Planned Ridgewood garage is too big
JANUARY 8, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2016, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Planned garage is too big
To the editor:
My wife and I attended a meeting last week at Mount Carmel Church concerning the proposed garage on Hudson St.
I have been in favor of a structure at the site but was dismayed to see the overall size of the structure. It is massive. If I, as a private individual proposed a structure that size for that lot, the council would laugh at me. People would be up in arms.
I think that if the council informs residents of the size of the structure, they will be up in arms. It will permanently change the downtown area.
I also don’t understand the rationale behind the proposed traffic flow. It, aside from being a problem for Mt. Carmel, seems to me to be a disaster in the making. It will require the traffic to flow from Broad Street with the majority of vehicles making a left onto Hudson. It will also funnel the exiting vehicles to nowhere land since at the end of Hudson they will have the choice of making a left toward Ridgewood Avenue or a right onto Prospect.
I assume a traffic light will have to be put at the Hudson-Prospect intersection since the traffic from the park area will be head on to the Hudson Street traffic. Not a pretty picture.
Mayor Aronsohn, at the meeting, kept pointing to the referendum as a seal of approval for the garage as proposed. In my view, and probably most of those who voted for it, he received an approval of a garage on the site, not something so big it will tower over the neighborhood.
If the garage has to be this big to be financially viable, then maybe the council needs to rethink its location. The site at Walnut Street would be more appropriate. It is a larger site, has access to Franklin Avenue, a road that could better handle the traffic, and because of the larger site, it could be built lower so the structure would not be so imposing.
In closing I would ask the council to reconsider the size and site of the structure. At the very least, delay going forward until a proper traffic study is undertaken as has been proposed.
The council represents all the residents of Ridgewood, not just the 3,000 who voted for a garage.
Liz and Dave Pskowski
Ridgewood
Well written note.
Curious as to why Paulie is pushing so hard for this. Will the Big Boys finally accept him into the Club if this gets done…?
Don’t like the big, then support the smaller one, sounds good to me too.
News man watcher – read the RFP given to the design firm. There was no option for a smaller one. Smaller one is being used just as a PR campaign. A smaller garage’s design does NOT exist. The design firm was tasked to create designs that add 300+ spaces, using part of current right of way, Period.
Why would the design team get asked to do 300+ spaces? I think it was due to the brazen hubris of the three amigos. Or maybe it was because that’s roughly what we’ll need to keep parking capacity flat when the car dealerships get improved at the current zoning. With current zoning they will put more cars into village parking than we have today. Nah, let’s just go with brazen hubris.
Spread the Impact and put a one story second deck on the existing surface lots incl Hudson..Prio parking on ground level for handicap and elders no elevators case closec
Have you ever heard of the curse of William Penn in Philadelphia? It’s believed that Philadelphia sports teams could not win championships because several buildings were constructed taller than the statue of William Penn on City Hall. Well with this parking garage anything built higher than the Church of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel will bring a jinx upon the Village. Only call it the Curse of the Three Amigos, of course.
John Toole – or if we really have a parking problem, then it’s a viable business model and the car dealerships will stay in the business of providing private parking to make money. Those spots will not go away.
The Curse – does that mean the lacrosse teams will lose to the Catholic schools…?
The Lord works in mysterious ways !
I park my car in a garage across from my office.
My car is not even 3 years old and it has at least 20 dings in it. The spaces in this 40 year old garage have been repainted to squeeze even more cars into the rickety facility.
Good times !
The mayor keeps confusing the issue of the size of the garage. He is like a bad magician trying slight of hand.
The residents were assured that they were voting for A garage, not THAT garage. The monster in the picture was just an example. He proclaimed in a press release that we now supports the small garsge. The proposals are now being done on the large garage?
Have all the studies been presented to the residents, did I miss them?
Please please PLEASE stop the insanity. This stupid garage is way out of control. Stop. We do not need this gigantic money-suck.
Ground Control to Major Paul. Ground Control to Major Paul. Your circuit’s dead,there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Paul?
Paul Aronsohn, why the hell are you not listening to all of us? Is it because we are catholic???
First post: quite possibly he has made Promises, like his many other Promises, that he alone was not equipped to fulfill.
