NOVEMBER 13, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A change in use for the Gate House at the Irene Habernickel Family Park has prompted the concerns of residents on Hillcrest Road and its neighboring streets as it raises several quality of life issues for them.
An ordinance and a resolution to authorize the lease and its execution were approved on Sept. 30; however, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld announced last week the village had not yet signed the lease.
A public hearing was held last Wednesday at which neighborhood residents brought forth their own issues on the subject, which included misgivings about traffic, excess parking on streets and the use of a residential area for a business.
Green Acres, which reimbursed the village for the purchase of Habernickel Park, required the hearing for the purpose of public information and the planned recreational and educational use for the Gate House has already been deemed approvable, according to Sonenfeld.
The anticipated lessee of the Gate House is Health Barn USA, which offers year-round educational programs for children, ages 3 to 15 years. Programs are attended by 10 to 15 kids per class and the summer camp has a maximum of 25 attendees, said owner Stacey Antine. For typical programs, children are dropped off and picked up by their parents. Health Barn only receives buses for school field trips, which take place during the day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and for special needs children, said Antine.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/neighbors-question-use-of-gate-house-1.1454555
I’m up there a lot for baseball and soccer….nice piece of land. Not sure why anyone would want to live in the house though.
Did you read the article???
it’s a business.
(Health Barn only receives buses for school field trips, which take place during the day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and for special needs children, said Antine.) Ok I will say it. (The special need card. ) This has our Mayor’s fingerprints all over it. Don’r say know because the the 3 amigos and the PC police will be all over you.
Take a look at Health barns website: see below
we’re moo-ving!
It’s official! We are excited to announce our private/public partnership with the Village of Ridgewood to offer our healthy-lifestyle programming at the Irene Habernickel Family Park (formerly a 10-acre horse farm)! Our new address is: 1057 Hillcrest Road, Ridgewood, NJ.
sounds like it’s another behind the scenes done deal.
Definitely a behind the scenes deal. The habernickel neighbor’s will fight to the finish on this one. It ain’t over yet.
Fight against what 11:02? Fight against the Village’s right to rent our a property tthat they own? Fight for the sake of fighting? Fight against any change whatsoever?
What is the harm, the property is rented and brings in an income stream or is it the usual bunch of complainers?
@11:45. Perhaps fight against them just refining the property from residential to commercial right in front of our noses?
Its all about the money right 2:23. You probably sell your soul for a nickel. You would fir right in with the 3 amigos or better yet the Ridgewood finical advisory board.
If they had to rent it out they chose a good tennant. It is not a Mcdonalds
The building is just off a main road. I would have preferred that the land be sold for some low density townhouses.
It is disgraceful that Roberta and her crew tried to pull this off, moving a commercial business into a residential neighborhood. How the hell dare they try to do this??? Birthday parties, busses, drops-offs, pick-ups, using a garden for the business that is remote from the house, children cooking, someone making a big fat profit……this is all so counter to the plan for a public park. This Health Barn is a for-profit business, it is not a bunch of classes that just anyone can take. You have to have money to take the classes, it is not general admission. They way they are trying to shove this through in spite of the fact that the neighbors don’t want it is disgusting. Clearly they are ignoring the neighbors. And what is with this Stacey Antine? There is reliable talk that she is in litigation with the Abmas, even though she denies it. She looks and talks like a relative of Nancy Bigos, all this simpering about how much she loves children, and she accuses all the ridgewood parents of feeding their kids french fries and gummy bears. This whole thing stinks.
The Abma’s wrote a letter in her support that was read at the last council meeting where they claim there is no lawsuit and she is a good tenant. Regardless, your broader point is well taken. It is a business in a residential zone that can be used for municipal use so they created this “joint” venture sort of structure to get around that as if she is not making money. Please.
hey as long as they make it nice, because that home needs big work.