Ridgewood Village Manager Keith Kazmark Issues Fact Check on Village Hall Flood Dams, Schedler Wetlands, and Kings Pond Playground
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, in an effort to promote transparency and combat misinformation circulating online, Ridgewood Village Manager Keith Kazmark has released the second edition of “The Manager’s Fact Check Friday.” The latest update addresses three contentious issues currently dominating local discussions: flood mitigation at Village Hall, the environmental status of the Zabriskie-Schedler property, and the progress on a decades-old Green Acres issue.
Here are the key takeaways from the Manager’s latest fact check:
FACT CHECK 1: Upgraded Flood Dams at Village Hall
The Assertion: Concrete flood walls are being built around Village Hall.
The Reality: FALSE.
The Village Council authorized the simple replacement of the existing flood dams that are manually placed in Level 1 entrances during severe rain. The current dams are over 20 years old and have become inefficient. The new project, authorized in June, focuses on installing improved technology dams that will be more effective against flood waters, not permanent concrete walls.
FACT CHECK 2: Wetlands at the Zabriskie-Schedler Property
The Assertion: The Village is ignoring the existence of wetlands at the site.
The Reality: PARTIALLY TRUE, with essential context.
While two initial professional engineering firms concluded there were no wetlands at the controversial Zabriskie-Schedler property, the NJDEP (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection) conducted an inspection and determined that a tiny area—just 0.01 of an acre behind the house—did exhibit a wetland.
The Village Manager clarified that this micro-wetland was likely man-made due to prior construction and a broken water main, and its small, isolated nature led the consulting staff to not immediately flag it to the Village Council. Crucially, the Village confirmed it will now follow the proper NJDEP process to both remediate the small area and proceed with the development of the public park.
FACT CHECK 3: Green Acres Diversion Playground at Kings Pond
The Assertion: Recent funding was only for a playground at Kings Pond, not solving the Green Acres problem.
The Reality: FALSE.
This issue dates back to the early 1980s when a park on South Broad Street was removed for affordable housing, creating a Green Acres Division violation that has haunted the Village for decades.
This year, the Village Council finally took the necessary final steps to clear the diversion, including:
- Finalizing appraisals for land swaps.
- Holding a required public hearing.
- Authorizing funding for the new Kings Pond playground, a gazebo, and a contribution to the Green Acres Trust Fund.
Clearing this diversion is vital because it will make the Village NJDEP Green Acres grant eligible once more—a status Ridgewood has not held in decades, locking the Village out of significant state funding opportunities for park improvements. Final approval is expected from the State House Commission before year’s end.
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He has no self awareness at all…
Do you think if Keith had hair he would be less angry?
So just 0.01 of his statement is true. Pathological 🤥
Another episode of thirsty Village Manager: In the Weeds Edition. He’s basically the municipal version of rescuing cats from trees—technically helpful, wildly unnecessary
Am giving this a thumbs-up not only for being true but also because it’s so funny. I needed a good laugh today.
Imagine having a six-figure communications director and still deciding, ‘No no, I must personally fact-check Facebook rumors.’ That’s not management—that’s an ego starving to be fed.
Nothing fuels Keith Kazmark like the promise of 14 likes and a ‘thank u sir’ comment.
Horrible! A real public manager would launch a series called ‘Your Questions Matter’—one focused on listening, engaging, and respecting the public’s concerns, not lecturing them. Tone matters. Approach matters. Management style matters. A leader builds trust by inviting dialogue, not by posting self-styled fact-checks that read more like PR than public service.
Interesting how these ‘fact-check’ posts only seem to appear after the Village gets called out for… let’s say, ‘inconsistencies.’
Loser.
Estimated date of completion?
2035? 2040?
Will this loser council PLEASE give it up, stop wasting my money, and get lives!
Oh goodie. More lies from the village! They are certainly the best spin doctors and I would probably run out of paper if I tried to list all of the lies that Peewee and his merry band of idiot puppets and Dr. Evil on a diet have spun. Someone please get Keith a burger, he’s starving.
Clean house. How much more can we take. Start at the manager, engineer and Bigios.
Her department blows the leaves into Habernickel pond. That can’t be ok
Instead of fact check Friday, how about a “day in the life” of how our highly paid civil servant Ridgewood Village Manager Kazmark and his highly paid Communications Director Carol Bialowski spend their day with tax payers monies. How are resources being allocated and is time being spent wisely on things that really benefit our community or are driven by the political whims of our Mayor and Council? Give us a breakdown of the inner workings so residents may feel better. We still have same issues that don’t seem to be addressed or show that time and thorough vetting are not happening, so some insight hour by hour would be great. Those are the facts I am interested in.