the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Village Council has proposed the development of an inclusive playground designed to accommodate children of all abilities at the Schedler property—but the plan has sparked growing concern among parents, especially within the special needs community.
The Schedler site, located in Ridgewood’s west side, is a former dumping ground for various hazardous contaminants, and while cleanup is currently underway, questions remain about the safety and suitability of constructing a children’s playground on the land.
⚠️ What’s in the Soil?
Environmental reports and site maps indicate the proposed playground sits directly atop a known contamination zone, raising red flags for families.
Confirmed toxins at the site include:
Benzo[a]pyrene – a known carcinogen linked to skin, lung, and bladder cancers
Lead and Mercury – neurotoxic heavy metals known to cause long-term developmental and behavioral issues, particularly dangerous to children
Benzo[a]anthracene – a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with harmful effects on both human health and ecosystems
These contaminants are not just toxic—they’re persistent, meaning they can remain in soil and groundwater for years if not remediated properly.
🧩 What Is an Inclusive Playground?
Inclusive playgrounds are intentionally designed to be accessible and enjoyable for children of all physical, cognitive, and sensory abilities. They include features like adaptive swings, sensory stations, and wide, accessible pathways—making them a welcome resource for special needs families who often face limited recreational options.
That’s why the location of the playground is so crucial.
🗣️ What Do Special Needs Parents Think?
We want to hear from parents of children with special needs in Ridgewood and surrounding areas:
Would you feel safe letting your child play on a site with a history of toxic contamination?
Do you believe the cleanup process is sufficient to ensure your child’s safety?
Do you think the Village should explore an alternate, safer site for this inclusive playground?
Parents deserve transparency, safety assurances, and a voice in where and how inclusive play spaces are built.
🗺️ Visual Evidence: Playground Sits Over Contamination Zone
When overlaying the blueprint of the proposed inclusive playground with the environmental site map, the playground’s footprint clearly overlaps a designated contamination area.
Despite the ongoing cleanup efforts, long-term exposure risks remain unclear—especially for vulnerable children with complex medical conditions.
Tell your story #TheRidgewoodblog , #Indpendentnews, #information, #advertise, #guestpost, #affiliatemarketing,#NorthJersey, #NJ , #News, #localnews, #bergencounty, #sponsoredpost, #SponsoredContent, #contentplacement , #linkplacement, Email: Onlyonesmallvoice@gmail.com
Well, they should have the property inspected before any construction starts. Meeting they should have a company come in and inspect the soil. Do all the proper tests. And then go from there. Let’s see what’s in the soil.☠️
Once they get their plan approved this council will want those kids playing on the highway as soon as possible so just watch those bulldozers truck it away to build their field.
Wow, they don’t give up…..Field Envy is stronger than Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).
It goes both ways….these people are pathetic.
Time to put and end to it.
This is instead of a ballfield? Confused.
“The Schedler site, located in Ridgewood’s west side….” Nope.
The contamination is right next to the Habernickel playground that park is so gross now. No regulars anymore. Looks awful. What’s with that mess of a garden and new trees? Awful
The town top officials never reached out to any of the employees that worked at any of those sites that they found the dirty dirt aka contaminated soil.☠️really nice, isn’t it.
To all the fake & hypocritical climate change advocates ; leave the Schedler property in its natural state .
Schedler project is dead.
I thought the head of RBSA baseball Muller was getting rid of the soil.
Yes, he was going to dump it on the former mayor’s front lawn. What a guy! He will need to borrow PauLIE’s sh*t shovel, I am sure it is large enough.
The guy is pushing 60 and still parading around in a baseball uniform.
Funny in a sad way. Not funny in a ha ha way.
Toxins aside, this is the most unsafe place in the Village for childhood recreation. Heavy, 70 MPG 14-wheelers driving within 20 feet of the facility? Really? This whole idea is nuts. It needs to be STOPPED.
Yet the people sitting on the dais at Village hall think is is a wonderful plan for children to get outside and get fresh air on the highway. You could not make this stuff up if you wanted to. Where is Netflix, this has to be documented somewhere, somehow.
Netflix will be filming over at the high school. Someone should truck on over to tell them about the Schedler property situation, There is a Netflix mini series in the making for certain. Mayor and Village council can play themselves, along with the Village Manager who loves photo ops and the engineer. Lots of cameos.
Is that stadium style seating in the bottom right of the giant field. Boy, the house is really dwarfed by the massive sports complex.
PauLIE PFAS loves this plan even though it is really awful to place vulnerable children directly on a highway with trucks and fumes flying by. Everyone in Ridgewood knows that he has made promises to his sports pals in order to get elected (Weitz and Whino too) and now payback time is a comin and they want their sports complex.
While his diner may be closed, I would bet that he is already getting ready to start warming up the hot dawgs.