Tag: Ridgewood parking garage

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Candidate Josh Gottheimer Presents his “Economic Plan” in Ridgewood today at 11am

Joshua S
June 28,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ,  Josh Gottheimer will outline his “comprehensive plan” to spur economic growth and create jobs in New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District Wednesday.

Gottheimer another PR person like Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn .Not sure many residents will share any enthusiasm given the bad taste the Jim Mac Greevey mouth piece has left in Ridgewood .Gottheimer donor list is a who’s who of Big Government ,Unions, pro Wall Street bailouts, pro-corporate welfare , pro-crony types looking to remove the last impediment to getting their hands on more tax payer money.

According to his press release ,Gottheimer will be joined by local business leaders at Ridgewood Cycle Shop at 11 a.m in Ridgewood on Wednesday to present his “comprehensive plan” to spur economic growth and create good-paying jobs for 5th District families. The local business leaders seem to be a laundry list of the same people who brought you “Garagezilla ” and other crony related projects the soon to be former mayor Paul Aronsohn tried to jam down residents throats in Ridgewood .

For his part Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05) will be in Wyckoff at the Blue Moon Mexican Café at 2pm on Thursday to discuss issues facing small businesses, like restaurants, in New Jersey including  taxes and health care.

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Reader says Once again, we’re given a “take it or leave it”, “all or nothing”, “our way or the highway” choice on an important matter on the Ridgewood Parking Garage

Vote No Ridgewood

Once again, we’re given a “take it or leave it”, “all or nothing”, “our way or the highway” choice on an important matter. I’d love a small parking deck at that location but this referendum gives us two choices: 1.) A 5 story garage which will never be full and doesn’t fit on the lot or 2.) Vote NO.

I had held out some hope that after such a decisive election, the outgoing Council majority would have stepped aside on this issue and left it to the new Council. Yea, maybe not. I can’t say enough bad things about how these 3 elected officials have acted over the past 4 years and they’re apparently trying to go out with one last deplorable bang. They are ignoring the clear will of the people for what can only be personal gain or the desire for revenge against those that have disagreed with them.

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Ridgewood Parking Garage : Its 2 Big ,Petition drive Saturday!!! April 2nd 10am-4pm

its too big Ridgewood

This petition seeks to put the financing associated with Design D on hold

until a REAL COMPROMISE is reached, or until the taxpayers of Ridgewood vote on it

as a BINDING referendum question.

Aesthetically, a lower profile will be more fitting in our Historic Downtown.

A 3-story/4 level garage will more than triple the capacity of the current lot,

and allow for added creative solutions in other parts of the Central Business District.

SIGN THE PETITION

FOR MORE INFORMATION

GO TO WWW.ITS2BIG.COM, OR EMAIL ITS2BIG@ITS2BIG.COM

PICTURES USED ARE FROM VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD WEBSITE

*A – https://mods.ridgewoodnj.net/pdf/manager/2015simdeck.pdf

*D -https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/images/Ridgewood/Projects/HudsonStParkingDeck/View_2_-_Looking_North_on_South_Broad_Street_copy.jpg

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Ridgewood Parking Garage “Plan D ” still fails to fit the Footprint of Hudson Street lot

Hudson Street Garage bogus renderings
file photo by Saurabh Dani
March 9,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , In Mayor’s corner (newsletter) from this week, our mayor writes “This time, the ordinance is for $11.5 million, and our plan is to build a 325-car parking deck that would basically fit within the footprint of the current lot.”

A letter to Editorial published in Friday’s Ridgewood News writes – “The Village Council continues to modify the plans to address certain concerns raised by some, and to create a larger consensus. The latest rendition seems to accomplish that on many levels- even one level less of a deck.”

However both of these statements prove to be incorrect. Plan D does not fit within the lot, it still encroaches out 4-5 feet and is higher than the allowed zoning in that zone. The latest rendition (plan D), doe not reduce one level, it’s still 5 levels, it’s just about 3 feet short of plan A, and that’s achieved by reducing the height of each level by few inches.

To be more specific Plan D does not fit on the footprint of the existing lot. Plan D still goes over the existing lot by 5ft onto the existing sidewalk. The sidewalk will then be moved 4ft into Hudson Street (therefore narrowing the sidewalk by 1ft, and narrowing Hudson street for the length of the garage by 4ft). On January 6th, when the council could not receive the super majority vote it needed to bond in house for Option C (3 stories (approx 38ft high-not including towers), 4 levels of parking, 12 ft beyond the sidewalk and into the street), The mayor agreed to go back to the architect for a plan that fit on the lot. At the January 13th council meeting, the village manager repeated that they were “focusing on the parking garage that fits within the footprint”.

At the January 14th Historic Preservation Commission meeting, the mayor told the HPC as well as the members of the public at that meeting 3 times, “we’ve agreed to make sure it does not encroach upon the street”. At the January 27th council meeting, there were no sketches, drawings, etc, but it was announced that the new plan would go over the existing lot, “not more than 5ft”, and it would be 4 stories and 5 levels of parking (1 story more than Option C from January 6th). When the village manager and Mayor were asked where is the garage that “fits on the footprint”, the reply was, “this is close”. Yes, Option D is less than 12ft into the street, but it’s still not “on the lot”, and now it’s a story higher than Option C.
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Questions Arise on the “New Walker Report” for Ridgewood Parking Garage

garage new design

February 12,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Some questions from the most recent walker report. May be some of our readers who are more financial savvy can answer them / explain them, as residents are a little confused:

1. The main argument for the biggest garage is that it is needed for CBD’s revival. This week’s Walker Report projects up-to 20% reduction in cars coming in to CDB. So, how exactly will this help?

