OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
FROM THE PASTOR Dear friends,
Since the bulletin is prepared on Wednesday, before the Village Council meeting, I cannot share with you what happened. Below, please find the statement of the Parish that was emailed to Council members and read into the record.
On behalf of the Archdiocese of Newark and Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish, I would like to thank Mayor Aronsohn, Councilwoman Knudsen and the architectural/engineering teams working with the Village of Ridgewood for their willingness to engage in these open discussions and for their participation in the two meetings held at the parish last week. I have attached a memorandum from Daniel Disario, P.E., PTOE, of Langan Engineering, the firm that the parish has retained to review the traffic study submitted by Maser Consulting. The memorandum has identified several areas of concern that we would like to see addressed prior to the project moving forward.
While we are encouraged by the fact that the Village is willing to consider reducing the size of the proposed structure, we still believe that the construction of a parking deck for 200 additional cars will significantly impact day to day operations for the Church community and accordingly we would like to see the project proceed with due caution. Though we are thankful that the Village commissioned a traffic study, we feel that the report was limited in scope and a more thorough analysis is necessary.
The study was performed on Wednesday, October 7th for two hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. As a result, the report does not take in to account added volume due to; daily drop off and pickup for Windsor Academy School, drop off and pick up for religious education classes, weddings, baptisms, confirmations, funerals and other parish events – including the significant attendance for weekend masses. With Mount Carmel being the closest neighbor to the parking structure, we would have preferred more interaction with Maser’s engineers so they could take these factors into account.
We are also uncomfortable with potential ripple effects and future implications of issues yet to be determined, including the possibility of the reversal of traffic flow and the elimination of street parking on Hudson and Passaic Streets, both of which border Church property. Certain aspects of the design, including the introduction of crisscrossing left hand turns at the entrance/exit of the lot, a problem which will be exacerbated by the inherent increase of both foot and vehicle traffic at mass times, should be more closely reviewed and fleshed out.
Furthermore, the proposed “cantilevered” overhang is a major aesthetic concern and also could present a series of logistical issues. We agree that solutions need to be found for the parking problem in Ridgewood and it is the intention of the parish to cooperate with the Village to address this longstanding issue. We also recognize the viability of the Hudson Street lot as a potential site, however, we believe the matter needs the type of comprehensive study and analysis that was recommended in the “Summary and Conclusions” portion of the original study completed by Maser Consulting on October 15, 2015 (page 22).
To this end, the parish is willing to retain an engineer at its own expense to examine the ramifications of the proposal in more detail. In conclusion, we formally request that bond approval be placed on hold until both engineering firms are given the appropriate time to study the matter in the required detail and subsequently confer for the purpose of providing a mutually beneficial solution for both the Village and parish communities.
Please pray we come to a peaceful agreement.
God Bless,
Fr. Ron
Events votes and other Agendas have overtaken these concerns.churches considerable resources will need to be put into play.
Significant problems in flow for the church. Masses, holidays, weddings, funerals and special events will be affected.
It is not all about how many customers eat at fish or greek to me. The restaurants are attracting customers from other towns to their businesses – to make more money.
OLMC has the largest congregation and as congregants we are most affected. The congregents are taxpaying residents of Ridgewood
It seems the vote to accept the BCIA FUNDING at the end of this month will seal the FATE Of this Issue.what is the church waiting for Legal option wise..WAKE UP
This really is an example of the tragedy of the commons. The church can only survive by using the street parking which is a shared commodity of the entire community. They have no lot of their own. In order to get customers they need to use a significant percentage of the street parking in that area. Increasingly they use the spots on Saturday evenings instead of just on Sunday morning. This in part drives the parking issue. 2/3rds of the citizens in town agree that the parking is an issue and we need a garage. Now the same organization that is using a disproportionate number of those spots is opposing the garage that is being built. I get it, the lot will effect the operation of the church. The church may have to change where people exit/enter, etc. I still do not get how the church fails to see this as a gift to their operations including the Knights of Columbus.
Brian, It is the size of the structure and the fact it extends 10 feet int all ready narrow, Hudson Street. As with every other issue in town,all can be addressed with some measure of compromise.
Linda, or some measure of common sense. No sane person on this earth would decide to narrow an existing roadway by almost half for a parking garage.
Brian – it’s 2/3rd of those who voted. NOT 2/3rd of the citizens in town. Most people in town are so disgusted with the current council, that they don’t care to vote.
And remember that many people who voted in favor of it were told that the size, shape, etc would be debated afterwards. that simply has not happened. It was not true. So, those of us who did vote for it on that assumption had their votes stolen from them.
There is no way the church is going to benefit from this. It is a sin that Aronsohn and co will not listen to Father Ron and all his parishioners. Now if they were going to build this by Christ Church where Pucciarelli currently goes (although he defected to there from another church a few years ago when he got pissed off at the other church) – well, would Pucciarelli go along with it over the objections of his minister? If they were going to put it next to Gwenn’s church up there in the heights, would she go ahead with it over the objections of Fr. John Hartnett??? And what about Aronsohn. Ok, so we know he does not go to temple on Friday nights because he was more than willing to have a big meeting on a friday night…..but let’s say for argument’s sake that Aronoshn does feel connected to Temple Israel down on Grove Street. What if the garage were going to go up there and Rabbi Fine was objecting. Would Aronsohn go ahead anyway?
The answer to all these rhetorical questions is crystal clear. They do not give a good god-damn about Mount Carmel because they do not go to that church.
It is despicable. Listen to Father Ron. Stop the garage. NOW