Reader says the Village Council needs to stop allowing special interests like Valley Hospital and other real estate developers to determine our agenda
Our leadership needs to start thinking beyond the next election cycle and stop allowing special interests like Valley Hospital and other real estate developers to determine our agenda. We have been in a reactive mode for too long and need an elected official without a personal agenda to map out a vision for the future in a more collaborative way.
Right now we have 3 council members that vote as a block – since they have a majority, they get to decide which of their individual pet projects will get approved first. Do we want these 3 people or ANY 3 people to be able to decide what happens to our town? What they are doing is just wrong. I’m sure that some lawyer out there will say that it’s legal, but that doesn’t make it any less wrong.
Reader says the current problems obviously start at the top with our very ambitious Mayor and his dubious team.
While our choices are few in the upcoming election, we should all be aware that one candidate, Mr. Albano appears to be aligned with the Mayor. Like Mrs. Hauck, Mr. Albano is a decent person that is passionate about a single issue but has no other real qualifications for the job. The current voting block of 3 needs to be broken up, not added to.
Mr. Sedon on the other hand has covered countless meetings for the Ridgewood News and is intimately familiar with the budgeting process and all municipal departments. He is an independent thinker and has a healthy skepticism for less than credible “expert” testimony about the Hospital and high density housing.
Mrs. Kundson is also an independent thinker who will not just vote with the establishment. She appears to be unafraid of the political retribution that Mr. Aronsohn, Mrs. Hauck and Mr. Pucciarelli have wielded over the past year against their adversaries.
Please do your homework – all of the candidates are very approachable. Please ask each one where they stand on Valley and the apartments. Get it in an e-mail if possible. The 3 incumbents are masters of saying one thing but meaning another. They are political hacks at best and have succeeded this week in converting Ridgewood from a local laughingstock into a national laughingstock. Bravo.
Readers Says People do, year after year, fall in love with “small town” Ridgewood
People do, year after year, fall in love with Ridgewood and chose buy their homes and raise their families here. According to money magazine, 2013 report, Americas top 50 small towns are not only thriving economically, they’ve also got all you could want in a place to raise a family: plenty of green space, good schools, and a strong sense of community. Ridgewood is not on the top 50 list and that is not surprising. But maybe we should strive to acquire some of the attributes that land a community on this list. The majority of towns on this list all seem to have same words sprinkled throughout their descriptions: nature, open space, recreation, preserved, protected, conservation etc. Every singe town on this list mentions some sort of recreational option and seemingly recognizes the importance of open space. Read the list and take note.
These small towns range in size from 10,000 residents to about 50,000. In Ridgewood, we are a population of 25,000, so we land somewhere in the middle. Our Village government needs to seriously consider what is it that makes a town a more attractive place to live. They need to start using the words, “nature, protect and preserve’, a little more in their planning efforts. If these are such important factors in some of the best places to live, why do we seem to put such little value on them in our Village? There are serious efforts in this town to ridicule those who value open space and preservation. Community views in Ridgewood are often belittled behind closed doors and disregarded in public forums as well. It seems as if this town is moving farther and farther from the top 50 list and our Village leaders are leading the way. Do we value money and little else? Sure seems like we do.
Special Ridgewood Planning Board Amendment to Meeting Schedule – April 1 Meeting
Special Public Meeting: Tuesday, April 1, 2014
In accordance with the provisions of the “Open Public Meetings Act,” please be advised that the Planning Board has scheduled a special public meeting and work session for TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2014, in the GEORGE WASHINGTON MIDDLE SCHOOL AUDITORIUM, 155 Washington Place, Ridgewood, NJ beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The Board may take official action during this Special Public Meeting. The agenda for the meeting includes the following:
1. Continued public hearing concerning a proposed amendment to the Land Use Plan Element of the Master Plan, which amendment would recommend creation of new zone districts and changes in zone district boundaries within the Central Business District and surrounding area including AH-2, B-3-R, C-R and C Zone Districts.
2. Other Planning Board business per the agenda.
The proposed master plan amendment and related exhibits are at the office of the Secretary of the Ridgewood Planning Board on the third floor of Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey and are available for public inspection Monday-Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The amendment and exhibits are also posted as a courtesy on the Village’s website at www.ridgewoodnj.net.
All meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work session meetings, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings which are always open to members of the general public.
