Tag: Flood plane

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Flash Flood Watch Till 11am in Ridgewood

Ridgewood_Flash_Flooding_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

Flood Watch
National Weather Service New York NY
353 AM EDT Mon Jul 24 2017

…Flash flooding possible this morning…

…FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 AM EDT THIS
MORNING…

The Flash Flood Watch continues for

* Portions of northeast New Jersey and southeast New York,
including the following areas, in northeast New Jersey,
Eastern Bergen, Eastern Essex, Eastern Passaic, Eastern Union,
Hudson, Western Bergen, Western Essex, Western Passaic, and
Western Union. In southeast New York, Bronx, Kings (Brooklyn),
New York (Manhattan), Northern Nassau, Northern Queens,
Northwestern Suffolk, Orange, Richmond (Staten Island),
Rockland, Southern Nassau, Southern Queens, Southern
Westchester, and Southwestern Suffolk.

* Until 11 AM EDT this morning

* An area of low pressure along a frontal boundary will pass just
south and east of Long Island. Rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches
an hour are possible and may lead to flash flooding for the New
York City metropolitan area. Flash flooding will also be
possible for portions of the Lower Hudson Valley.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A Flash Flood Watch means that conditions may develop that lead
to flash flooding. Flash flooding is a very dangerous situation.
You should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to take action
should flash flood warnings be issued.

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Ridgewood Village Council Special Public Meeting and Work Session

Village Council

VILLAGE COUNCIL SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETING

JUNE 28, 2017

7:30 P.M.

1. Call to Order – Mayor

2. Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meeting Act

MAYOR: “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided

by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall,

by mail to the Ridgewood News, The Record, and by submission to all persons entitled to same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting.”

3. Roll Call

4. RESOLUTIONS

17-170 Award Contract – Infra-red Paving Restoration

17-171 Reject Bids – Central Valet Parking Services

17-172 Authorize Application to the Bergen County Historic Trust Fund – Zabriskie-Schedler House, Phase 2

17-173 Authorize Application to the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund – Turf Field at Maple Park

17-174 Annual Renewal of Liquor Licenses

17-175 Set Public Hearing Date for Settlement Negotiation

5. Adjournment

VILLAGE COUNCIL WORK SESSION

THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL’S

PUBLIC WORKSHOP AGENDA

JUNE 28, 2017

7:30 P.M.

1. 7:30 pm – Call to Order – Mayor

2. Statement of Compliance with Open Public Meeting Act Mayor: “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall, by mail to the Ridgewood News, The Record, and by submission to all persons entitled to same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting.”

3. Roll Call – Village Clerk

4. Flag Salute/Moment of Silence

5. Public Comments (Not to Exceed 3 Minutes per Person – 40 Minutes in Total)

6. Presentation – Open Space Survey Findings

7. Discussion

a. Ridgewood Water

1.  Award of Contract – Infrared Asphalt Restoration

b. Budget

1. Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund Grant Application

c. Operations

1. Purchase of Property

d. Parking

1. Rebid Central Valet Services

8. Motion to Suspend Work Session and Convene Special Public Meeting

9. Special Public Meeting – See At tached Agenda

10. Motion to Adjourn Special Publc Meeting and Reconvene Work Session

11. Discussion (Continued)

a. Ridgewood Water (continued)

1. Lease of Property for Co-Location of Wireless Telecommunications Antennas – Glen Avenue Tank Location

2. Award Contract – Polyphosphate Pumps for Corrosion Control

3. Award Professional Services Contract – Cedar Hill Reservoir Improvements

b. Parking

1. Train Station Parking

2. Update on Parking Garage

3. Clinton Avenue Parking – Safety Concerns

c. Budget

1. Declare Fire Department Equipment Surplus

2. Award Contract Under State Contract – Tires

3. Award Contract Under State Contract – Police Handguns, Holsters, & Magazine Pouches

4. Award Contract Under State Contract – Two Police Patrol SUVs

5. Award Contract Under State Contract – Lifts and Support Stands – Fleet Services

6. Award Contract Under National Joint Powers Alliance – Front End Loaders with Snowplows

7. Award Contract Under National Joint Powers Alliance – Two Sanitation Trucks with Snowplows

b. Policy

1. Boards and Committees – Fields Committee

2. Endorse Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund Program – The James Rose Center

3. Title 59 Approval – Painting Curbs Yellow

4. Options for Glenwood Road Railroad Crossing

5. Amend Chapter 145 – Fees – Tree Protection

6. Garber Square Bike Lane

e. Operations (continued)

