OCTOBER 16, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A Halloween experience like no other awaits those who are brave enough to step into a maze on Sheridan Terrace.
This free Halloween attraction, which is operated by Nancy and Greg Stewart out of their back yard, has been running in Ridgewood for 21 years and counting, 16 of which I have attended. Ever since the maze was over on Cliff Street at the Stewarts’ previous home, my family has made it our tradition to attempt to find our way through the maze, which is not an easy feat by any means.
Public Hearing – Habernickel Park – November 4, 2015
VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
The Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood will hold a Public Hearing on November 4, 2015 at a Special Public Meeting, during their regularly scheduled Work Session, which begins at 7:30 P.M. in the Ridgewood Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey for public comment on the following:
Changing the use of the house at 1057 Hillcrest Road, Block 1103, Lot 16.01, Ridgewood, NJ, located in the Irene Habernickel Family Park from a residential lease to an educational and recreational programing lease.
A public hearing is required pursuant to NJDEP Green Acres Rules N.J.A.C. 7:36-25-6 et. seq. for a change in purpose or use of funded or unfunded parkland.
Documents relating to the proposed development are available for examination by the public at the Village Manager’s Office of the Ridgewood Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oral comments and testimony will be heard at the public hearing. Written comments may be submitted before the date of the hearing or within two weeks from the date of the public hearing.
Written comments or inquiries should be directed to Nancy Lawrence, NJDEP Green Acres Program, Bureau of Legal Services & Stewardship, Mail Code 501-01, P.O. Box 420, Trenton, NJ 08625-0420 and Janet Fricke, Assistant to the Village Manager, Ridgewood Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07451 or by telephone at (201) 670-5500, Extension 204 or by email to: [email protected].
OCTOBER 14, 2015 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2015, 9:03 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The Gate House of the former horse farm at Habernickel Park is getting a new tenant.The Village Council earlier this month approved a mulit-year lease with a local organization that teaches both children and adults about nutrition and healthy lifestyles.For the next five years, HealthBarn USA will occupy the house at 1057 Hillcrest Road, for the rental price of $3,700 per month. In the contract, there is also an option to renew for an additional five years. The lease ends on Oct. 31, 2020.
HealthBarn USA provides educational programs for children that will allow them to connect nature with nutrition as they learn to grow and harvest food and prepare recipes. Students get a unique “farm-to-fork” experience and are taught where food comes from and why eating fresh food benefits both their bodies and the environment.
The opportunity to bring a new use to the Gate House came when the previous tenants decided to move, giving the village an opportunity to reevaluate its situation, said Janet Fricke, assistant to the village manager.
The village then consulted with a real estate professional to get a recommended baseline bid, posted multiple real estate listings and held open houses to find a new tenant. Before moving forward with a new lease, the village received approval from Green Acres since the land was purchased using grant money.
A further hearing to explain the changing use to the public will be held on Nov. 4, said Fricke.
The Ridgewood Community Center Advisory Board, comprised of Ridgewood residents, is charged by the Village Council with maintaining and improving the Community Center and serving the broader Ridgewood community. To aid in that mission we wish to learn more about the priorities, needs and concerns of Ridgewood residents age 55 and older.
Please pardon the length of this survey. We know some questions apply more to some of you than others. We truly want to learn more about everyone in this age group in Ridgewood and encourage you to share with us as much as you can.
This is an anonymous survey. Please complete the survey if you are age 55 or over and a Ridgewood resident. One survey per person. More than one person in a household is welcome to complete the survey.
Rich, thanks for the pointer to page 24.“Given that the new demand stream is not anticipated to cover debt service for the garage, the parking system will need to increase revenue on existing spaces if it is to be self-supporting.”
OCTOBER 9, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2015, 9:09 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Designs and architectural renderings for a potential parking garage on Hudson Street were presented on Wednesday, providing the public an opportunity to view different proposals for the deck. A financial review was also presented.
