Planner for Citizens for a Better Ridgewood testifies before planning board
THURSDAY MARCH 6, 2014, 4:57 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The planner for the grassroots group Citizens for a Better Ridgewood (CBR) said at Tuesday’s packed Planning Board hearing that three high-density multifamily housing developments proposed for the downtown area are “out of scale” with their surroundings.
CBR planner Brigette Bogart also said the proposed rezoning requests “appear to be akin to spot zoning,” the application of zoning to a specific parcel of land in a larger zoned area. She advised the board to engage in a cautious process, asking it to think about a “vision” for Ridgewood’s future as it moves forward. She also urged board members to consider the reasons for current master plan restrictions, as well as how the developments fit in with village concerns about parking, traffic safety, open space and increased student enrollment.
“The boundaries of a district should be based on the existing conditions of the neighborhood. From a planning perspective, there should be a clear delineation of the zone boundary lines proposed, and how these lines relate to the adjacent land uses,” she noted in her presentation, which CBR provided to The Ridgewood News.
