Ridgewood NJ, In a long planning board session Tuesday night residents and planning board members expressed concerns over John Saraceno’s 5 story apartment and retail complex coming to Broad and Franklin. Built on the former home of the Ken Smith car dealership, the 60+ unit apartment with thousands of square feet of retail space is allowed under new village laws championed by Ridgewood resident Saraceno and then mayor Paul Aronsohn.
At issue to planning board members, the large increase in traffic at one of the village’s most congested and dangerous intersections of Franklin and Broad. Falling back on the Saraceno/Aronsohn modifications to the village’s master plan, the planner for Saraceno said any traffic impact had been anticipated by the new master plan and was not an issue.
A traffic expert for the village pointed out the negative impact the traffic, expected massive increases in pedestrians and school children crossing Franklin at Broad as a ripple effect that would stretch from Garber Sq to Maple and E. Ridgewood Ave.
Residents who took part questioned Saraceno’s planner under a continuous stream of objections from Saraceno’s attorneys. Residents focused on traffic and assumptions about parking. During residents turn to question planners and experts alike, loud sighs and some negative comments could be clearly heard from the back wall of the courtroom where Saraceno stood alone most of the evening.
The 5 story mix of retail, affordable housing, and market rate apartments would rise stories above the adjacent train station and all nearby buildings. An artist’s rendering took great liberties with the actual look of the Ken Smith area, adding a building where a bank parking lot sits and removing the iconic “ridge” stretching to the north behind the train station.
The hearing continues May 16.
The rendering is looking down Franklin towards the train station on the left and down Chestnut towards another new apartment complex on the right. The building on the left does not exist, it is a bank parking lot.
