file photo by Boyd Loving
March 11,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, the resolution passed by the Village council on Jan 27th, for the 5 principals of the “design D” for the Hudson Parking Garage .
The mayor mentions that there will be TWO traffic lanes, and one parking lane in the new design D/the resolution which he approved on Jan 27th.
At Historic Preservation Commission meeting the architects informed tthe commission that currently, there is 30 feet of asphalt – 9 feet each side is parking, and 12 feet is used for a one way traffic lane. From that 9 feet parking on the north side, 5 feet will now go to encroachment, so the ‘cart way’ (car lane ) will be widened from 12 feet to 16 feet. When asked if 16 feet is enough to drive two lanes if current single lane is for one car 12 feet, and his answer was “NO, Hudson Street will NOT have two lanes”.
The mayor and the village manager both tried to convince him that there are two lanes, at least where the traffic turns, and the architect re-confirmed that NO – Hudson Street will have ONE traffic lane.
SO bottom line is that the resolution that was passed for design principals for the garage on Jan 27th does not match with the current design D. Our mayor was probably reading that resolution when he called residents liars. Here is the video, where the mayor says 2 traffic lanes on Hudson St.
https://www.tubechop.com/watch/7778289 courtesy of Saurabh Dani .
This whole non conforming project is collapsing on its own weight of misplacement of a non conforming ,unsafe and unneeded commuter and evening dining expansion..A neighborhood destroyer and unfair rental community housing impact health,noise,air pollution,,Time to stop this epic and costly mistake..Rushing will make this even worse..like to see the Fire Departments statement of safety compliance..even for a fire or gas leak incident at the back of those apartments on East Rirgewood Ave.death traps.
“Fire Departments statement of safety ” Are you kidding 8:19 The Fire Chief and the Police Chief are up Queen Bees butt because their raises are tied to it. They will not buck the queen. Just a bunch of Eunuch.
8:19am – the fire chief attends all council meetings and keeps an eye on the vocal residents.
Glad the building is equipped with fire pipes. How about ambulances?? Can they get to the top????
Floor to ceiling deck and ramp heights are seriously limited to passage of anthing taller than s Suv
So traffic making new rights and lefts from restricted broad street down to reversed hudson likely to back up into that intersection of wine store and knights. Pedestrians at risk again. Bad overall planning and site selection is rediculous
Looking forward to Mayor Knudson cleaning house
Stop the lunacy, cancel the bonding, forget this whole stupid idea.
Alternatively, since I have actually heard out of town people say that they won’t come here because of the parking issue, let’s just build the thing so that we can keep businesses in town. Or do you want more vacancies? At some point it will start to impact the town. And as far as commuter parking, how would any of you know? From what I can see most people on his blog and those that attend meetings are so far beyond working age that you wouldn’t have a clue what commuters have to deal with. And by the way, since one of the things that attracts people to this town is te ability to commute to the city, you better make sure that it remains a viable option or you property values will most likely go down.
Just some food for thought to those that seem slightly out of touch and only think about how things used to be. Try talking to some people that recently moved here l, you know the people that may eventually buy your homes, and see what they want or what brought them here. And before you say that they should come to the meetings and be heard, guess what, they have to work and raise their kids so they don’t have any time! But that doesn’t by any stretch mean that your views are THE views of the town any more then the absolute belief that the council members views are those of everyone on the town. But guess what, they were elected. So be default they speak for the town until such time as they leave office. I welcome anyone on this blog to run for office, If you win then we will all have to follow along with however you vote. That’s how it works
Floor heights are definitely not tall enough for an ambulance. They would have to go up elevator with a stretcher, and bring someone down that way.
So, 3:52… In your opinion older residents are against the garage and younger residents are for the garage – the young’uns are just too busy to Go to meetings? The garage supporters like Delzio, Whiting and Roberta are not exactly spring chickens, yet they make the time to work for something they believe in.
They are all commuters and we don’t have a commuter garage? Maybe there was something else that they liked about Ridgewood like the small town feel. Not everyone likes city living.