1. Appoint Clean Communities Coordinator and Recycling Program Coordinator

2. Municipal Complex Parking Lot Changes

12. Manager’s Report

13. Council Reports

14. Public Comments (Not to Exceed 5 Minutes per Person)

15. Resolution to go into Closed Session

16. Closed Session

A. Legal – COAH; Valley Hospital

B. Personnel –

C. Contract Negotiations –

17. Adjournment

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Voice of the Taxpayer Must Be Heard in Flood Insurance Debate

RHSFfieldflood_theridgewood-blog
June 15,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Washington DC, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) delivered the following opening statement today about the seven bills the committee is considering related to the National Flood Insurance Program:

There are so many important voices in our debate today on the reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program.  Certainly the homeowners who have relied on this program — theirs is a very important voice because we go to their homes and we go to their household finances.  Theirs is a very important voice.  Homebuilders, they have an important voice.  Insurance agents and companies, local communities — these are all important voices in this debate.

But as far as I’m concerned, perhaps the single-most important voice is the voice that remains underrepresented in the debate and that is the voice of the American taxpayer.  The American taxpayer who has been called upon in the past to bail out a program that is currently drowning in $26 billion of red ink and suffers a $1.4 billion annual actuarial deficit.

Maybe that’s why I heard from Kathy in Garland, Texas in my district who wrote:  “It’s just another reason the average person in this country is going under financially.  Far too many programs are being funded by the average American but very few receive any benefits from what they are funding.”

In talking about the program, Steven of Larue in my district said:  “This is just another instance of the federal government wasting the taxpayer dollars over and over and over again on the same problems.  People that choose to live in flood-prone areas after receiving one payment benefit should be removed from the entirety of the program.”

Just two taxpayer comments.  So again, we know for a fact the program is in debt.   We know for a fact the program is running an actual annual deficit.  So it begs the question:  Should there be a permanent taxpayer subsidy? I say no.  It cannot be, not when I’m sitting here looking at a national debt clock that continues to run out of control before us, which I continue to believe is a far under-appreciated clear and present danger to our republic.  Part of those numbers spinning out of control represent  the National Flood Insurance Program.

I don’t know if America will ever become a bankrupt society, but I know the face of bankruptcy is an ugly one.  In Detroit, when it became bankrupt, thousands of street lights couldn’t afford to be replaced and ambulances did not run.  Municipal retiree health care benefits were cut immediately.  In Puerto Rico, hospitals had to lay off workers, ration medication, reduce services.  In Greece, from 2008 to 2013 they became 40 percent poorer.  Homelessness increased 25 percent in four years.

I don’t think America would ever become Puerto Rico, Detroit or Greece, but I don’t know, and it’s not something in good conscience I can ignore.

So I believe we need a National Flood Insurance Program that will make the program fiscally sustainable.  I do believe that people should gradually – gradually – be expected to pay actuarial rates.  They need predictability.  We need to protect them from sticker shock, but the program must be made sustainable.

I believe market competition is important and we have heard evidence that in many places where there has been even limited market competition we have actually seen premiums decreased.  And the industry is poised to come in.  It’s a very different world today than it was half a century ago when this program was launched.  Better risk assessment tools, better financing mechanisms to spread the risk globally. And so this is a bill that, perhaps, it would take as long as 15 years to fully phase in some actuarial rates.  We’re talking today about bills that, if enacted, would increase premiums about $2 a month to put this on the road toward actuarial soundness where all will be protected, no one will be denied a policy, all will benefit from competition and the NFIP will be sustainable and the national debt clock will spin a little less rapidly.

With other important reforms of mapping, mitigation, claims processing protections and reforms, I commend all of the authors of the legislation that we will be marking up today and I look forward to the markup.

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Bergen County Democrats first Order of Business Raise Taxes

maple+field1-300x19911
January 6th 2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Hackensack NJ, on Wednesday, the three Bergen County freeholders elected in November were sworn into office. Turning Bergen into the bluest of counties and making all county officials in Bergen, Democrats.

