For those suggesting the town should sell it (Schedler Park), as a neighbor, I wouldn’t be horrified. The neighborhood would have many more legal protections from a private developer that the Village doesn’t need to comply with. Chiefly, ingress/egress from Rt. 17 and noise reduction.
It was bought with open space money from the County, not just the Village, and is supposed to guarantee a balance of active and passive space. Secondary to the pay-to-play development, it looks like only a baseball field will be built, and 74 parking spots. All this for the 2nd 90′ field the mayor says he ‘promised’ RBSA to make up for the field lost at BF. That field was already promised to RBSA at lower Hawes, courtesy of the CMX report which the Village paid 80K dollars for. The mayor knows this because he questioned the involved parties directly when that plan was adopted. The facts are in the minutes and speak for themselves.
Why doesn’t RBSA want that field? Why haven’t they done anything to advance that plan since 2008? Why haven’t they made the already approved improvements to Somerville’s field also approved in 2008? Why wouldn’t the Village encourage them to develop park space adjacent to an elementary school where more of the Village could benefit from it? Why would RBSA want to take on fundraising to develop an entire park instead of a cheaper renovation to an existing and approved space? Upon OPRA request, there is no documentation of any reason why the fields can’t be exactly where they were already ‘promised.’
Intelligent points that should be followed. We have a large inventory of fields in need of repairs. Properly maintain and makeover the fields we already have. Adding a ginormous field will cost millions to develop and thousands to maintain. Not to mention it will also irreversibly damage the surrounding neighborhood.
The mayor has made a lot of statements that are not worth anything why should this one be believed and the RBSA is not much better.
I think the answer is that the town didn’t own the Shedler property in 2008 when that report was done. I guess as long as the irreversible damage to surrounding neighborhoods doesn’t affect the comment by 9:56, he’s ok with it.
I think it was Mayor Mancuso that said the Master Plan was just a plan…the CMX report, edited by folks on the Rec Committee, was not a blueprint for life after building a track, turfing the HS and Stevens field, etc. That spend was $44MM…enough to choke a horse. Thanks again are extended to our friends from Willard.
Amazing how certain parts of town (Willard, Orchard, Ridge, Salem Ridge) don’t bear any of the burden for village activities….
1:07, I guess your kids don’t play soccer or use Habernickle Park? Or play softball at Willard? Or play tennis on the courts next to Engine 31 on West Glen Ave?
As long as Fast Eddie is controlling the money and fields for RBSA, there will be a push for more fields. His tenure with the group rivals Supreme Court justices.
You better believe the Rec Committee thinks Schedler Stadium will help the Village “brand”…
Why hide our glorious athletes in the woods at Maple, Hawes or Kenilworth.
The whole world needs to see us !
By the way, any idea where the architect of this shitshow, Captain Jack Carroll, moved to…? Is he still in New Jersey…?? His house sold for $2MM…he had no intention of donating his property to the town.
Sell it.
RHS moved their track to BF Middle School. That created a need by some to,replace the lost field at BF and have it resurrected some place else. This was a move made by the Ridgewood Board Of Education. It is my opinion that they should be looking at their own fields to find a solution. In this respect , the CMX REport should be revisited. Schedler is not the place for the lost baseball field. Taking the neighbors out of the equation and the environmentalists, property values will go down and our town with few ratables is dependendent on our property taxes.
Linda, speaking of ratables, why isn’t anyone on the Council going after Valley’s “not-for-profit”status based on the gift wrapped Morristown precedent? Almost $4.0mn in potential annual property taxes with all of the property they own in the Village. So they can pay their CEO $2mn a year but they can’t pay Village property taxes? Nobody on the Council noticed this?
Dear nine forty seven, I agree!!Former Mayor Pat Mancuso talked of a users fee charged to Valley for all the services rendered including police and fire. Now the talk around the country is that non profit hospitals should not be exempt from property taxes.
PJ, don’t want to hijack this thread, but this has been asked before: Is our current Mayor and VC interested in ANY tax revenue or PILOT payments from Valley Hospital? What say you?