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photo courtesy of Village Manager Keith Kazmark
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Ridgewood NJ, an e-announcement from the Village, emailed to residents last week and linked from the Village website’s home page, says our first-quarter 2025 property taxes are due this Saturday, February 1, with penalties to be levied for payments made after February 10.
Continue reading Village of Ridgewood Property Tax Due Date Discrepancies
Ridgewood NJ, for the second year in a row residents report being harassed by the Village of Ridgewood about their sidewalks. This is less than one year the requested repairs were already made.
While some residents contend the Village is just looking for the permit fee others like Barb Ehret Crowe on the “It takes a Village of Ridgewood Facebook page ,”The thing that is crazy to me is in most cases damage is caused by trees planted and maintained by the village yet the cost for the damage they create becomes the burden of the homeowner. Makes no sense”
Amended 9-16-2015 by Ord. No. 3498
A.
It shall be the duty of any owner of real property abutting any public street or sidewalk in the Village of Ridgewood, at the owner’s sole cost and expense, to install, construct, repair, alter, relay, reconstruct and maintain the sidewalks in front of or abutting such property whenever such sidewalks are required as hereinafter provided or, being already installed, shall be in such state of deterioration or disrepair as to constitute a hazard to the general public using said sidewalks unless they are repaired, altered, relaid or reconstructed. In addition to the foregoing, it shall also be the duty of the owner, at the owner’s sole cost and expense, to install, construct, repair, alter, relay, or reconstruct curbs where the deterioration or damage to the same has been caused by the actions of such owner.
B.
It shall be the duty of any owner of real property abutting any public street or sidewalk in the Village of Ridgewood, at the owner’s sole cost and expense, to maintain the interior of the tree wells located in/on the sidewalk in front of or abutting such property each year by weeding, removing debris and maintain the overall clean appearance of the tree wells and the interior of same.
Many residents claim to have already done the repairs .
Maggie Borkowski Neilson ,”It takes a Village of Ridgewood Facebook page,” I replaced last year were due to-their trees. Now they’re back saying they see another. No trees near it, no different than last year. Wasn’t a problem then but is now. Guess they missed it last year while marking up the rest of my sidewalks.”
She went on to say , “We are on Fairfield. Our entire street was done last year this time. I’m angry because I fixed all the ones they marked, plus an extra just to be sure, and now they’re coming back looking for more! Trying to double dip on the permit fees when they haven’t even completed the rest of the town once yet.”
Many felt a call to Village manager Roberta Sonenfeld would end up hearing 30 minutes lecture that how everything she has been doing is great with zero defect rate and ‘you’ the resident must be wrong?
Maggie Borkowski Neilson said after a visit to the engineering department claimed ,” They are blaming the fact that they used temps last year as to why they didn’t catch this one slab. Also said yes, my contractor had a blanket permit to do work but didn’t notify them that they worked at my specific address so that is why they are back at my property one year later.”
Many long time readers remember that following a citizen complaint registered with the Village, all sidewalks on South Irving Street were inspected in late 2010 or early 2011. Notices of violation were subsequently mailed to many property owners and several contractors began work on repairs in the summer of 2011.
Ridgewood NJ , in April Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld responded to an email voicing safety concerns over the facility.
Neighbors say that the business Healthbarn USA Inc. was put before the safety of the residents of the community i.e. painted crosswalks as promised and signage for parking on one side of the street is astounding. Yet amazingly all of the work was done by the town for this business’s 4/1 start date.
The Village has now added lighting in a park that closes at dusk is another issue along with the fact the Ridgewood Water has been there 3 days in a row working to get the business Heathbarn USA a sprinkler for her garden. A garden that is on Green acres property but not for public use to my understanding.
Residents wonder how classes are approved to go until 9:00 when Ridgewood parks close at dusk. I understand that the lights were in the original plan 6 or so years ago, but the fact that they were never needed and are coming at this time seems more than coincidental.
Residents questions remained unanswered ,what is the current pricing for the lights ? Who paid for the village water to be tapped into for the business’s personal needs of water for her private garden? and who will be paying that water bill? Will this business follow water restrictions when in effect?
Soccer and baseball have started we are already seeing the effect of this large business be given 12 parking spots. This is causing Ridgewood tax payers to have no choice but to park on the street since the lot is now being taken away. There are no designated spots for Healthbarn, therefore these private clients are and will continue to utilize the entire parking lot. Residents of Ridgewood and the teams they are hosting for sports are being pushed into the street.
What is the effect of this commotion with 25 plus kids in a small home and 25 plus cars an hour will do to the natural habitat green acres is suppose to protect. Will not the lights deter the natural habitat that the owls maintain there at dusk.
Dear All,
I would like to clarify, address and correct the details in some of the recent correspondences regarding the Health Barn at Habernickel Park.
SPRINKLER SYSTEM:
Let me start with the claim that a sprinkler system has been installed by the Village for the use of the Health Barn. This is not true. No sprinkler system has been or will be installed. Health Barn will be paying for any water that it uses. We have their usage metered separately. They will also be required to follow any watering restrictions that Ridgewood Water implements.
SUMMER SCHOOL BUSING:
Ms. Rubin mentions that Health Barn is advertising on their website that they will be providing busing for children in the summer day camp program. We cannot find any reference to this on Health Barn’s website at all norwill this be occurring. Please provide the back-up for this claim.
RIDGEWOOD ATTANDANCE IN THE PROGRAMS:
As far as the details surrounding the residences of the children in Health Barn’s classes, Ms. Antine is required by the lease to provide quarterly reporting that will be reviewed by Parks and Rec. This report is not due until June 30, 2016. I can provide some recent experiences with regard to where the children live that frequent her classes. Thursday’s seedlings class consisted of 12 children, all of whom were Ridgewood residents. Yesterday, there was a seedlings class of 6 young children – they were all from Ridgewood from the Hillcrest neighborhood. Also yesterday I observed an older children’s class of about 8 children none of whom were Ridgewood residents. As of yesterday morning, the enrollment for next week’s school break camp has 15 children, 9 of whom are Ridgewood residents.
As a reminder, by Green Acres rules, this is a park that is open to all, not just Ridgewood residents.
LIGHTING:
Another issue mentioned was the lighting. Ms. Vellis is correct that the downward facing lights were in the original plans for Habernickel. They are in fact a safety feature that should be there regardless of Health Barn. As with other Village properties, these lights will be on from dusk to dawn.
HOURS OF OPERATION:
The Gate House hours at Habernickel are in line with other Village buildings particularly the Stable; this is distinct from park hours. Ms Antine’s latest class ends at 9:00PM and then cleanup is required. The Stable, as an example, is open until 11PM.
OWLS:
We appreciate and celebrate owls in our parks. We cannot move their nests nor do we want to. We don’t see any issue with the various park activities at Habernickel and the well-being of the owl.
OUTSIDE THE PROPERTY:
As far as the changes regarding no parking signs, striping, etc. The no parking signs have been installed on the south side of Hillcrest. Striping cannot be done until the weather warms up – as soon as that occurs, our Signal Department will stripe.
In Closing:
In speaking with Stacy, she has always been steadfast in her resolve to be a good neighbor and to listen to the neighbors around her. In that spirit of cooperation, she would like to invite the neighbors to the Gate House so that you can see firsthand the significant improvements to the interior as well as discuss the programs and any other questions you may have. Please let Janet and myself know if this is of interest to you and we can make this offer to others in the neighborhood….and also let me know if you have any other questions.
Best, Roberta
Best regards,
Roberta
Roberta Sonenfeld
Village Manager
201-670-5500, ext. 203
