September 21,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Resident Saurabh Dani gave us his take on the Planning board meeting last night , “This new Dayton building they are discussing at the planning board has 34.8 units per acre. We were told by ex deputy mayor in council meetings multiple times that because of the set backs and floor plan ratios, they will never go beyond 28-29, even if the ordinance allows 35. That was a big lie.
Also max height at some places (four units to go that height) is 58 feet from AVERAGe grade.
I asked what is the max height from the lowest grade level, not averaged grade, and they would not answer it. How difficult is it to ‘grade’ a slope by adding a few truck loads of dirt?”
Since there was not a vote last night on the petition nor high density housing, there is still more time to collect names.
What is Saurabh’s concern regarding getting the measurement from the lowest point?
Is that really a picture of what they want to build? UGLY
I heard That there was one parking spot per unit. I can see why builders wanted the hudson Street gagage.
258 – – the concern is that the lot slopes from one side to the other and that when developers like these start building they can play games with the grade from which the building is measured. By measuring from the high point of the property, they can get away with more building.
The problem here is that just as they were being chased out of office, Aronson & Co. passed laws allowing for these multi-unit, multi-family complexes to be built throughout Ridgewood. We are all struggling with the legacy of these laws. This site, for instance, could potentially add a few hundred cars, students, etc to our budget. It is only one of several sites already in the works. Undoubtedly other land speculators and profiteers are lining up to try and build more. Saurabh and others are doing their best to try and either prevent the monstrosity from moving forward or keep it as curtailed s possible.
You should go to the planning board meetings where these projects are being discussed. See if there is anything you can do to prevent the damage that is about to happen. First and foremost you can write your council people and the planning board members to use the means available to them to undo these monstrosities before they are built.
This is 2:58, ok i get it, so the height from the lowest point could in reality be slightly higher than the 58′. Not that big of a deal to me, especially if the lowest point is in the rear of the building, not on the broad street side.
The height can be five feet higher than the allowed. They are adding a retaining wall to increase the base height of the ‘grade’.
Trick.