The annual reorganization meeting, Freeholders Mary J. Amoroso, Germaine M. Ortiz, and Thomas J. Sullivan were sworn in for their first full three-year terms. Freeholder Tracy Silna Zur–now entering her fifth year as freeholder–was elected as board chairwoman and Sullivan was selected as vice-chair.

The Democrats remained true to form and immediately began by raising what promises to be the first of many tax increases, the open-space tax.

The move increases the open-space tax back to 1 cent per $100 of assessed valuation, which is expected to bring in $12 million more annually for a popular program that had seen its funding cut by 75 percent in recent years.

While many embrace the idea of open space, the devil is as always in the details.Money is often used by the politicly connected for ball fields ie turf and to warehouse space, creating buffer zones for wealthy enclaves and keeping prime real-estate off the market so less desirable projects can not be built.
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Reader says , Don’t go holier than thou about residents’ trees ,What about artificial turf, especially in a flood plane

maple+field1-300x19911

Don’t go holier than thou about residents’ trees. What about artificial turf, especially in a flood plane; artificial turf means DEATH to all life. Talk about destruction of our already destroyed ecosystem, NATURE. Plant trees in Maple Field like there used to be. No more artificial turf.

What about the still open possibility of clear cutting trees in Schedler. Even dead trees provide food for birds, where insects inhabit. No dead trees shall be removed in public fields. There are not enough of them.

Kids will have to learn to live with nature be a part of nature not apart from nature and wait for grass to grow before playing their games.

Some residents cut down trees because they are afraid branches or the whole tree could fall on them and kill them in a storm. We have worse storms now because of man made climate change. And now people on the council want residents to risk having their families killed from trees that can fall on them and fall through their house.
Residents should go to court and fight over the idea of having to pay a fine to cut down a tree on their property.

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Reader says grass is financially responsible and is less toxic to the environment

maple+field1-300x19911

New grass blends are water retentive and need much less pesticide treatments. Grass does not need to be treated with antibacterial solutions and temperatures on the field NEVER reach the temperatures that artificial turf does when exposed to direct sunlight. But the biggest problem is that Maple Field is in an active flood plain. The extensive damage to the field was predictable and as we knew in 2004-2005 , it would be costly. Recent articles on the subject state that grass is financially responsible and is less toxic to the environment.

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Ridgewood many tree lined parks to beat the heat

Twinney Pond Park

July 29,2016
the staff  of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, a park is also a nice place to beat the heat and Ridgewood many tree lined parks . Take advantage there are more parks than your realize ; the mission statement of the Ridgewood Department of Parks and Recreation is to preserve open space and provide facilities and year round recreational activities that meet the needs of all residents.

Parks
The Division of Parks is responsible for the maintenance of all Village owned parkland, athletic facilities, planting of flowerbeds (in cooperation with Project Pride) and landscaping throughout the community. In addition, the division is responsible for the preparation and maintenance of the Graydon Pool facility and grounds as well as all departmental special events throughout the year.

Shade Tree
The Shade Tree Division is responsible for the maintenance and care of approximately 15, 000 Village owned street trees on 100 miles of public ways, as well as additional trees and shrubs in parks and on other public grounds. This includes all aspects, such as removal, planting, and pruning. The Shade Tree Division does a tree planting for Arbor Day, which is usually the last Friday in April. The division currently offers a memorial tree/bench program to honor the memory of a friend or family member.

Citizen’s Park
Located at the corner of Godwin Avenue and North Monroe Street. Citizen’s Park includes a softball field, multipurpose field, a small sided softball field, an open play area, benches and gardens.

Dunham Trail
Located between Grove Street and Spring Avenue along the Ho Ho Kus brook and the public service right-of-way. Dunham Trail is one of the Village wildscape areas.

On Dunham trail look for:

Sycamores and a wild cherry tree with shiny gray bark.
Triassic Sandstone, like that used to build Manhattan’s brownstones.
A linden tree wrapped in Poison Ivy rope.
Springtime Dogtooth Violets, False Solomon’s Seal, Spring Beauties, Yellow Primroses, Pink Japanese Knotweed, and the biggest patch of Canadian Mayflowers in Ridgewood.