And people have actually said in your presance that they don’t come to Ridgewood because of the parking problem. Stay home! I live here and it is not important to me that people from other towns come to shop. That is important to the business owners. I did not move here for the shopping and dining.
3:52 – are you for real? You think most of us who attend the meetings are too told to commute? Wow, you must not be attending the meetings. A major portion of us work full-time, men and women, parents and non-parents. What kind of an asshole are you?
3:52 clearly never attended a meeting. I’m in my 30’s. I never miss.
Regarding the Raymond’s owner’s comments, Montclair’s parking garage is central and enormous.
Not only would a garage here, especially in a far corner of downtown, not bring back nonresidents who have fled our CBD, it would also lose many current residents who have had enough citification of our suburb.
The only downtown around here (not counting Hackensack) that I’m aware of that has street parking meters is Westwood–where you get TWO HOURS for ONE QUARTER. For a lunch date I put two quarters in without even thinking before I noticed that.
Dear 352 ..I have 2 years of receipts for 750 dollars when the VOR IMPOSED THE 750 Resident parking pass..Pay to Pay and play ripoff, Not only does my spouce commute and work ffull time but I do as well and go to the city each week to make a living and afford to pay
The night taxes here…this is not about a restaurant owners bill of rights to jack up their own results on Our backs,..we the citizens most of whom were here well before many of the new chic restaurants looking to jam another 700 diners a night into this small town.Good luck with your business..Suggest you get behind two smaller decks on cottage And the town garage site and adjacent lot..You might find that drivers might be able to access your business more conveniently.
Restaurant mafia wants it on hudson for own selfish reasons..dam the neighborhood impacts
It is time we build a garage. It has been discussed for more than 65 years and Ridgewood obstructionists keep preventing it from being built. I think it is a beautiful structure and it will surely help our downtown. All other large towns in New Jersey have a garage. I have lived in Ridgewood almost 40 years and it is time to build this garage!!!
5:21 pm – We know who you are. There are only 5 people who keep repeating this line, and implying that other residents in town who are questioning it ‘don’t want a garage’.
You guys are flat out lying and you are supporting it for your own benefits.
Majority of the residents support a garage that FITS that lot, and which doesn’t look out of place for our downtown. Majority of people want centrally located garage or 2-3 smaller structures.
You know that – that’s why you and your other team members were lying before the elections that ‘it’s not a vote for the design’.
5:21…This garage process has been pushed through in such a deceitful manner from the start.
Lie #1 – Tell Father Ron in July the town plans to build a deck on the lot.
Lie #2 – tell voters the garage will be self-funding
Lie #3 – tell voters that nothing has been decided with respect to the design or size. You are just voting whether you want a deck at the Hudson street lot.
Lie #4 – hide the fact that the intended garage is 23 feet beyond property line, 12 feet into Hudson street
Lie #5 – bury Maser report that shows actual encroachment, claim it was in draft form and it didn’t need to be shared with all council members, only share with those that can keep the secret
Lie #6 – vote for option A, then tell the public that the “discussion” that was promised with respect to size and design just happened. Residents… You didn’t think we really meant that did you?
Lie #7 – when residents realize in late December the true extent of the garage the council majority VOTED on, they come to plead and beg to change this monstrosity. They are told “it’s too bad if you didn’t realize before the vote what you were voting on”.
Lie #8 – told residents that they were going back to the drawing board to pull garage back onto the lot. New design still does not fit on the lot.
Lie #9 – Council run a design meeting with the HPC before the vote but doesn’t clarify to the members that the garage is sitting 12 feet in the street. They write a letter to support garage not realizing they were lied to regarding intended garage being built 12 feet in street.
Lie #10 – architect renderings for option D, not accurately depicting true mass or height of garage or width of street.
Lie #11 – 1 lane of traffic with option D, not 2 as stated in resolution.
Lie #12 – mayor publicly calls residents liars during collection of signatures for a petition. Says they are lying about how much garage will cost if they choose to continue with financing through BCIA. Truth…it could costs thousands over 25 years.
I’m sure I missed a few. We deserve better government. You can turn a blind eye to the way this process has occurred, because you want a garage so badly, but you shouldn’t.