when you’ve got nothing to hide. It was so obvious that he devious nature is catching up with him.
The wetlands information went straight to Keith Kazmark’s desk — and either he didn’t read it, or he was betting the public wouldn’t.
The contract sat on Keith Kazmark’s desk. He knew, or should have known, exactly what it contained. Pretending otherwise isn’t oversight — it’s a breach of integrity and an insult to the residents of Ridgewood. 🤥
What happened to the Manager’s Fact Check Friday?
Keith thought no one was paying attention. Let’s see things for how they are. The reason this cancel gets so upset with everybody is that they don’t want anyone standing in their way. So anyone who is obstructing progress to their plan is going to be somebody.They don’t want to deal with.However, their behavior is so incredibly unprofessional.It is making my head spin.
Normally I would not want to give this guy credit, because I think he’s pretty sleazy.
And given his relationship with vagianos, the ultimate sleaze ball, that in itself tells the whole story, but this guy maybe devious but he’s sharp, so I do believe that he knew all about this Wetland’s business and just thought he was going to downplay it and then he would get away with whatever their plotting and scheming would be, and no one would be the wiser. It is a new low that just goes to show you they are willing to do anything and everything for a ball field, even if it means selling their soul in the process.
There’s scum on both sides of the aisle.
You may recall Mayor Vagianus gave the NY Times a “no comment” for their front page turf debate expose…I wonder what he has to say on this subject.
Where is our Mayor?
Where is the typically chatty council?
Has a crime been committed here?
The silence is very concerning.
Watch the time-stamped video…after Pee-Wee stands up behind his chair, does he actually walk out as Pam asks KK a serious of wetland questions?
Wow.
Six months after NJDEP confirmed wetlands, Ridgewood is still pretending they don’t exist. That’s not confusion — it’s concealment.
We’re watching a living forest turned into a plastic field, on contaminated ground, while officials deny what the State already proved.
Villagers, this isn’t progress — it’s a betrayal of Ridgewood’s future.
Thank you! Amazing comment.
Where is Pam the great environmentalist on this?
Busy buying hats?
The bill for this will be massive. Good thing the Village will have additional “Open Space” tax revenue to pay for the hazmat remediation.
Sell it to a developer.
Do we know how they covered this up and who isn’t telling the truth? Seems fairly obvious it woukd be Kazshark but if his lips are moving then he lies, lies, lies just like his name PauLIE, wouldn’t surprise me a bit and that all too convenient phone call was very suspicious.