Graydon Park
Located on the corner of North Maple Avenue and Linwood Avenue. Graydon Park offers a hockey court, skateboard park, basketball courts, swimming, ice-skating, picnic area, shuffleboard, children’s playground, shelter, and restrooms. Click on the following link to find all that Graydon Pool has to offer – Graydon Pool website.

Grove Park
Located on the south side of Grove Street, just west of the Saddle River. This is one of Ridgewood’s wildscape areas, which include nature trails for walking.

In the 32 acres of beech forest and field that make up Grove Park, you will find:

Spring flowers that bloom between April and May before they disappear when the shade thickens.
The tulip poplars are the tallest and straightest trees in the wooded area.
You can look for the honeycombs located on top of the bee tree.
Turkey Tails and fungi can be found on fallen logs.

Kings Pond Park
Located off Lakeview Drive by the Midland Park border. Kings Pond Park offers a natural wildlife area, ice-skating, when permitted, and nature trails for walking. Kings Pond and Gypsy Pond offer a great variety of birds and mammal life.

In the parks you can also find:

Large glacial rocks at Park entrance are Canadian Shield Boulders.
Along the railroad track, wild azalea (pinxter) bloom.
Bracket fern and fiddleheads abound in the woods.
Ducks, Canada Geese and over 40 species of birds live here.
Wild garlic and mustard are abundant.
The general depth of the ponds is about 3 feet.

Leuning Park
Located on the corner of Northern Parkway and Meadowbrook Avenue. Leuning Parks offers an open play area.

Irene Habernickel Family Park
Located at 1037 Hillcrest Road in the northern most corner of the Village, this ten-acre park property has an abundance of mature trees. These trees help to define various areas of the property.

This special park property offers an opportunity for both passive and active recreation through the balance of wide open space, ball fields, natural areas, and a one-acre pond.
In the development stage; plans are to revive the dam and bridge area, install a children’s playground, multi-purpose fields, several walking trails and an arboretum complete with gardens.

This new park is soon to include nature programs as well as other passive opportunities as wildlife prevail such as mammals, reptiles and assorted birds.

Maple Park
Located on the corner of Meadowbrook Avenue and Northern Parkway. Maple Park offers one of Ridgewood wildscape areas as well as a community garden (Link to community garden page), part of the fitness trail (link to the parcourse fitness circuit page), benches, flowers, and nature trails. A regulation turf field hosts soccer, lacross and softball year round.
On the west and east banks of the Ho-Ho-Kus brook between Graydon Pool and Meadowbrook Avenue.

In Maple Park, look for:

A 70-year-old wisteria tree.
One of the largest stands of red cedar in this part of New Jersey.
A Porcupine (Sweet Gum) Tree.
A half dozen of different varieties of fern.
Fig-leaf magnolias with thin graceful leaves.
An herb garden.
On the east side of the brook, delicate grasses, berry bushes, and wild flowers that attract butterflies and birds of many descriptions.

North Road Park
Located on North Road, off of Glen Avenue east of Route 17. This is a natural wildlife area.

Pleasant Park
Located at the end of Stevens Avenue, behind Hawes School. Pleasant Park also offers one of the Village’s wildscape areas.

Pleasant Park offers a natural wildlife area, which includes:

Fallen “nurse” logs, nourishing many insects, lichens, ferns and fungi.
Green beggar ticks, jewelweed, ragweed, and purple loosestrife, all in the late summer.
Quaking aspen trees, with flat leaf stems (petioles) that quiver in the breeze.
New York ferns and lady ferns.
Grape vines.
Sassafras or “mitten” trees, whose name comes from the shape of the leaf.
A tree trunk shaped like a giraffe.
A wide variety of birds reside in this wooded community, which makes for excellent bird watching.

Schedler Property
This recent open space purchase is located between Route 17 and West Saddle River Road with development plans yet to be determined.

Twinney Pond Park
Located at the north end of Red Birch Court. Twinney pond offers a wildlife area, nature trails and ice-skating.

At Twinney Pond Park, this three foot deep kettle pond created by glaciers, you can see the following:

Sunfish as they sweep clean spots on the pond floor to make nests.
Shaggy Birches, Pin Oaks, and Locust Trees.
Veronica, they look like tiny orchids on the ground.
Button Bushes that will produce white pompoms this summer.
Dragonflies, with clear wings outspread, and Damsel Flies, with wings swept back and colored.
The life cycle of a tadpole.
Ice skating when the weather and ice permits.

