>A Coup d’état at the Zoning board of adjustment
Pj Blogger and the Staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ – Fireworks were felt at the Zoning board of adjustment meeting when both Doug Cronk, a former council candidate, and Dean Vellis, a Fields Use Policy proponent, were not reappointed to the board.
It seems the Village is looking to clean house to avoid any impression of conflict of interest before the controversial H-Zone ,Valley Renewal Village Council special meetings. The Village is looking to avoid a repeat of the “I forgot to tell anybody my father was a Valley Trustee ” death bed confession of a former Village Mayor.
Many viewed the move as unexpected but is was rather difficult to not notice the impression that Doug Cronk and his running mate Brian Dowd ran a very pro Valley campaign , perhaps accepting contributions and as many allege campaign support from Valley Hospital itself , Doug also finds himself involved with the “bogus” pro Valley Renewal group that has sprung up from the “artificial turf”. Cronk and Dowd were defeated by current members Deputy Mayor Tom Riche and Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh.
Dean Vellis who runs the junior football program in the Village, and is a big proponent of youth sports may have been targeted because of the continued anxiety over whether many of the ‘turf and field light projects have been alleged to have been misrepresented to the public.
The other elephant in the room was the mishandled “Action Park” Graydon pool project which was under the thumb of none other than Melinda Cronk the wife of Doug.
The house cleaning had already started with the “sudden departure” Planning Board Chairmen David Nicholson a Valley ally who was presiding over an extremely unpopular tenure at the Board.
While Cronk and Vellis claim the vote not to re-appoint was politically motivated the Village Council seems to have woken up to the fact that it is a new day in the Village and the last 15 years of “we can do what ever we want and your gonna pay for it” are now over.
A new professional atmosphere is reemerging and perhaps the council is beginning to see both the liability and the folly of the all the incestuousness and parochial self interests that has so tarnished the image of the Village .