Tag: Hudson Parking Garage

Posted on

Ridgewood Council votes 3-2 to bond with BCIA for parking garage

Council meeting assult

photo by Boyd Loving minutes after the alleged assault at the council meeting

BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

RIDGEWOOD – Ridgewood’s Village Council voted 3-2 to bond with the Bergen County Improvement Authority (BCIA) on Feb. 10 in order to fund the proposed Hudson Street parking garage.

This came on the heels of last week’s unanimous vote of the BCIA to authorize the submission of an application to the state local finance board, accelerating the process along.

Just as there was at the BCIA version, Wednesday’s meeting featured both proponents and opponents of the decision to bond with the county, including village residents and council members.

Councilwoman Susan Knudsen, who voted against adopting the ordinance to bond with the BCIA, said that she still has some serious concerns with moving the process along at this time.

“I think that before we get into this, it’s really important to have a conversation with Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and be neighborly and have the simulations and all of the information available to address and allay any concerns that they have,” she said.

While she did admit that bonding with the BCIA “seems like a great option,” she said that she continues to believe “that when we find the appropriate scale and design of this garage, it could be done on self-bonding.”

“While there seems to be some financial benefits to be gained by going through the BCIA, some of the detriments are very real,” Knudsen said. “Maintaining ownership and absolute control is imperative to the success of this garage … I think it’s still an opportunity to bond on our own.”

Councilman Mike Sedon, who cast the other dissenting vote against bonding with the BCIA, said he thinks it is necessary to have a payment plan in place before moving forward.

https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/town-government/bcia-bond-to-fund-garage-passes-3-2-1.1510815

Posted on

Maser Traffic Study Refutes Need for Parking Garage in Ridgewood

Parking CBD

January 19,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ , Maser Study Says Downtown Lots Half Full at Peak Times

-Delivered to village on or about October 16, 2015
-Vote on garage bond was November 3, 2015
-Study was first posted on old village website on 12/30/2015, 75 days after it was received.
-Councilwoman Knudsen and Councilman Sedon have stated in village council meetings they never saw the study before it was posted on 12/30/2015
-The 3 remaining council members have not answered, after much questioning by the public, when they saw the study.

Study says of the current Ridgewood parking load:

Page 11: This factor was deemed to be conservative for the purposes of our analysis as the surrounding surface lots were observed to be at approximately 50% of their capacity during peak hours and none of the surface lots appeared to approach their maximum capacity simultaneously. Thus, we justified that the site would operate at 50% capacity during both the AM and PM peak hours, or that a minimum of 206 of the proposed 412 parking spaces would be occupied during these times.

Why wasn’t this study shared with the public before the election, or before the first vote on the one and only design the village offered?
Why does Ridgewood need a garage?
Why does it need to be higher the neighboring Mt. Carmel Church?

Now, the village is pushing to have the county finance this garage. Who is it for if the surface lots are 50% full at peak?

Posted on

Ridgewood Parking Rates and the Hudson Parking Garage

Parking_meters_theridgewoodblog

January 6,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood Nj, Are increased meter rates killing down town Ridgewood more than the precised lack of parking ? Both Glen Rock ,Westwood both have lower parking rates Ridgewood  and similar down town shopping districts or Central Business districts ( CBD’s ) .

The funny thing was given all the metered parking in the USA there is very little written on the effect of parking fees on shopping behaviors . We did find a pretty in depth study done in Massachusetts by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) which we will refer to in this article.

First it obvious to us that parking fees are only one of many variables in attracting shoppers to a CBD and creating a successful climate for merchants.
Rents, resident demographics , types of retail, destination locations and infrastructure all play a part.