Memorial Park at Van Neste Square
Located at East Ridgewood Avenue between Walnut Street and Oak Street. Van Neste offers a relaxing location in the center of town. Located in the park are the War Memorial Monument, benches, and gardens.

Veteran’s Field
Located at the corner of Linwood Avenue and Northern and Parkway. Veteran’s field is home to softball fields, hardball fields, multipurpose fields, running track, fitness circuit, amphitheater, open play area, and restrooms.

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Empty Kmart in Paramus to become indoor sports practice facility

indoor training facility

Empty Kmart in Paramus scores a new use

DECEMBER 28, 2015, 6:23 PM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015, 6:44 PM
BY JOAN VERDON
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The vacant, cavernous Kmart store in Paramus has been carpeted with artificial turf and been given a new, if temporary, lease on life as an indoor practice facility for North Jersey sports teams.

On Monday morning, the 91,000-square-foot, hangar-like building, which used to be crowded with store shelves and shoppers, rang with the shouts of two dozen youngsters kicking soccer balls and running drills.

The unusual arrangement meets two separate goals: a Bergen County entrepreneur’s need for a location with enough floor and ceiling space to accommodate several practice fields; and the landlord’s need for a short-term tenant until development plans for the shopping center are finalized.

Scott Vandersnow  of Upper Saddle River this month opened the building as The Arena, an indoor training facility, and has begun renting the space out to youth sports teams. This week, the building is being used for youth soccer and lacrosse camps that Vandersnow is offering for parents who want their kids to stay active during the winter break.

Vandersnow, 41, grew up in Washington Township, has a background in finance and currently works in commercial real estate lending. He is also a soccer dad who has logged many hours watching or running practices for his 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. He said he saw the need for more practice space in Bergen County and was looking for locations when he spotted the Kmart building.

The Kmart, which was built in 1979, closed a year ago after its lease expired. The building is in a strip shopping center owned by the Stop & Shop supermarket chain, and that also houses a Stop & Shop store.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/empty-kmart-in-paramus-scores-a-new-use-1.1481534

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Quality of Life Issues Abound in Bergen County

maple+field1-300x19911

Battle over Northern Highlands Regional district’s field lights heading to court

NOVEMBER 15, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2015, 9:59 AM
BY MARINA VILLENEUVE
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

ALLENDALE — The Northern Highlands Regional High School Board of Education is going to court to defend the new electric-powered light trailers on its athletic fields.

Three neighboring residents are suing the school district, claiming it’s unlawfully using the mobile trailers with lights up to 72 feet tall in defiance of state and local statutes and past court rulings.

On Thursday, the school board, the Northern Highlands Regional High School Sports Association and the Allendale Planning Board and Board of Adjustment filed a civil action in Superior Court in Hackensack asking a judge to dismiss the neighbors’ lawsuit and declare that the school’s use of the lights is legal.

The school has been using mobile, diesel-powered light trailers ever since the late 1990s, after the Planning Board denied the sports association’s application to build permanent 70-foot-tall light towers with a concrete foundation.

The board is arguing that mobile light trailers don’t require any kind of zoning variance or site-plan approval because they don’t fall under state and local definitions of “structure,” “fixture” or “development.”

The school says that it’s used the new electric-powered light trailers about 30 times since they were delivered in September, and that they’re less noisy and smelly than the previously rented diesel-powered trailers.

“As a result, hundreds of children have been able to safely use the turf field at Northern Highlands after dark,” reads the counterclaim filed Thursday.

The school “shall continue to utilize mobile light trailers in connection with its lawful lighting of the athletic fields on the property,” reads the counterclaim, which seeks compensatory, consequential and punitive damages.

In two counts of the neighbors’ eight-count lawsuit filed in October, they claim the new lights will be a public nuisance harming neighbors and that the Board of Education will be liable for damages.

