>The Village Council will have a harder time seizing 120 Franklin Avenue for redevelopment after the New Jersey State Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that targeted property must be blighted and not merely underused.
The 42-page unanimous decision said that town officials cannot seize homes and businesses simply because they believe those properties can be put to better use.
The court wrestled with what constitutes blight in deciding a case from Gloucester County, where the town of Paulsboro sought to condemn a 63-acre tract made up mostly of wetlands.
Chief Justice James Zazzali wrote that Paulsboro considered blight to be property that is “stagnant or not fully productive” but could be rehabilitated.
“Under that approach, any property that is operated in a less than optimal manner is arguably ‘blighted,’ ” he wrote. “If such an all-encompassing definition of ‘blight’ were adopted, most property in the State would be eligible for redevelopment.”
Zazzali wrote that blight includes deterioration or stagnation that has a debilitating effect on surrounding property as outlined in the state constitution.
Ridgewood’s Village Council recently passed a resolution designating portions of North Walnut Street, Oak Street, and Franklin Avenue as “in need of rehabilitation.” The question now is whether that targeted area indeed has a “debilitating effect on surrounding property as outlined in the State Constitution” as per the Chief Justice’s interpretation.
Get ready for an expensive legal battle if the Village Council should decide to proceed with their redevelopment plan.
>Forget the stupid garage on North Walnut Street will you PLEEZE Dave!
Instead of getting into bed with Jeff Wells, let NJ Transit build a garage where Ken Smith now sits. NJ Transit will build in bigger, better, and cheaper than the Village can.
If you move forward with the North Walnut Street plan, I guarantee it will be the biggest boondoggle in the history of Ridgewood. The mess at Village Hall will pale in comparison.
Dave: STOP THE TRAIN NOW WHILE YOU CAN STILL SAFELY JUMP OFF!!!!!!!!!!
>First, Who is Dave?
Second, Has anyone asked Ken Smith about leveling his business?
>Does anyone on the Planning Board know what planning means? And if they know what it means, do they think they have the skills to actually be successful at it? If the issue is lack of parking in the central business district, there are two solutions.
1) Every new development or major improvement to a commercial site requires the building of underground parking commensurate with the average hourly number of shoppers; alternatively if lot size limits the building of enough underground parking spaces, the payment into a fund for the building of underground parking at a location that will on the surface be an open-space park area (think European city center).
2) The creation of a secondary central business district (think closer to home, Town of Montclair with three CBDs)
Yours truly,
The Village Idiot
>Now this is really low, the poster above posted their thoughts and opinion, which is perfectly fine, however they chose to sign their post using my adopted Name “Your friendly Village Idiot” (due to the educated people here feeling threatened by an opposing view). Apparently this person isn’t clever enough to be original. Shame, there was a glimmer of sense which is destroyed by using someone else’s identity!
Your friendly Village Idiot
>”First, Who is Dave?”
David T. Pfund. He’s our mayor.
>#1 You ‘sign’ your posts ‘your friendly village idiot’ yet you do so annonymously – if you were worried about the name you would have registered it.
#2 The name is not original, even when you used it…
#3 I never claimed to be friendly
#4 This is the Ridgewood Blog – the issues discussed here affect us all, you should stay on topic and allow others to have their say regardless of whether they use ‘your’ precious name or not. Idiot!
>Thank you for admitting you attempted to fool everyone by claiming to be me.
#1 Exactly why should I register the name, what would that prove?
#2 I didn’t know we were awarding points for originality, if we were you would have a deficit.
#3 I never claimed to be friendly. Good Point I will give you that one!
#4 This is the Ridgewood Blog – the issues discussed here affect us all, you should stay on topic and allow others to have their say regardless of whether they use ‘your’ precious name or not. Idiot!
Please outline, if you can, how and when I did not allow anyone to have their say….I will be interested in reading that post……
Your friendly Village Idiot
>Maybe Dave should bring back Town Garage. At least they provided a service the comunity sorely needs.
>You are obviously the biggest idiot, I will give you that point.
I never claimed to be or admitted to impersonating you. There is no pattent on using the term Village Idiot that I know of – get a life!
“Shame, there was a glimmer of sense which is destroyed by using someone elses identity!” is an attempt by you, albeit a sad one, not allow me to have my say by discrediting the content of my post because somehow I stepped on your sensitive alter ego.
Finally, you are the one who seems to be awarding points for originality, “Apparently this person isnt clever enough to be original”
>Happy now?!