Please attend the final meeting next Wednesday AND email council members now! (Easy cut-and-paste letter below )
Ridgewood Residents!! An unprecedented, sweeping urban-zoning change is coming to Ridgewood!
Please attend the Village Council meeting on September 30 at 7:30 in Village Hall, and please write your council members to voice your concerns.
A sample letter is below if you wish to simply cut, paste, sign and send to:
Paul Aronsohn – paronsohn@ridgewoodnj.net
Albert Pucciarelli – apucciarelli@ridgewoodnj.net
Gwenn Hauck – ghauck@ridgewoodnj.net
Susan Knudsen – sknudsen@ridgewoodnj.net
Michael Sedon – msedon@ridgewoodnj.net
Dear Council Member,
I am a citizen and a voter of Ridgewood and am writing to urge you to “Vote No” to the high-density housing ordinances on September 30th.
A “Yes” vote risks diminishing our quality of life forever, creating urban-scaled developments that are entirely inconsistent with our town’s size and character.
For generations Ridgewood has taken great pains to protect the small town character of our community by smart zoning in both our business and residential districts. In one night, on September 30th, the Village Council could destroy the legacy and the trust of all these generations.
Amending the master plan to truly “spot zone” at the requests of a few developers is a mistake. And despite some council-member’s baseless claims of widespread support for high density zoning, it is NOT supported by a majority of residents. This was clearly evidenced by the landslide wins in the last council election for the two candidates who spoke openly against the high-density amendment.
The ordinances should be rejected because they will:
Forever change the small town feel of Ridgewood;
Potentially add too many kids to our schools, which are already full to capacity;
Worsen our existing parking and traffic crisis;
Risk increasing our excessive property taxes, if the developments do not succeed financially, or if more children live there than you estimated;
Over stress our limited water supply and aging infrastructure;
Overburden our maxed out ballfields and open spaces; and
Result in a cascade of me-too lawsuits from neighboring property owners who similarly wish to benefit from the profits to be attained from building a 35 unit per acre development in the Central Business District.
The Planning Board never did any comprehensive independent study on these changes. They relied far too heavily on biased data provided by developers. On the Council’s end, you have not done any financial studies (which are now allowed at the Planning Board level), to better gauge impacts on the Village. You don’t know the full impacts. As such, approvals on 9/30 will be reckless.
I will be paying close attention to YOUR VOTE on this crucial issue, which will strongly influence MY VOTE in the coming election.
Please do the right thing — stand with the overwhelming majority of citizens who oppose this risky plan and VOTE NO to the ordinances as they stand now.
Sincerely,
(your name goes here)
Yes. It is so important to be heard. The council seems to think this over development is desired by the majority of residents!
Write your letter and go to the meeting on September 30! Be heard.