“The development will give rise to a continual invasion of adjoining property by reason of light trespass and light and noise pollution,” reads the lawsuit, which also claims the taller lights will lead to lowered property values and a worse quality of life.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/crime-and-courts/battle-over-northern-highlands-regional-district-s-field-lights-heading-to-court-1.1455826

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Old plans could present solution for Schedler

zabriskieschedler_theridgewoodblog

SEPTEMBER 18, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Print

Old plans could present solution for Schedler

To the Editor:

There can be a sensible alternative to construction of a 90-foot baseball/multiuse field in a heavily wooded area on the Schedler property, and with little cost to the sports groups or the village. There is an existing 80-foot field at Pleasant Park that can be expanded to 90 feet. An existing plan, before the purchase of Schedler, might well be a solution.

In fact, both Veteran’s Field and the Pleasant Field were slated to become 90-foot fields as replacements when the field at Benjamin Franklin Middle School was turned into a track. A 2007-08 report on our Parks and Facilities by Schoor-DePalma-CMX (“Comprehensive Parks, Facilities and Recreation Plan”), paid for by the village, was presented to the council in 2008 recommending that the 80-foot existing baseball field at Pleasant Park be expanded, as well as Veteran’s Field, which now has a 90-foot field.

Of course, this report was written before the Schedler property was purchased.

After Schedler was purchased, the Pleasant Park extension was discarded. Reasons for the change by the village were soil conditions, objections by neighbors, permits from the DEP, etc. But no studies were ever done, and to my knowledge, no correspondence with the state.

The Pleasant Park neighbors are right to be concerned that a 90-foot field brings lights, noise, and traffic that could disrupt the Lawns neighborhood. But why are their concerns more important to the town than the residents on the east side.

Why not revive the idea of adding just a few feet to the existing 80-foot field at Pleasant with the following restrictions: no lights, no turf, and strict penalties for loud and disturbing behavior. As long as the players and fans play by the rules, the neighbors should be glad to help out. We would balance the loss of less than an acre of trees versus over 5 acres of trees at Schedler.

Sure, it would be nice to go across town to an area of east side residents near the Schedler property, put up a field, put in over 70 parking spaces and create problems on a narrow roadway, not to mention cutting down acres of trees that buffer the view and sounds of Route 17.

A traffic study in the middle of August on a residential street is not the right time to see what traffic is really like when school is out, when rush hour occurs, etc.

If this village is concerned about money, how would they justify an outlay of at least $1 million to level 5 acres at least, in an area that is uneven at best, put in a field, create a large berm around most of the property as buffer so trucks or cars don’t crash into the field?

The solution, a much less expensive solution, one that was proposed in the report, paid for by the village, is to extend the field at Pleasant.

Ellie Gruber

Ridgewood

 

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-ridgewood-should-revist-old-plans-1.1412615

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CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES NEW INTERACTIVE FLOOD WARNING MAPS OF HO HO KUS BROOK