Representatives from Desman Design Management and S&L Architecture Studio offered three different options with varying degrees of size and parking efficiency, along with distinctive architectural structures.
All three design ideas were for a four-story building with five levels of parking, one of which included a building that stayed within the footprint of the site while the other two explored taking some of the right-of-way from Hudson Street.
The Hudson Street site does have some constraints, said Desman Design principal Tim Tracy. The first option for a garage did not explore any unique solutions and contained angled parking and side ramps at the western and eastern ends of the building, which resulted in a 124,000-square-foot building and a net gain of 236 parking spaces.
The second option tinkered with the footprint of the site on the western side and resulted in a slightly larger facility at 130,000 square feet and a net gain of 253 spaces.
A third design expanded further on the idea of extending the lot and building a cantilever over the sidewalk, which would give the village a net gain of 317 spaces and a building that is 139,000 square feet. This option enables the village to get 330 square feet per car, which Tracy said is within the industry standard and also allows the access easement on the eastern end to be retained.
I hate them all so much. Throughout the state of NJ and country (taxes, tolls) and now the town, everything goes on the back of the average person.
Now they want money from people eating breakfast and dinner at all the restaurants–lunch wasn’t enough. I suspect that the restaurant owners will not be pleased.
Thursday evenings when many stores were open and the meters were “off” used to be a convenient time to shop. That’s gone.
Can I “afford” a dollar? I can afford a dollar. Am I willing to pay it? No. I also happen to detest valet parking for a long list of reasons–including that they change your radio settings and I simply don’t want strangers in my car or to tip someone for a service that I don’t need in the first place (parking in my own town).
For me and surely many others, the downtown will become even more of a place to avoid than it is now. And we’ll be stuck paying for the garage that’s being built only to absorb lost parking spaces when the apartments go up.
If we were paying more for parking to maintain Schedler as a nice park, or rebuild the dam at King’s Pond, or some other project I could support, I might feel differently. Who wants that stupid, ugly garage, anyway? Last week I advised Sook to move as soon as her lease was up (soon).
Click Here to read the complete Walker Parking Garage Feasibility Study that was presented in the October 7, 2015 Village Council Public Work Session.
Special Public Hearing – October 14, 2015
The Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood shall conduct a Public Hearing in the Sydney V. Stoldt, Jr. Court Room on the fourth floor of the Ridgewood Village Hall, 131 North Maple Ave., Ridgewood, NJ at its October 14, 2015 Regular Public Meeting, which meeting begins at 8:00 p.m.
The purpose of this Public Hearing is for the Village Council to receive comments and suggestions from the public for the Village of Ridgewood’s 2015 Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund Municipal Park Improvement and Development Grant application. The Village has applied for this grant for Phase 1 work on the Schedler Park property, located at 460 West Saddle River Road, Ridgewood, NJ. Phase 1 would encompass basic infrastructure improvements to include: installation of underground utilities (water, electric, sewer); demolition of two-car garage, small shed; capping of inoperable well; selective removal of down, dead, diseased trees; site clean-up; and cut in proposed parking lot driveway entrance.
Last year the Village of Ridgewood implemented a pilot program to outsource a portion of our leaf removal service. After reviewing and evaluating input that was provided by you regarding the success of this change, we again will be using the services of a third party contractor in Area B. The combined effort of the Village staff and this contractor will enforce our continuing commitment to improve your Village services.
In accordance with last years’ schedule, residents in Area B will remain the same with the exception of the following streets which will now be considered “Area D” for leaf season only.
Leaves must be placed directly in the street no more than 7 days prior to your scheduled pick up date. Please have your leaves in the street on the first day scheduled for collection. If you employ the services of a landscaper communicate these dates to them. No brush will be collected during leaf season. You may continue to bring leaves as well as brush to the Recycling Center. The hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Leaves can also be placed in paper biodegradable bags. Bags will be available at the Recycling Center on a first come, first serve basis. When using bags please place them on the curb area and they will be collected separately.