Financial Advisory Committee Meeting – April 7
Notice: The Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) will meet on Monday, April 7 instead of their standard of the 2nd Monday of the month. the meeting will take place at 7:30PM in the Garden Room, Village Hall.
Leadership needed to establish goals
by Martin Walker
This letter was also sent to the Ridgewood Planning Board.
To the editor:
“Options ‘come down to economics’” (The Ridgewood News, Friday, Feb. 21, page A1) made good headlines, but Planning Board member objections to assisted living and parking facilities around building heights, location and aesthetics in North Walnut Street Redevelopment miss the enormity of issues affecting our community. Are we fiddling while Rome burns, or is there no leadership establishing goals and priorities?
The Organizational Development giant on leadership, Elliott Jacques, demonstrated that levels of institutional authority are correlated with the degrees of future time span awareness. Is no one in town governance articulating a vision for Ridgewood’s future? Doesn’t compromise require a shared goal in order to balance competing needs in the service of a greater good? Visionary leadership for Ridgewood requires a clearer articulation of where we are going.
The two perennial certainties, aging and taxes, provide the most stable variables around which to articulate any family community’s future. Every single one of us will age and the fact that tax revenue is tied to property values means our taxes will increase indefinitely. Visionary leadership must articulate what this means for our town.
Aging: Are we an aging-in community or an aging-out community? Should Ridgewood be required to provide a space for all of our lives, or only parts of it? Should our old age take place here, with easy access to all that we love, or should our elders go live somewhere else?
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/letter-leadership-needed-to-establish-goals-1.736297#sthash.nYJUpHp7.dpuf
Readers say hospital planner DID NOT say Valley Expansion was a good idea for Ridgewood
While he acknowledged that they did a nice job designing a 454 bed modern hospital, he DID NOT say it was a good idea for Ridgewood. He said the Planning Board would have to decide if this is something they would want built in Ridgewood. He offered absolutely no expert testimony on what a construction project like this would do to the town, the surrounding area, the schools and the quality of life for the residents. He did not answer any of the questions pertinent to LIVING in Ridgewood. His company has built some very pretty hospitals. Not here, thank you.
He’s a hospital planner and this is the testimony you would expect from him. Of course it’s good planning for Valley and I’m sure it’s a great design but it’s not suitable for the corner of Linwood and Van Dien. Valley needs to put their proposed hospital on a larger lot in a non-residential neighborhood. Enough already.
Assisted living may soon be allowable use in Ridgewood redevelopment area
MARCH 20, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2014, 4:39 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The North Walnut Street Redevelopment Area, including the long-vacant Town Garage on Franklin Avenue and an adjoining parking lot, is a “dead zone” and the “back alley” of Ridgewood’s downtown, according to some Planning Board members. But Ridgewood may be one step closer to improving it.
The board on Tuesday approved Village Planner Blais Brancheau’s recommendations to update the North Walnut Street Redevelopment Plan.
The current plan was prepared in 2007, after the village formally adopted a resolution designating the area as “in need of redevelopment.” It includes several objectives for the area, including the establishment of a parking garage and retail space (which may be incorporated into the garage structure).
The Planning Board has now made new recommendations for the plan, partly in response to a developer’s proposal this past summer, which suggested that the area would be a good site for an assisted-living facility. That proposal piqued interest in the village, but the North Walnut Street Redevelopment Plan does not currently allow for an assisted-living use.
Readers says Ridgewood Planning Board Backs off Gail Prices all or Nothing Comments
The PB meeting was interesting last night. The meeting started with a discussion about the downtown assisted living/garage proposal. I think Blaise said that the project is only financially viable if they can build 60 fee high with no compromise on the number of spaces. This PB agreed with the Mayor and sent the project to council who will vote on an ordinance and then the whole thing goes back to the PB. Based upon statements made by PB members, there seems to be strong PB support for this project.
The PB then began the H-zone discussion by stating the The Record, CRR and the residents who attended the meeting misunderstood statements made at the last meeting and changes can be made to Valley’s proposal if it is consistent with the findings of experts. After that heated discussion came to a close, the PB hospital expert testified that Valley had submitted a good plan which for all intents and purposes means that the Valley proposal cannot be altered , correct?? Anyway, you can’t make this stuff up.
