Council women Susan Knudsen explains the Route 17 housing issue and process:
“All, Just my brief explanation of the issue being discussed. First, please understand I was absent from the 4/19 PB meeting due to an emergency medical matter; however, I can offer background info, process moving forward and meeting details as confirmed by our PB secretary to ensure the accuracy of my comments specific to the 4/19 meeting.
As required by law the planning board must prepare and submit a Housing Element Plan. Included in the preliminary discussions were several acres along the route 17 corridor and West Saddle River Road. Those details include low density townhouses, or some type of housing, along with the required small % set aside for affordable housing. Tremendous efforts are being made to protect and enhance the surrounding residential neighborhood by including very specific requirements to be applied to any future development.
There has been no public hearing and the approval on 4/19 was simply for our Village planner to continue his work on the Housing Element. Any public Hearing will require proper public notice as required by law. That has not occurred and there has been no formal (legal) adoption of the Housing Element. The Public Hearing will be scheduled for mid-May, or possibly later, mindful of the timing pursuant to a judge’s order requiring PB Housing Element and Fair Share Housing Plan be submitted by the 6/30/16 deadline.. Any zoning change is subject to Village Council approval and adoption via ordinance requiring additional public hearing(s). The Housing Element will include several other locations in different areas throughout the Village – the entire process is ongoing.
The reporter’s reference to “developer” presumably suggests any future development would be required to follow the zoning regulations including height, setback, buffers, density, etc. Presently, to my knowledge, there’s no developer involved in any of the subject properties in the Housing Element.
To be included in future PB/VC updates please email sknudsen@RidgewoodNJ.net. Also, I encourage residents to check the Village website for meeting and agenda info. Again, there has been no public hearing on this and no changes have been adopted for this acreage or the other locations. Because I was absent for the 4/19 meeting my VC report on this was delayed and will be part of my next VC report.”