7:15 I don’t know what I was thinking! OF COURSE the owners of $4.3m dollars of real estate will use it indefinitely for $7 a day per car for parking. After all in a good year they’ll about cover their tax bill! They can use leprechauns as valets and will probably get better capacity by parking the cars on rainbows.
It is the foot print that is wrong. Not one of three garage designs fits on the site. The will all extend into Hudson Street by 10 feet. I believe Hudson Street is 30 feet wide and it will be reduced to 20 feet in front of the garage . Mo one has explained how this little street will support 2 different widths. How will emergency vehicles enter into this restricted area? I too believe we need to consider a single deck on 2 pr 3 different municipal sites located through out the CBD rather than one large monstrosity that impacts Mount Carmel and doesn’t meetthe parking needs of people looking to be closer to their destination . I also don’t understand why the push to forge ahead with their plans disregarding so many who disagree. They are not against parking, they just want a common sense approach that meets the needs of the village with out destroying a neighborhood.
Sorry for the errors. Having eye surgery tomorrow!
The Mayor’s continuing to reference the referendum as some sort of mandate is so typical, and so expected. To all of you that voted YES, and to all of you that posted here and in “It Takes A Ridgewood Village” in such a condescending tone – how do you like your project now? The fact is that most hours of the week there is plenty of parking in town. Yes, it’s tough on weekends but in 20 years, I’ve never given up my Saturday plans due to not finding a spot. And who in their right mind would give our Council majority $12 million to do ANYTHING??
Actually, any of the current 3 plans will be built 12ft into Hudson street. They all have the same exact footprint. There was information from the Knights of Columbus at last week’s council meeting. The gentleman said he called the architectural firm himself, and they faxed him the layout/plan. It will reduce Hudson st from its current 30ft width, down to 18ft wide. Why would we ever give up part of our streets? It’s so unbelievable, that 2 of the garages biggest supporters thought this picture was fake/rigged. There were posts calling people Liars, and Shame on you for putting such a picture out. The funny/sad part is that the picture came directly from the design firm and it is completely true. Please design something that fits on the existing lot, that blends in with the existing height and character of the neighborhood.
The mayors plan is called bait and switch. Ask the residents if they think we need more parking, then after the non binding referendum, propose a massive building which is way oversized for that lot. Then after the 3-2 vote to not bond, not 10 seconds passes before the mayor proposes going to the county for financing which will cost the taxpayers several hundred thousand extra in fees. None of the proposed plans submitted fit on the existing lot without going into the street. Lets just build a simple one story deck on top of each lot rather then spending 12 million dollars. Or maybe the town can buy the ken smith property.
John Toole, then there isn’t a shortage. Why should tax payers pay the bill?
If the garage truly goes over the middle of the street, there is a chance that both Mt. Carmel and the Knights have a “taking” argument. If I recall properly from some fights that went on in town a few years ago, Residents / property owners in Ridgewood “own” the street in front of their property to the middle of the road. The property owner grants a perpetual easement to the town for the road. If the town ever gives up the road, the fifty percent portion of that strip of land goes to the adjoining property owner.
Here, for instance, were Hudson street abandoned, each side of the street gets 50%. By building over the 50%, i.e, if the footprint goes 18 feet into the 30 foot road, then the town is taking 3 feet of property that would otherwise revert to the Knights and to Mt. Carmel should the road ever be abandoned.
Who knows if that is a winning argument, but it will tie the town up for years from their attempt to impinge on the rights of Mr. Carmel parishioners to practice their religion and the Knight to do their charitable work.
Surely some lawyer out there can opine. Though, with every thing municipal, action must be taken quickly due to the draconian time limits on actions against a municipality.
We are likely the laughing stocks of NJ.NO ONE WILL openly SAY THE eventual Valley actions that would come as a result of this proposed oversized non conforming PARKING structure,Just the towns leaders promoting the exceptions HERE
To existing code& setbacks. Etc weakens the Towns defense in the pending Valley court actions against the town.if we could put ours Towns name on this monstrosity
Why do we expect to be able to prejudice other’s variances in similar projects and structures..it’s called Bad Faith,