The most vocal comment heard from residents last year was on properties who did not comply with the schedule. Therefore enforcement will be vital to the Village’s success to improve this service. An enforcement agent will issue a summons to those that violate these guidelines.
As weather is a key component to this operation, if changes become necessary it will be posted on the Village of Ridgewood website. In addition you are encouraged to sign up for e-mail notifications via the Village website and to share this information with your neighbors. As a reminder, use caution when our leaf removal crews are on your block. When possible please take an alternate route to ensure the safety of all. Should you have any questions, please call the Street Division at (201) 670-5585.
May 2015, the Village Council tinkered with it and sent it to the Planning Board for comment, the Planning Board liked the tinkering. I don’t know whether the Village Council adopted the changes yet or not.
“Board member David Thurston asked if the new language opened up the board to a charge of making an arbitrary decision if it decides not to move forward with an application.
Village Planner Blais Brancheau said it should not be a problem in obvious cases,…..”
I am sure anyone who makes an application, particularly a big developer, will not regard their application as one that should obviously be turned down. We need to do what other towns do, not have such an ordinance.
Agree, so much of the division in town now is due to Pfund’s folly and the desperate attempt to let Valley quickly get its expansion in.
Step by step, building by building, we can re-make our downtown without Pfund’s folly. Contrary to the ravings of a few at this week’s hearing, Ridgewood’s finest hour will not pass simply because we proceed in a logical, organized fashion to constructing a downtown that lasts into the next century without dragging down the rest of the Village.
Mr. Kotch is right, we may be looking at a new council in May and I believe it will be a golden opportunity to repeal ordinance 3066. How anyone thought it was a good idea to allow ” interested parties” to request changes to the Master Plan is a mystery. Who can be seen as more interested than the village residents? We are now forced to be viligent and ready to assemble in order to protect Ridgewood from misguided development.
From the Patch May 2,2012 Conflict with ‘H-Zone’ ordinance and planning board amendment
Although the , the saga continues. The planning board’s amendment to the Master Plan remains on the books and a future council could simply overturn the November vote.
Councilman Paul Aronsohn said it’s time for the planning board to rescind . “We need a blank piece of paper,” Aronsohn said. “It’s time to move on, it’s time to move forward…the mayor and council needs to step up.”
This whole nightmare can be reversed. Elections for three council seats, Hauk, Aronshon, and Pucciarelli, are on May 10th, 2016. That’s in 220 days. It’s time for a slate of candidates, whose platform is to repeal ordinance 3066 which among other things added Chapter 190, Article XIV, Section 143 allowing “interested parties” to amend the master plan.
Even though it’s probably important to update the code, I shudder at who is doing it. They know nothing–any of them–including and especially Rogers. And I do not trust their motivations whatsoever. With any luck they’ll be too busy to do very much, and then the project can continue after the next council has replaced Rogers and Sonenfeld.
Past bad acts are still past bad acts on behalf of the village manager and council. This does not absolve them from their sins.
“In order to complete the project without an astronomical cost to the village, it was announced by Sonenfeld last week that Rogers would be doing the work free of charge.
“The cost for this would be significant,” said the attorney. “I just felt it was something that should be done, needs to be done and I wanted to get it done. The only way to do it was to donate the time.”
I wonder how much this complete overhaul will cost? I can see some very large bills from outside counsel coming as I don’t expect any of our in-house legal beagles to be up to the task.
Robertas letter to the editor last week: “..when we find an issue or a problem or an ordinance that is outdated, we don’t ignore it – we fix it.”
CORRECTION: when we find an issue or a problem or an ordinance that is outdated, WE IGNORE IT, do whatever the hell we want, and then when Knudsen, Sedon, or a member of the public pints this out we decide to fix it after the fact.
Roberta has done this multiple times in she short train wreck of a tenure with us
Mayor’s Office Hours for Residents – October 3rd, 2015
Mayor Paul Aronsohn holds office hours for Ridgewood residents on Saturday’s every month. Mayor Aronsohn will meet with residents on Saturday, October 3rd from 9AM to Noon in the Council Chambers (Sydney V. Stoldt, Jr. Court Room) on the fourth floor of Ridgewood Village Hall.