RHSFfieldflood_theridgewood-blog

file photo by Boyd Loving

CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES NEW INTERACTIVE FLOOD WARNING MAPS FOR PASSAIC RIVER BASIN 

MAP DETAILS SIX-MILE STRETCH OF RIVER RUNNING THROUGH WALDWICK, HO-HOKUS AND RIDGEWOOD IN BERGEN COUNTY 

Ridgewood NJ, The fourth in a series of online, interactive flood-preparation maps designed to aid emergency management personnel and to inform residents in the Passaic River Basin about flooding events in real time has been launched, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin announced today. The Ho-Ho-Kus Brook Flood Inundation Map, covering a 6-mile span of the river in Bergen County’s Waldwick Borough, Ho-Ho-Kus Borough and Ridgewood, is the fourth map designated for the Passaic River Basin in response to recommendations made by Governor Christie’s Passaic River Basin Advisory Commission.
The map was developed in a partnership between the DEP and U.S. Geological Survey. Fifteen additional maps covering critical areas of the basin will be produced in coming months as part of a cooperative effort between the DEP, USGS and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Flood inundation mapping is among the recommendations in the commission’s 15-point plan for short-term and long-term measures to help mitigate flooding impacts in the basin. Governor Christie formed the commission in 2011 in response to a series of damaging floods in the basin, which covers significant portions of Bergen, Morris and Passaic counties.
Key recommendations of the plan called for better information to help prepare for and respond to flooding emergencies. “The Christie Administration remains committed to addressing flooding issues in the Passaic River Basin through mitigation, property acquisitions, de-snagging efforts and emergency preparedness and response,” Commissioner Martin said. “These easy-to-use online maps offer real-time information to residents about conditions during significant rainfalls and will assist local, state and federal officials in making critical decision to protect the public in the event of flooding.” “This flood preparedness tool highlights how our agencies and local officials are working together to create more resilient communities, and to provide better flood preparedness and responses to flooding,” added USGS Associate Director for Water Bill Werkheiser.
In addition to this latest map, flood inundation maps are being developed for Lodi, Ridgewood and Upper Saddle River along the Saddle River; for Little Falls, Pine Brook, Chatham, Millington and Clifton along the Passaic River. Maps are also being created for Pompton Lakes, Mahwah and Oakland along the Wanaque River; for two locations in Wanaque along the Wanaque River; for Pompton Plains along the Pompton River; for Riverdale and the Macopin Intake Dam along the Pequannock River; and for Little Falls along the Peckman River. Previous flood inundation maps were produced for a 2.75-mile reach of the Saddle River in Lodi; a 4.1-mile stretch of the river in Saddle River Borough; and for a 5.4-mile span of the river running downstream from Ho-Ho-Kus Borough through the Village of Ridgewood and Paramus Borough to the confluence with Hohokus Brook in the Village of Ridgewood.
To view the Hohokus Brook map, visit: https://wimcloud.usgs.gov/apps/FIM/FloodInundationMapper.html?siteno=01391000. A click on the map shows the stream flows and water depths for the stretch of the stream that extends from White’s Lake Dam in Waldwick Borough, downstream through Ho-Ho-Kus Borough to Grove Street in the Village of Ridgewood.
Monitoring tools include current stream gauges, which provide real-time data via satellites to the USGS and the National Weather Service. The flood inundation map shows where floodwaters are expected to travel. Emergency management officials and residents can use this information to evaluate the potential threat of floodwaters to property and infrastructure.
Through the website, users will also have the option to receive email notifications in real time of critical thresholds reached in the river via the USGS WaterAlert. To view the Scientific Investigations Report (SIR 2015-5064) documenting the development and methods used to create the flood inundations maps, visit: https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sir20155064 For current conditions for USGS stream gauge 013910000 Hohokus Brook at Ho-Ho-Kus, visit: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=01391000
For information on the Governor’s 15-point Passaic Basin plan and the Passaic River Basin Flood Advisory Commission, visit: https://www.nj.gov/dep/passaicriver/
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Readers say “THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN”, got the shaft again

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Well, we can be doggone sure that the three of them lost EVERY vote from the east side of 17, and many votes from the west side of 17. We lost this battle, but we won a war, because this for sure put the last nails in their coffins. They will never get reelected. And don’t tell me the sports people will be out in force. Albano was TROUNCED in the last election, Mr. sports had a terrible turnout .

Any Ridgewood voter living east of Paramus Road would be absolutely insane to cast a vote for either ARONSOHN, HAUCK, OR PUCCIARELLI in the future. This will go down as the biggest screw job in Ridgewood’s history.

That’s gonna have to be a biiiig fence along Rt 17. It’ll look like a driving range when it’s done.And yet again, we plunder green space money for sports fields.

2012 municipal election results District 14 “THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN”

Votes
Pucciarelli 103
Killion 69
Forneza 55
Aronsohn 115
Shnozuka 83
Hauck 84

This was a done deal before the property was even bought. What people need to understand is the way some residents get themselves on committees and boards precisely to do the opposite of what the board purportedly is for.

Despite what the Deputy Mayor said last night, I predict the following:

1) The house will soon be bulldozed to the ground.
2) There will be artificial turf.
3) There will be lights.
4) The property will be clear cut of all trees.

You voted them in ladies & gents of the Salem Ridge area. Now you must pay the price.

The Lawns residents should pay attention to what happened last night because Lower Hawes field was mention. That will be the next target for Fast Eddie and the RBA.

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Readers say : non binding = if the residents approve great they will move forward. If the residents do not approve it is non binding (on the mayor and council) and they will move forward

Mayor_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

Readers say : non binding = if the residents approve great they will move forward. If the residents do not approve it is non binding (on the mayor and council) and they will move forward. It’s a done deal folks.

