Planning Board Meeting THIS Tuesday, June 2nd at Village Hall at 7:30 pm

Fellow Supporters,

Please join us at the Planning Board Meeting THIS Tuesday, June 2nd at Village Hall at 7:30 pm

Agenda: FINAL Public Hearing on the Revised Amendment to the Master Plan that was put forth on April 21st  (Revised Amendment is attached)

We need your attendance at the next Planning Board meeting on Tuesday.  We are close to the end, but we must still attend the meetings and continue to urge our Planning Board to act cautiously when altering our Master Plan.  In our opinion, the Revised Amendment is still not appropriate for Ridgewood and will have long term negative consequences.

The new Amendment takes a one-size-fits-all approach to increasing density, offering the same benefits across all zones, regardless of the context or surrounding location — a risky approach that we do not support.

The new Amendment allows for up to 35 units an acre, with affordable for rent units included.  While this is indeed an improvement from the 40-50 units put forth in the initial Amendment, in our opinion, this is still too big of a jump from the 12 units per acre that is permitted now and the 22 units per acre average that currently exists in our down town.

Several properties (West Bergen Mental Healthcare and neighboring lots) that were originally identified as suitable for high-density housing in the first amendment have been eliminated from the revised amendment, which puts Ridgewood at risk for legal action for spot zoning.

In the revised amendment, the much larger Ken Smith property has been lumped into the same zone as the smaller Enclave (Sealfon’s) site.  These are two very unique properties and their zoning benefits should differ.

Our Village Planner insists that a minimum density (of approximately 35 units per acre) is necessary to economically incentivize developers to develop their properties and build housing, however, a lower density could be awarded that would still allow developers to build and profit.  Below is a link to a Letter to the Editor that references developers in HoHoKus that are seeking much lower density than 35 units per acre.

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-don-t-make-ridgewood-a-city-1.1340472

Thank you for your continued support.

Please join us on TUESDAY at Village Hall at 7:30 pm.  Let’s continue to  urge our Planning Board to get it right!

Citizens for a Better Ridgewood
citizensforabetterridgewood@aol.com