The MAPC makes to interesting points about parking fees :

If free on-street parking means there are never any spaces available, charging for parking can improve business. The inability to find a parking space can be at least as much of a deterrent as the need to pay for one, so if charging a nominal fee for parking means that there are usually a few spaces available rather than there rarely being any spaces available, this may make the area more attractive to customers.( https://www.mapc.org/resources/parking-toolkit/strategies-topic/charging-parking )

In order for charging for parking to be effective, it must free up some parking spaces, which means it must impact travel behavior and reduce demand for parking. The question is whether discouraging people from parking discourages them from visiting the area, or simply encourages them to get there another way. Some possible impacts of charging for parking are given below. Whether potential shoppers who might be deterred by the price of parking are driven away or whether they simply find other ways to get there will depend in part on the availability and appeal of alternate ways to get to the area. ( https://www.mapc.org/resources/parking-toolkit/strategies-topic/charging-parking )

Again the key finding :

A large part of whether charging for parking will negatively impact businesses depends on how attractive the district is relative to other options. If there is a popular mall a short drive away providing many of the same goods and services with free parking, that can increase the likelihood that people will go elsewhere. On the other hand, if the downtown provides enough amenities and attractions – such as restaurants, bars, and appealing outdoor spaces – that cannot be replaced by a mall or isolated shopping center, the downtown is more likely to succeed.( https://www.mapc.org/resources/parking-toolkit/strategies-topic/charging-parking )

But an even more interesting conclusion about garage vs street parking :

Many people prefer to park in on-street parking rather than an off-street lot or garage because of the convenience. If off-street parking is limited or is primarily available as pay lots or garages while on-street parking is free, drivers will tend to circle blocks repeatedly looking for an open space on the street rather than paying to park. This congests streets with unnecessary traffic and pollutes the air with unnecessary emissions. It also means that expensive garages in which the municipality may have invested a significant amount of money may be underutilized and generate less revenue than expected. In this type of situation, implementing charges for on-street parking is critical to free up on-street spaces, encourage drivers to use pay lots or garages, and reduce “cruising” for parking. If off-street parking is priced, on-street parking should be priced as well, and should ideally be priced higher than structured parking. If off-street parking is mostly free surface lots and there is rarely a shortage of spaces available, low prices may be effective in encouraging people to use off-street options where available if convenience is not a top priority. ( https://www.mapc.org/resources/parking-toolkit/strategies-topic/charging-parking )

 

Posted on

Price tags Soar for Municipal Construction Projects

Village Hall flood theridgewoodblog.net

file photo by Boyd Loving

Price tag for Bergen County DPW facility grows by a Staggering $5 million

This has “Ridgewood parking garage” written all over it

AUGUST 5, 2015, 9:39 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2015, 7:36 AM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The new Bergen County public works maintenance facility in Paramus will cost at least $5 million more to build than originally estimated, County Executive James Tedesco told the freeholders Wednesday.

The project, which had been estimated to cost $16 million, has cost $21 million thus far, Tedesco said.

He also said the project, scheduled to open on Oct. 1, is about seven months behind schedule from it’s originated projected completion date in March.

Related:   Cost of Bergen County Justice Center expected to grow by $1.3M

Tedesco has been saying for months that the facility was “underfunded.” But Wednesday marked the first time he specified how much more money it would cost.

The DPW facility is part of a larger multi-project $147-million bond issue that also includes a new Justice Center and parking deck and another DPW garage in Hackensack. Taken together, the work is the largest public works project in the county’s history.

Tedesco said the Justice Center and parking garage are close to coming in on budget. The five-story parking garage is set to open later this summer and the adjacent six-story Justice Center is about six weeks behind schedule, he said. The Hackensack DPW garage is completed.

The Paramus DPW facility, though, has undergone several changes in the last seven months that have added to the cost of that project, he said. For example, one building at the site was designed as a cold-storage garage, to store vehicles without providing any heat. But to allow for diesel-powered vehicles to be stored there, the county has added electric heating blocks to thaw them out in winter, Tedesco said.

He said the original design also did not call for the concrete in the maintenance garage to be sealed with epoxy. That change has added to the expense and the time required to install it, he said.

DPW Director Raymond Dressler said another change was related to how the current administration, which took over in January, plans to use the building. Dressler said one garage bay is getting a lift capable of raising large trucks, so that the county can offer heavy-equipment maintenance as a shared service to municipalities and fire departments. He said plans call for at least two shifts daily to work out of the building, rather than just one, which required reconfiguring the space.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/price-tag-for-bergen-county-dpw-facility-grows-by-at-least-5-million-1.1386872