Well our town desperately needs a Master Plan of what it wants to be in the next 10, 20 years and how we will get there. Where will the open space be? how does multi-family housing intersect with garage parking and maintaining a safe “walking village”? What streets could have more parking quickly and cheaply (tree streets) and why don’t we try it first? More parking at a garage is one solution but until you lay out where everything will be it is foolish to throw in one monster garage and think problem solved.
The stores in Ridgewood that have a compelling business proposition do great and even expand: Rita’s, Hot Jewelry Box, Fox’s, Alex and Ani, Learning Express are a few examples. If you are a me too store, a la the GAP or Gymboree I can find you in the mall. There are a few business I will go to if I can find a spot out front (Dunkin, nail salons etc) but if there is not a close spot, I will visit Midland Park as it is just as close to my house. I will not park in the garage for those businesses. On a special Saturday night out in town, I can park by NY sports on the street for free or drive farther from the restaurants and always parking. I am of the opinion that the garage will not be that impactful for businesses, more so for commuters. If the businesses really had a push NOW for their employees to park elsewhere (graydon in winter, school in summer) and did some sort of COC busing for them that might help the store front parking.
Now a business such as Roots failing because of parking is NOT OUR PROBLEM. While it is a beautiful space, it is way too large and the owners were mistaken to think the client base in Ridgewood is the same as Summit. And I really hope the new council gets rid of that gift of a zillion spots to valet outside…Why doesn’t every business – regardless of what type of business – get the same valet treatment? Would be much more fair to have the small commuter lot set up as a valet depot for all businesses…could even add a second level on Hudson or Cottage for that purpose and be done with it. Again, if we had proper planning not patchwork planning.
I thought that we had a Master Plan. The problem is that it was weakened (Pfund) and the exceptions basically ignored the plan.
We need another look at this. I like the idea of a walking village, a trend in communities across the country. It does not require high density housing but some community housing will be part of it.
Do we want to be a town that focuses resources primarily on schools or do we want a more balanced approach to village services? The current focus on schools causes a constant turnover of housing as soon as kids graduate. I would thing that we would want to encourage villagers of all ages to be comfortable here.
I would love to have a walkable town, not just focused on the CBD but on all the resources – to the library, stable, Art Barn and future art and leisure venues.
we do have a Master Plan. However, there has been little to no renewal since Pfund’s folly in 2007. Ridgewood is stuck in the past, with little to no evolution to show for it. We have run down car dealers, toxic old garage sites and a school system in secular decline. Our largest local employer is suing the Village because they can’t expand. Is it any wonder property values aren’t rising and our school rankings are in secular decline? Sorry to say, but Ridgewood peaked in the 1980s and 1990s. It’s been downhill for the past 10+ years. And now you have a bunch of vocal flat earth society members who have stopped evolution dead in its tracks.
Hey PJ they are back (7:57 )
We have a Master Plan that is not a plan. It is a document of how things are…not a visionary road map for the future.
Hey 8:18, you’re part of the problem
Who is our largest local employer?
7:57: Ridgewood is where it is because our Council has been governing for the benefit of the few and not for the benefit of the many. The tax payers have been fed a steady diet of “take it or leave it”, oversized initiatives with no option to compromise. Why? Because the Council majority has been answering to Valley and the developer special interest groups. If Valley Hospital could have moved off of its completely unreasonable expansion plan 10 years ago, they’d be finished with their construction by now and we’d have a more modern hospital. Whose fault is that? Same goes for the CBD – not a single person who thinks 35 units per acre is too dense has ever advocated for vacant car dealerships. That is the rhetoric of the now-vanquished Ron Simoncini and his “Truth About Ridgewood.” The recent election has shown that two thirds of the electorate favor more moderate development projects. It’s time to undo what the last Council has put in place and start over. Smaller hospital, smaller garage, smaller apartments.
9:24 Do you think that those employees stop in Ridgewood to do their shopping? Please. Ore maybe they take a quick break to dine at Greek To Me. Tell your story walking.
9:57 Smaller hospital? Tell it to the judge. Anyone that tries to tell you that Valley was an issue in this election “flat” lied. Spending tax money defending lawsuits of hospital neighbors just lines the pockets of the lawyers and it’s indefensible. Smaller garage? It’s no garage and you know it. You’re positioning it in a way that will marry the support of those that want no garage to those that think a smaller garage makes no financial sense. Viola: no garage at all. Thanks Anne. Smaller apartments? How about a 24 hour Walgreens with 12 units per acre above it? Or how about an MRI imaging center? How about that trip count? Or how about just another judge “solving” the problem for us. The flat-earth groups absolutely own the problems of still vacant car dealerships and an 80 year old parking problem. When I drive around town looking for a parking spot on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night I don’t fall for class warfare blaming valet parking I blame the Dana strap-on camera crew. No is not a solution and that’s what you advocate. You own the decline of a once great village. History (and the real estate market) has already begun to judge you harshly.
lol you lost you lost big ,time to move back to Bayonne
11:01- Another supporter of Valley who has their head up their rear end. The truth is that very few people in this town want a medical center in Ridgewood, and this latest vote more than proved it. You need a modern hospital, not one that is any bigger than what you have. If you need to get bigger, move. And, you don’t need a garage either. As for your last sentence, it is another sellers market, at least for real estate in Ridgewood. If you let Valley expand than you will be right.
Bill H, property prices in Ridgewood lag even the recovery in NJ which is poor in itself. That’s a fact
James, property values in Ridgewood are flat in this recovery. You should examine why that is instead of telling people to “move back to Bayonne”. Ridgewood is in decline, has been for years. The flat earth society carried the day here, but what does that mean for Village infrastructure and property prices?
Yes ever since the Aronsohn and Hudson County Machine came in trying to turn Ridgewood into Union city property values have been flat
11:01 might even be the Great Simoncini himself. Whenever developers and their minions are confronted with irrefutable data such as election results they retort with threats of Walgreens and imaging centers. Bravo.
House prices are not flat. Homes are selling quite well in town and within weeks of being listed.
hit a nerve,?? Perhaps too close to the real truth…instead of Flat Earth labels insults …try real earth budgets and family economics..restaurants are just one economic enterprise in the village.Familys here trying to keep heads above water with endless taxes and shenanigans by the know better faction.PS Your team lost the Election..a game you tried to fix with non binding kinda maybe we know what’s best for the Garage district.Now we will clean up that misguided mess…in June 2016.Future might start for real when the deal wreckage is cleared and sorted…
OH the top dogs have a master plan, and that is bend over and jam your head up your ass.