AUGUST 9, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 2015, 9:50 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD – The future of the village-owned Schedler property – a crumbling 200-year-old house on seven wooded acres abutting Route 17 – was suddenly back on the council’s agenda last week because of an impending deadline.
Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld said time was running out to apply for a matching grant from the Bergen County Historic Trust Fund that would be used to stabilize the building.
In 2009, Ridgewood purchased the thickly wooded property, believed to have been the site of a Revolutionary War encampment or battle, with $2.7 million in open space grant money specified for active recreation. The move preempted any commercial development of the site.
Resident Isabella Altano – representing Ridgewood Eastside Development, a grass-roots citizens group – pleaded with the council Wednesday night to meet the grant’s deadline next month.
The house, which was occupied by Florence Schedler until she died in 2007 at age 104, “is in dire need of help,” Altano said. She said the “roof is falling and mold is present.”
Altano said an anonymous donor had placed $45,000 in an escrow account, earmarking the funds for the structure, but village officials said the fact that the source of the money is unknown is an issue.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-to-review-200-year-old-house-1.1389542