“We project a 10% reduction in volume from rate increases and a 7.5% – 10% reduction in volume for the extension of meter hours through the dinner hour”..
https://mods.ridgewoodnj.net/pdf/manager/20160203revwalker.pdf

2. OLMC was promised that no rates will increase on Saturday evenings. This report doesn’t reflect that.

3. They mention that this report cannot be used for financing. So, the consultant themselves are not confident about this report?
“As with the previous study, this is considered a preliminary analysis. We have not done the very detailed analysis that is required for a financing document and our projections cannot be used as such.”

4. On Jan 27th, in village council meeting, when this new contract was awarded to Walker Consultants, we were told that they will provide us the new makeup of the parking garage, i.e. how many commuters, how many shoppers and how many CBD employees should park there. That break down is not provided in this report (I think we paid somewhere between 12-20k for this piece of pdf).

5. This report recommends additional enforcement for the extended hours, but it doesn’t consider additional enforcement officer’s compensation in the calculations?

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Walker Study : Key verbatim assumptions on Ridgewood Parking Garage

parking garage cbd

Key verbatim assumptions/findings taken from the Village Council commissioned parking study prepared by Walker Associates:

Easing crowding does not, in and of itself, create a new revenue stream; it transfers revenue
from other metered spaces in the Village. The garage will likely encourage people to come
downtown who have been avoiding it due to parking constraints, but this is not a quantifiable
revenue stream and is not included in our analysis. More conservatively, we project the
following net new revenue streams for the garage:

• The 72-space Brogan Cadillac lot on South Broad Street at Essex Street and at the 92-
space Ken Smith Motors lot just east of the train tracks and north of Franklin Avenue are
going to be demolished for development. Both of these dealerships have closed and
lease out their parking. The Ken Smith Lot is permit parking for downtown employees.
The Brogan Lot accommodates commuters during the day and is leased out for
restaurant valet parking at night. We anticipate these demand streams would transfer
to the garage.

• We understand from Village staff that there are other restaurants downtown that use
valet services in private lots that would use the garage instead (probably doing away
with valet service since self-park options would be easier).

• The Village used to have 120 non-resident commuter permits, but doubled non-resident
permit rates because there was not enough space for these commuters. Currently
there are very few non-resident commuters parking in the train station area. The Village
plans to reduce the non-resident commuter rate to $875/year to increase that demand
stream again.

It is typical in downtowns that the revenue stream in a given garage is not sufficient to cover its
operating costs and debt service. Downtown parking systems are just that – systems – that rely
on pooled revenue from all resources, and especially the on-street meters (which tend to
have the highest turnover), to cover the higher cost associated with building and operating a
garage. This is the case in Ridgewood, where the net new revenue projected for the garage
is not projected to offset its expenses. Therefore, our revenue projection includes all downtown revenue and all expenses associated with the parking system. To operate the
garage and have a revenue-positive parking utility (with funds available for other parking lot
maintenance projects), we project that the Village will increase meter rates as follows:

• In 2016, meters will be extended until 9 p.m. and meter rates on key downtown streets
will increase to 75¢.

• In 2017, 75¢ meters will be increased to $1 and the rest of the on-street and off-street
meters will increase to 75¢.

• If needed, rates would increase by 25¢ after five years.

• Commuter permit rates would increase by $25 in 2021 and 2025.

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Four firms pitch plans for Ridgewood parking garage , NYC based Desman Design Picked

Hudson_street_parking_theridgewoodblog

SEPTEMBER 11, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2015, 9:26 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The Village Council held a special meeting Tuesday to continue the discussion on a parking garage for Hudson Street.

Six firms responded to the village’s request for proposal (RFP) for the garage; that number was narrowed down to four before the meeting began.

“We went through talking about each firm’s strengths, weaknesses and fees, and we’ve come down to four firms that are most qualified to serve the village,” said Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli. “They’ll be presenting their concepts, their designs, their thought processes on what this parking garage will look like.”

The governing body will now deliberate on the proposals, and should narrow its choices by the next council meeting, officials said.

Here is a look at what the council will be discussing.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/four-firms-pitch-plans-for-ridgewood-garage-1.1408106

 

Ridgewood council moves to select firm to design downtown parking garage

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015, 5:53 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2015, 5:55 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — The village council moved Wednesday night to select a parking consulting firm that will design a large public garage downtown.

The Ridgewood council could adopt a resolution at its meeting Sept. 16 to hire Desman Design, a firm based in New York City.

The firm, once hired, will prepare architectural renderings for presentation to the council next month, officials said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-council-moves-to-select-firm-to-design-downtown-parking-garage-1.1407408

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Firm to study two options for Ridgewood parking garage

unnamed-7

JUNE 1, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2015, 9:46 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The Village Council approved on May27 a contract for a consulting firm to study two options for a parking garage on Hudson Street.

The governing body also discussed a potential bond ordinance that would cover pre-construction funding for such a project.

The contract, approved by a 5-0 vote, was awarded to New York-based Walker Parking Consultants, which will perform an evaluation of automated parking systems versus traditional parking garages for the lot at Hudson Street.

The study needs to be done prior to a request for proposals (RFP) on the design, said Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld. The village must decide if it wants to build a traditional deck or one with automated parking before going out for an RFP, she said.

Councilwoman Susan Knudsen inquired about the cover letter submitted by Walker, which said the Hudson Street lot was only 100 feet wide and does not have the dimensions for an efficient self-park garage, thereby defeating the purpose of studying two systems.

Village Engineer Chris Rutishauser agreed the lot does not have the depth for a traditional deck, but a study done by Ridgewood’s engineering department revealed there were a number of options the village had if it wished to build a traditional deck.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/firm-to-study-two-options-for-garage-1.1346420