March 20,2016
Linda McNamara
Valley sued the Village of Ridgewood claiming an unfair process in the deliberations. Many thousands of dollars was spent by groups opposed to the renewal and for very substantial and convincing reasons. New Jersey requires that we go through a mediation process, it does not require that either party has to accept the results.
Valley’s “compromise” includes a 1700 spot parking garage on the cornet of Linwood and Van Dien! We have spent years discussing an approx. 400 space parking garage on Hudson Street which is not in the middle of a neighborhood, next to a school and on one of the busiest corners in all of Ridgewood.
The planning board is duty bound to protect our village from over development not to appease an entity that has enough money to keep the battle on going. We have a Master Plan and zoning ordinances to protect us. If the Planning Board is wiling to change them in order to allow Valley to go ahead with its plan to almost double its size in the middle of a neighborhood, then we need a new Planning Board that is looking out for the Village of Ridgewood. I say village because many seem to have forgotten that .
We worry about signage that isn’t in keeping with our aesthetics. We tell businesses in town what colors they can use on their store fronts and yet we would consider a massive expansion in the middle of a residential area? Our priorities need an overhaul and there is no time to do it. The Planning Board is holding 5 hearings all within a few days of each other starting at the end of March and ending in early April and before an election in May which will change the council by 3 new members.
One of our current council members Gwen Hauck has stated in public that she is “beholden to Valley”. She should recuse herself from any vote on Valley and we may have the law on our side regarding a conflict of interest.