Reader says ,The Central Business District is in nobody’s back yard
The Central Business District is in nobody’s back yard – Rewriting the Master Plan to allow its overdevelopment will affect all of us. Your use of the term “NIMBY” makes no sense here. That term has become the rallying cry of special interest groups in town that have completely hijacked the agenda on what is best for Ridgewood moving forward. By all appearances, this has been fine with our Council and Planning Board as they each pursue their personal agendas. Hats off to residents that are taking matters into their own hands and getting involved in the process.
Ridgewood planning board consultant favors Valley Hospital expansion
MARCH 19, 2014, 6:24 AM
BY BARBARA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
The Valley Hospital’s plan to modernize and completely renovate its campus is a good one, a hospital planning consultant hired by the Ridgewood Planning Board told the board and about 35 residents who attended Tuesday night’s meeting.
The proposal to nearly double in size, providing 454 private rooms with 12-feet high ceilings and space for family members to spend extended periods of time, and larger operating suites that soar 16-feet high, is what many other medical centers are doing now, said James May, an architect and managing principal of healthcare at Perkins Will in New York City.
“As I look as all the things Valley put together, what they are asking for is not unreasonable,” May said. “They are looking into the future. They have done a great job of keeping down the size within this proposal.”
Valley is requesting, for the second time, a master-plan amendment that must be approved by both the Planning Board and Village Council. It is hoping to mushroom from 562,000 square feet to 995,000 square feet, plus an additional 245,000 square-foot parking garage. The new main building would stand 94 feet tall, including rooftop mechanicals.
Hospital administrators say the complex needs to expand to remain competitive in an area known for providing top-notch medical care.
The Planning Board hired May to give his expertise as a hospital planning consultant on Valley’s proposal after a year of hearings where they mainly heard the hospital’s experts talk about the benefit the larger hospital will be to the community. Valley has assured the board and residents that the larger facility will reduce traffic because outpatient services will be moved off campus and the larger buildings will not negatively impact the neighborhood.
Reader says Is that the “Village” that we want to live in?
Valley is a nonconforming business that wants an exception so that they can double in size in a residential neighborhood. The downtown developments are looking to build in a commercially zoned area.
I do not like any of the proposed projects and I object to them all because I do not want to live in a city. Imagine Ridgewood with 5 retail/condo developments and a doubled valley hospital.
Is that the “Village” that we want to live in? With no plan anyone can build. When we start having exceptions then the precedent will be set and there will be no stopping developers.
Readers says its time for torches and pitch forks since our public officials are clearly favoring personal agendas over the best interests of the town
It actually may be time for torches and pitch forks since our public officials are clearly favoring personal agendas over the best interests of the town. Residents are having the most implausible “expert testimony” crammed down our throats and the results of “studies” about the impact of all of this building defy all common sense. Then the Gail Price, in a surreal outburst against Valley opponents, dictates that the Planning Board can only consider two unacceptable options and can only use this patently unbelievable testimony to make their decision. So much for public comment and the voice of the people.
When the fix is so blatantly in and when all public opinion is ignored, it’s time for the angry mob to rally. Read your history books folks.
Reader says We do not need pitchforks to say NO to over development
Much like the valley hospital situation, these people need an exception to the master plan. We do not need pitchforks to say NO. We do not even need a middle ground. These entities are all looking to build/expand so that they can make more money. Nothing personal, it’s just business.
What is in it for the town? More traffic, more kids in the schools and even less parking?
Establishing commuter parking at Ken Smith (with some kind of bridge to the train) is a rare opportunity–a no-brainer that if not taken advantage of now, will haunt the village forever. There is no reason the owner couldn’t make money on it.
Whats the up side for Ridgewood for more commuter parking ?
Who are these extra parking spots for, residents or out of towner s?
Some folks believe more commuters using the train station equates to more people patronizing shops and restaurants in the CBD, the theory being when they get off the train, they will not go directly to their cars and leave town. I’m not sure I buy into that theory though.
But most believe that commuters will get in their cars and drive home. After a long work day most are not looking for retail therapy.
Reader says “Save Ridgewood” group should focus on solutions
Has anyone in the “Save Ridgewood” group thought about the impact of doing nothing. Three of the four proposed residential development sites are currently vacant. At the recent Planning Board meeting in which the Brogan site was discussed one genius suggested that the site be developed for Retail use. This would produce far more traffic, noise and clutter than any residential use. It is time for the Save Ridgewood group to stop complaining and come forth with some well reasoned suggestions for the long term use of what are becoming increasingly blighted properties.
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