Schedler property
Historic Bergen County sites, and cash to save them, disappear
Friday, November 29, 2013 Last updated: Friday November 29, 2013, 12:58 AM
BY ALLISON PRIES
STAFF WRITER
The Record
The late-19th-century Darlington Schoolhouse — perched at Darlington Avenue and Ramapo Valley Road in Mahwah — sat vacant for roughly two decades.
DON SMITH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
By the time it is renovated and repurposed, efforts to preserve the late-19th-century Darlington Schoolhouse in Mahwah will have spanned nearly a decade.
Its chestnut banisters were battered, windows broken by vandals and walls sagged out under the weight of the 120-year-old roof.
By the time it’s renovated and repurposed, the act of saving it will have spanned roughly a decade.
But that’s a success story for historic preservation.
Bergen County is dotted with architectural reminders of its past — the schoolhouse, commissioned by Theodore Havemeyer in the late 1890s for the children of field workers; the 1750s home of successful New York merchant John Fell in Allendale, preserved by a group of citizens; and early Dutch stone houses in Fair Lawn and other towns.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community/Historic_Bergen_County_sites_and_cash_to_save_them_disappear.html#sthash.KMkRG4Ci.dpuf
The Zabriskie-Schedler house should be secondary to this conversation. The much bigger issue is the irreparable harm done to one of our Ridgewood neighborhoods. The Schedler property is a pie shaped property with the narrowest point located where West Saddle River Road begins off of Route 17. The wooded area widens considerably as you travel along West Saddle River Road. The densely wooded area acts as a natural buffer protecting the entire neighborhood from the perils and detriments of Route 17 including the visual sight of hundreds of thousands of cars, trucks, buses etc passing by everyday. The dense woods act, not only as a visual barrier, but as a remarkable sound barrier. Further the wooded area filters pollutants and adds much needed privacy from the transient nature of Route 17. To further expose homes to Route 17 compromises the safety and security of the neighborhood.
The RBSA wants a baseball field and is willing to sacrifice the safety, security and quality of life of Ridgewood Residents. Meanwhile other Ridgewood Taxpayers will absorb lost tax revenues from devalued homes plus be on the hook for the upkeep and maintenance of a field that Ridgewood doesn’t need.
This is an opportunity to create a much needed and desired passive park. A passive park would be cost effective, fill a void and ultimately benefit and protect this neighborhood of Ridgewood.