For an appointment to meet with the Mayor, please call the Village Clerk’s Office at 201-670-5500 ext. 206. You may come to the Mayor’s office hours without an appointment, but those with appointments will be given priority.
September 28,2015
Lorraine Reynolds
Citizens for a Better Ridgewood
Ridgewood NJ, As you may or may not know, on September 30th the village council will be continuing the 2 night hearing and voting on the 5 ordinances regarding the high density housing. These ordinances would increase the density allowed from 12 units per acre (current) to 35 units per acre (UPA) in our downtown. Here’s a comparison as to what some other towns in our area allow: Fort Lee 50 UPA, Teaneck 28 UPA, Englewood 12 UPA, Hackensack 22 UPA. If passed, Fort Lee would be the only town in our area, similar in population, with a greater density per acre. I do believe the majority of the town is accepting of development, but on a smaller scale. Maybe 25 units per acre? Do we really want to be built up more than Teaneck? I certainly don’t want to be anywhere near Fort Lee’s density.
The planning board spent approximately 3 years in discussions and 1 1/2 years in a public hearing before voting. The village council had a small portion of their Sept 16 meeting devoted to this and now the council will be coming to the sept 30th meeting with their written statements prepared on how they are voting and why. The Ridgewood News had an editorial last week about “what’s the hurry?”. I have to agree with them. While I don’t want this to drag out, I do want the council to do their due diligence and get all of the facts before they vote. During the Valley hearings at the council level, the council brought in the traffic expert, planner, geotechnical engineer, etc and each council member asked questions of these experts and based their vote on what was discussed at council.
It appears that the majority of the council does not want to bring in any experts. They are ready to vote without asking any questions of any experts as to how this will effect Ridgewood. At the planning board level, a concern about the increase this would bring to our taxes was brought up several times by residents. The discussion was always shot down, because “it is not in the purview of the planning board to consider finances.” In fact, the village planner stated, “residential housing almost always increases taxes, we should not be doing this if we think taxes will go down, but there are other benefits to residential housing.” The council has a much broader scope of items they can discuss, finances being one of them. You may remember that Tom Riche voted yes to the Valley amendment at the PB level, but no to it at the council level. That is because the council is able to look at a broader range of issues. Finances should definitely be discussed.
I would like to see the council bring in several experts in addition to a financial expert. Water must be discussed. I know this year is an exception with the lack of rain, but we have mandatory water restrictions every year. Can you imagine an additional few hundred apartments to supply? I can’t.
Schools must be discussed. The planning board did not have a member of the BOE at their public hearings. The council needs to ask Dr Fishbein to appear at the council hearing to answer questions.
The traffic expert, the engineer, the planner, etc should all be questioned. I do hear the planner will be there, but that’s it.
I don’t know how anyone could possible vote on something so monumental without questioning all of these experts to see what the impacts will be for Ridgewood.
I urge you to e-mail our council and ask them to have these experts at the hearing, get the facts first hand, and then vote.
These people are our elected officials, and we have a right to make sure they have done their due diligence before they vote.
Whether you are for or against the increase to 35 units per acre, I think we can all agree that each council member needs to be able to ask questions of the experts to help them in their decision making process.
Below are the e-mails of all the council members. Please send them an e-mail today and forward this to friends. Thanks
Ridgewood NJ, Master Youngmin Kim competed and achieved championship medals at the highest levels in Korea.
He also earned full athletic scholarships from middle school through college.
In addition, he has a masters degree in sports management.
Since 2012, Master Kim has focused on teaching by founding and running Taekwondo All In in Ridgewood, NJ.
The efforts of his teaching and his students’ perseverance have amounted to exceptional results.
33 Chestnut St
Ridgewood, New Jersey
(201) 857-0445