So let’s get the business owners in the CBD who want this (Fish, Greek to Me) to help pay for the garage if it’s a done deal. If they have skin in the game, at least they’ll help protect Village taxpayers from cost overruns and “slippage” better than the Village ever could or would. Why should taxpayers be liable for 100% of the cost and inevitable overruns when this garage will benefit the businesses in the CBD? C’mon, this is North Bergen in NJ. Everything costs multiples of what it should so that everyone can get their “taste”.

The CBD business interests and landlords like to say that Ridgewood always says no to change. Not true. In the past couple of decades we built a new Village Hall, expanded the High School, built a new library, turfed Maple and the HS fields, upgraded Graydon, built a new track facility at BF, added a new gym at GW, converted Habernickel to public use. Whether you agree with all of these actions or not, Ridgewood has not sat still and has spent when needed. Contrast that with the decades long debate about a parking garage. It has NOT been built because there has been a consistent view by most residents that it is not needed and will detract from the Village. The only thing that has changed is that the commercial interests seem to have gotten a firmer foothold with the VC.

so why aren’t these CBD business interests helping to pay for it? Why should taxpayers be on the hook for 100% of this? Makes no sense.

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RHS Baseball team conducts Spring training out of state?

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H.S. baseball: Snow putting season on ice

APRIL 3, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2015, 12:30 AM
BY MARK J. CZERWINSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Westwood baseball coach Kris Izzo was hard at work building up his pitcher’s mound over the weekend, celebrating the Cardinals’ first day out on their own field this preseason. All of a sudden, he heard a noise that is usually so out of place on a baseball field.

Especially four days before opening day.

“I hear this crunch of snow,” Izzo said. “So strange. I look up, and our kids are walking in and out of the dugout through snow.”

The Cardinals were lucky. They may have some snow lingering by the dugout and behind home plate, but at least the rest of the field is clear and playable.

That puts them well ahead of a few North Jersey teams who are still waiting for some sort of thaw to set in even with Thursday’s seasonable weather. And almost everyone endured a preseason that kept them inside and off their frozen fields, setting back their preparation.

“In my 30 years as an educator, this is the worst I remember,” Demarest athletic director Greg Butler said. “We’ve had other bad Marches, but not like this. This is the worst, not because of the snow, but because it’s been so cold along with the snow.”

That’s why you have fields like the one at St. Joseph. It’s always a little colder up on that hill in Montvale, and the parts of the field along the third base line that are shielded by trees – a blessing on sunny days in the late spring – had so much snow remaining that the Green Knights had to move Thursday’s opener to Morris Catholic.

And the drains in the dugouts are frozen and layered with ice.

In Mahwah, the field was covered by a coating of snow Wednesday morning, just hours before the Thunderbirds’ first game.

Up in West Milford, where winter always seems to linger a bit longer, weekend pictures of the Highlanders’ field look like a Christmas card scene. Half the field is covered in snow, and Wednesday’s opener was moved to Wayne Valley.

“We’ve played two scrimmages on turf, but we haven’t practiced outside except for fungoes in the parking lot,” said West Milford coach Joe Jordan.

“It’s funny because the school district had drainage put in over the summer. It worked really well in the fall, but a new drainage system doesn’t make a difference when the ground is frozen and there’s nothing to drain.”

Some lucky teams such as Demarest, Ridgewood and Don Bosco were able to head off to places such as Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Florida to squeeze in some workouts and scrimmages.

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/h-s-baseball-snow-putting-season-on-ice-1.1301951?page=all

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Readers Say Turf Fields Exacerbate Village Flooding

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Photos By Boyd Loving

Readers Say Turf Fields Exacerbate Village Flooding 

Is seems ever time it rans now , significance damage is done to our playing fields and Village property .
We were told the turf fie;ds would drain faster , well yes they sure do but the water still needs some place to go like the Village Hall , the Ridgewood library .
Since the Village Hall Rebuilding Fiasco  , and the addition of turf fields along the Ho Ho Kus brook the 50 year flood has now become an almost yearly event .
Is it time to recognize the damage to the environment all this turf is doing  ?
The problem is not just the fields at Stevens ,Maple and the RHS Stadium but the many turf fields all along the banks of our rivers all over Bergen County . Again the water needs some place to go .
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Photos By Boyd Loving

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