Ridgewood News letter: Luxury housing will keep people in village
AUGUST 22, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014, 12:31 AM
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Luxury housing will keep people in village
James D. Vaughan III
Luxury apartments along the Ridgewood train tracks are good for Ridgewood.
Once the children grow and leave home, a luxury apartment in town is a very attractive alternative to Ridgewood residents. We raised our children here and our friends still live here. We would prefer to stay in Ridgewood rather than a neighboring town. However, we cannot justify the expense of the large home. Most of the readers of The Ridgewood News know a friend who moved to a townhome or apartment in a neighboring town.
The residents of the luxury apartments would be mostly Ridgewood residents who have sold their home, or young couples moving to Ridgewood. Many of the young couples would be our children.
Currently, the properties are industrial locations. A luxury apartment complex would bring new residents and pedestrian life to downtown. Adding ongoing Ridgewood residents to the sites along the train tracks would be tremendously beneficial to our town, our downtown and our property tax revenue.
What will my taxes be? When I downsize I will be looking for lower taxes. A two bedroom with $18,000 taxes are not appealing. Neither is living by the train tracks.
If it is a rental, what is the rent. We can speculate all we want about housing but until there is a price on it you will never know who your market is.
Agree with this article. I think not pursuing this type of housing would be very short sighted of Ridgewood. The “times they are a changing” and this option makes particular sense in a town like Ridgewood with a thriving, walkable downtown area. Would be very appealing.
How can we make an informed decision without the numbers?
How many units & sizes
Parking spots per unit
Parking for visitors
Rent/cost
Maintenance fees
Estimated taxes for the various units
In other words, what will the developers be getting, what will the anticipated residents be getting and what will the town be getting. Numbers please!
To talk about housing in the abstract is silly.
The issue is not “should we build?”. The issue is “how much should we build?”. Our town is going to pass new zoning and we are going to get new development. Let’s hope our planning board can decide upon the right amount.
Downtown is “walkable” with nothing to walk TO. Nobody wants to live right next to the train at those prices–ever hear those whistles in the middle of the night? Public housing or a slum would be more like it. FORGET IT, developers and your cronies–your arguments are ALL bogus. Build elsewhere, PLEASE. Better yet, go into an honest profession and stop paving paving paving over our town/county/state/country.
There’s plenty to walk to…public transportation, shops, restaurants, banks, groceries and medical care. It’s an ideal community for this type of housing and obviously worth considering.
Ridgewood CBD is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
#6 is right, it is worth considering, especially if you have a couple of kids you’d like to send to Ridgewood schools.
I like living NEAR town, but I would not want to live IN town.
Right now I have the option to walk or drive to town. I do not need to move into town. Since I have lived here more than 25 years I think that there should be an incentive for me to stay – I am done with the schools. When I sell a family will surely purchase the house.
Of course I selected 25 years because I would benefit from a tax break. Just like the developers I am trying to figure out how I can benefit .
You can cut 15k off my taxes or I will sell my 5 bedroom house to a family. Two or three kids added to the schools.
At this point every “pro development” post and letter to the editor smells like a “plant.” I don’t believe a single one is from a longtime resident who loves the town and genuinely wants this to happen. They’re cynically trying to “work us.” Won’t work!
I am sure there is so much demand among seniors to downsize to an expensive rental next to a train the developers will have no problem in agreeing to residency requirements of 55 or 65+. One problem solved.
Oh, they don’t want to agree to that? How about families renting and sending children to school pay the difference in tuition for the schools? or maybe the builders will add on to our schools and fund the bond we all know will be needed to add on.
People downsize for smaller quarters and lower expenses. Luxury housing does not attract people on a fixed income.
Let them build the lux apts. and then try to rent them near the tracks. They will remain empty and then have to be closed.
Restaurants and beauty shops are doing very well here; add more of those to increase the tax base.
There are real specialty hair cut places in NYC; like short hair cuts for women; these shops should expand to our vacant lots.
A good seafood and barbecue place.
It sounds like you just moved here from NYC since you never heard of the person who wrote the letter.
If its the same Vaugn family that’s lived here for years, they had a huge family with many children and lived across from another huge family, in the Willard school district.
Some of these comments assume to know what everyone wants. I wouldn’t care about train whistles and would like living downtown at this point of my life. Our kids are done with school, we’re getting tired of home maintenance and of driving everywhere. This would be a welcome option appealing to young professionals, empty nesters and retirees; not families with children. The argument that it would flood our schools with additional students doesn’t hold water (no pun intended), and obviously the builders are invested in making sure the units are filled with people who can carry the freight. They aren’t going to give them away. Leaving the lots vacant is worse, and we don’t get to choose what goes there (hair cut, bbq, seafood??). There has to be a buyer.
Yes # 15 you and how many others would move in ? Certainly not 600 residents of Ridgewood are waiting on line to get one of these luxury apartments.
When I downsize I expect my new residence to cost less than my house and I expect my taxes to be lower. I do not want to replace a 5 bedroom, 3.5 bath house on 1/2 acre with a 2 bedroom condo at the same price. That would not be a benefit to me.
How much will a 2 bedroom unit cost (approximately) and what will the taxes and maintenance fees be? It is not just about downsizing. It is about saving money too.
#15 what makes you think that retirees, empty nesters and young professionals would like condos in town – but not people with kids?
Once the condos are built anyone can purchase them. A two bedroom luxury unit may be perfect for parents who work and have two kids. The kids could easily walk to GW and the high school. It would be a working parent’s dream. Move from NYC and have the best of both worlds. Great schools and a luxury condo. Train to the office is steps away.
#15 – ever look at an RHS phone directory and see how many children are living in one and two bedroom rental apartments in Ridgewood? Lots of parents willing to pay high rent for a small apartment for a few years so their kids children can go to Ridgewood schools.. These families won’t be shopping in Ridgewood. Most (and I mean no disrepect here because I count many as friends) spend their money in Fort Lee, Palisades Park, etc.
I think this is an important aspect of the proposed development that needs to be addressed in honest dialogue. There WILL most certainly be school aged children moving in.
Until our Council steps up and takes control of the agenda, all we have are the questions and speculation offered up on this blog. To date, the “studies” funded by developers have produced questionable results at best. It looks like Valley all over again. We have public officials that appear to have made up their minds before the process has run its course and when citizen groups question the process, they are derided as “anti everything.”
Those that don’t know history….
The PB, including the current Mayor rejected Valley… including the first council vote, the Mayor said “No” TWICE. The agenda is ruled by Ordinance 306, which will be repealed anyway, so what history are you referring to ? The Vaughns have every right to want to downsize but still stay in Ridgewood. Learn about the history of Ridgewood please before you tell us we don’t know history.