the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, because so many people still do not get it, the Ridgewood blog presents a primer for high density housing .
High density Housing is housing with a higher population density than the average, typically blocks of flats, and tower blocks.
Be it court ordered ie thru Fair share Housing , or promoted by developers and politicians when you agree to allow the construction of high density housing the developer builds the housing and the taxpayer is stuck with paying for all or most of the following :
More Police
More Fire Fighters
More water
More sewage
More parking
Better roads
More schools
Now with pictures ,when they build this :
You get stuck paying for this :
More Police
More Fire Fighters
More water
More sewage
More parking
Better roads
More schools
Very clear, thanks! I’d like to know how and why this construction was allowed to happen, though I could probably make some good guesses.
Ramon better step up….
Sadly, Ramon is stepping down.
Ramon is pushing Kensington on us. He is part of the problem not the solution. And running for Freeholder while doing it. Does anyone remember the BCIA debacle? Right out the Paul Aronsohn playbook.
Nothing sad about Ramon Suave stepping down. He is a company man, in with all the developers. Works in real estate.
At this point screw it let them build and build and build. Just remember people in the past seven years 50% of Ridgewood residence moved out. Oh yes
Do you have any evidence that the Village will need to hire more police and fire fighters, and increase the number of schools in town or is that an assumption?
Will the three new properties generate a net increase in tax revenue?
Unless I missed something along the way, I don’t believe that there was any connection between the new parking garage, which is for diners/shoppers, and the new housing, which I would assume had to provide their own parking. Is that correct?
wow did you miss a lot
Talk about an empty suit
The furthest I ever had to walk downtown for parking was 2-3 blocks , even on Saturday nights. That garage would never reach 50% capacity under current conditions. We’ll see what happens when the new housing is fully built.
If they don’t fill it up from customers shoppers then they’ll utilize it for all the housing. Because where do you think all the guests that are visiting these three new locations and CBD are going to park. They’re going to have to park at the parking garage get it. And with the new proposal on South Broad Street they’re going to need more parking for that site. And if they Like they can always rent it out to a car dealer like they do up in Ramsey. At the train station.
We have high density housing because of the author and commenters on this blog. People who know nothing about real estate law and development have dictated the conversation, and even more sadly have run the boards in Ridgewood. There are people who lead, and there are people who obstruct and impede progress. We have had the latter in leadership in Ridgewood until very recently.
The best example is High Mountain golf course in Franklin Lakes. Nobody wanted this to be developed. But it was worth far more as a development then a golf course (reality). Thanks to excellent leadership on the part of the mayor, Frank Bivona, and Kevin Boswell the town engineer; rather than stick their head in the sand and pretend that they could fight this, they negotiated the best possible deal they could with the developer while they still had leverage. Nobody is happy about it, but at least we do not have 600 units on that
property.
NJ Affordable housing regulations allow developers the loophole to be able to eventually force towns, through the legal system, to allow large multi-family developments. I am not sure if any of you obstructionists remember the constitution, but private property rights are one of our foundational legal rights (and also the right to economic liberty). The high density in Ridgewood is just a byproduct of the fact that we have nowhere left to achieve this development in town.
And you also forget that the Town was having large vacancies at that time because of the weak leadership at the board and mayor level, and most importantly from the disaster that was Tony Merlino. He cost the taxpayer tens of millions of dollars of wasted time and money through his obfuscation and the farce of protecting its citizens. No organized and intelligent developer or business owner wanted to be in Ridgewood and deal with his endless maze. Thank you to the town manager for having the courage to push Merlino out, and thanks to Tom Yotka. and Paola for resurrecting the building department.
Regarding the impact these units will have on the town and its services, you forgot to mention a thing called rateables. The non-state assisted tenants will pay Ridgewood’s onerous property taxes. What you should be complaining about is the lack of leadership from the town leaders and the apathy of its citizens, that allowed us to massively overpay for our educators and the service departments you reference since we have been out negotiated by the unions at every turn. That failure and a long list of other inefficiencies and mis-management allow us to have some of the highest taxes in the country. That tax burden is the reason for a large deterioration in property values, which should have Ridgewood residents furious and make them show up for every election.
I have worked in 40 some odd towns in my almost 30 years in the building business. Up until recently, Ridgewood had the most inefficiently run town that I encountered (no formal system for an organized builder to navigate through the approval process, no communication between departments, almost no relevant experts at the board level). We all love this town or we would not live here and pay the ridiculous property taxes. It has been great to see a revival happening downtown. While unsightly and too large, this high density will help the downtown businesses. At some point, the town (for that matter all of government) needs to start prioritizing the health and survival of small businesses because they are on life-support.
I am tired of people who do little to contribute to the economic well-being of our town being the only voice on many of the issues that need to be addressed. I really hope that those of you who pay these high property taxes start to understand the platforms of our elected officials, and show up to vote next election.
thanks now we all know why NJ is a filthy overpriced sh$thole
love the know it all posts lol , enjoy destroying the tax base and turning Ridgewood into a dump
High density housing should help to to decrease property taxes. It never does due to increase in services.
It will change the character of the town.
Shouldn’t the downtown businesses and developers who will benefit from the higher density housing absorb the cost of increase in services and help lower property taxes ? It never happens. .
It already changed the character of the town to trashy just like our mayor who is thank God almost done. He is the biggest liar I ever met. He is the 4th amigo
The local Builder is 100% right where were all your people before these buildings went up .Why weren’t you protesting then, rather than now. It’s too late. I stay out of Ridgewood as much as I can especially Ridgewood Avenue, where people can cross the streets wherever they want and God help the driver if he’s not fast enough to stop.
you either just moved here , are a flunkie or just plain clueless ?
The local Builder is 100% right where were all your people before these buildings went up .Why weren’t you protesting then, rather than now. It’s too late. I stay out of Ridgewood as much as I can especially Ridgewood Avenue, where people can cross the streets wherever they want and God help the driver if he’s not fast enough to stop.
you either just moved here , are a flunkie or just plain clueless ?
This will help local business and increase tax revenue. It was a under utilazed section of town for 30 years or more. Evey town with a rail stop has these type of housing units. You can’t stop development for abandoned lots.