Reader says No one is against development, just gross and stupid over-development.
Number 1 Sure — very simple. One option, the developer who purchased the property follows the existing code — which will include some apartments and some single family homes as well as some business. Another option, the Village condemns the property using eminent domain and turns it into a park.
No one is against development, just gross and stupid over-development. You have exactly made the point as to why the developers are all wrong. Your argument is in effect, we need to approve the hundreds of units the developers want to build or we will have urban blight. Just the opposite is true — say no to over-development and the master plan as written will allow more sensible building with no need for amendments to the master plan or zoning adjustments.
Why do you suppose the speculator who bought that property is happy to have junky trucks sitting there now? Its exactly to bait people into voting for change without realizing the problems change will bring.
Now that you have heard these alternative solutions, I suppose you will agree with one of them?
Yep, let’s turn these empty sites into PARKS !! It would cost the Village many millions to acquire the sites, many more millions to turn them into parks and then there is the ongoing cost of maintaining the parks. Are the residents willing to see a big jump in their taxes to fund this initiative. Oh, by the way we already have an existing empty site from such a half brained land purchase several years ago …..remember Schedler ?
I remember the waste of money “horse farm.”
Maybe if we used our tax revenues for parks and new water mains, we wouldn’t be able to waste money on ideas like specialized mechanics and fuel & insurance for the supposedly free MRAPs from DoD ? Or maybe public safety wages & benefits wouldn’t be able to outgrow and crowd out every other budget line item because the money would be earmarked for parks & rec ?
Who owns the property now and is it sitting undeveloped because he can’t get approval to do anything with it?
#2. The horse farm was a terrific idea….for the people that live in that neighborhood. They managed to get a nice little park that’s useful to nobody except themselves. Clearly they have more clout than the rest of us on the “poor side” of town.
The horse farm was purchased by the town because any development there would involve low income housing, and god knows we cant have low income family’s in upper Ridgewood. If there is further development on South Broad st. or by the tracks on n broad it doesn’t matter as much because the is already low income housing there.