June 3,2015
the staff of the Roidgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, 35 Units per acre was approved by the Ridgewood Planning Board in a 6 to 3 vote, in what can only be described as a victory for special interests over the residents of the Village . Last night the Planning Board approved a change to the Village master plan from a density of 12 units per acre (current) to a density of 35 units per acre (almost triple) , giving the Village Central Business District a higher density than Hackensack 22 units per acre, Teaneck 28 units per acre, or Fair Lawn 17 units per acre.
According to Citizens for a better Ridgewood ,( CBR ) YES VOTES FROM….David Thurston (works in commercial real estate), Nancy Bigos (works for our parks and recreation), Mayor Paul Aronsohn (excited to open the door to high density), Charles Nalbantian (has sat on the board way too long, the public seems to annoy him), Richard Joel (has young children in our schools), Kevin Reilly (seemed hesitant to vote Yes, but did anyway) NO VOTES FROM…Council Woman Knudsen, Wendy Dockrey and Michele Peters. ALL THREE NO VOTES WANTED DEVELOPMENT THAT WAS MORE IN CHARACTER WITH OUR VILLAGE WITH DENSITIES CLOSER TO 24. THEY WANTED OTHER OPTIONS THAT BLAIS FAILED TO GIVE THEM. THEY PUSHED FOR OPTIONS LAST NIGHT AND THE MAJORITY OF THE BOARD REFUSED TO CONTINUE THE DISCUSSIONS.
While opponents of the high density Master Plan change look for other options , many wonder if this now opens the door to a court victory for Valley’s major expansion?
CBR is still circulating there petition to stop the over development of the Village https://www.change.org/p/ridgewood-nj-planning-board-village-council-vote-no-on-the-high-density-housing-amendment-at-35-units-per-acre-last-minute-petition?just_created=true .
There is an opportunity to speak Mayor Paul Aronsohn how will be holding office hours for Ridgewood residents this Saturday. Mayor Aronsohn will meet with residents on Saturday, June 6 from 9AM to Noon in the Council Chambers (Sydney V. Stoldt, Jr. Court Room) on the fourth floor of Ridgewood Village Hall. For an appointment to meet with the Mayor, please call the Village Clerk’s Office at 201-670-5500 ext. 206. You may come to the Mayor’s office hours without an appointment, but those with appointments will be given priority.
Waste of time speaking to the mayor, is there any way to stop or change this? My name was on the petition and i live in the village,so how does Mr. Harris know who is from the village or not arrogant SOB.
I signed the petition, but am wondering if 1000 is really enough in a town of 25,000. Wouldn’t you need at least 5,000.
Also I don’t get it. If a planning board member, Joel, has young kids in school, why would that assume a yes vote for development. I would think it would mean a NO vote. So his kids could grow up in a non congested town.
Forgive them for they know not what they do…..
Well many of the 25k are children under 18. We should only need around 2400.,,bc that is about whe number of votes that elected these motherf***ers in.
Question is, once they are out how can we overturn this!!’nnn
Does this vote go to council next??? What can be done as citizens to stop this? For real? Can we throw one of them out of office somehow legally?
We know what to do come election time. This agenda has been push by the 3 amigos for a long time. They have close ties with some of the developers who will profit by this along with member of the Chamber of Commerce . Next item on their agenda is the parking garage to help certain members of the Chamber. To show how enforcement of ordinances are only for certain people I direct you attention to the wall/planter in front of Greek to Me and the large political sign at Ken Smith Motors. Same person is responsible for both of them , a strong supporter of our Mayor.
Although I suspect that some if not most of the 1000 resident that sign the petition voted for the Dream Team that 1000 votes are enough to vote them out of office before the come up with something else to take car of their friends.
They dam well know what their doing 10:20.
Not cool. Valley, too.
Maybe he plans on moving, which, if Valley eventually gets approved, would certainly be a good idea.
10:20–that may be true for some, but most know exactly what they are doing.
Time to recall, starting with the mayor…or maybe Hauck?? Let’s start with the weakest…
According to NJ law (https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/recall-of-local-officials.aspx)
“Recall may not commence during first year in office.
No specific grounds are required
Time for gathering signatures is 160 days.
Signature requirement is number equal to 25% of the registered voters of the district”
After getting the required number of signatures the question to recall would be put on the November Ballot.
Based on 2014, Ridgewood has 17,056 registered voters so we need a little more than 4,200 signatures or less than the number of children in the schools. Completely doable and will be done if they think they can shove this down our throats and we will go away quietly.
1,000 signatures on a petition is clearly enough given the number of votes in our town elections.
We need to vote out of office those who are pushing this through. Unfortunately, next spring’s election may be too far away to stop this insanity.
The Board was hoodwinked by the developers, Gail Price and Blais Brancheau. Blais’ only concern was what he could do for the developers. Gail literally spent an hour telling the board why they should not listen to any of the comments from the Villagers who spoke out.
Its an outrageously sad day for the Village.
Next comes the tax abatements for the developers. Just like Jersey City.
Is it not telling that the only PB member who voted no on all points is a realtor? She knows what it will mean to property values and people’s interest in moving here at all.
How the F dare Chris Harris say that we who signed the petition are a bunch of out-of-towners?!?! He is such a jerk. His articles in the Record are always filled with inaccuracies and when they are pointed out he ignores them.
I am intrigued by 1240’s reference to a recall law. I am not familiar with that and actually read the Village laws and did not see one.
Can we do a public recall? If 1,000 people signed the petition in a day, getting 4,200 signatures is more than doable.
1000 no’s and 24000 yes’es…do you understand now?
It’s pretty simple stuff…we’re going to move forward, not backwards.
The CCR and the Valley NIMBY’s can stick their tails between there legs
And waddle away now because those with calmer heads have prevailed.
Valley’s approval is eminent and with that comes one of the best hospitals in the county. Now all we have to do is paint over the stupid bike lanes at garber and we’re looking pretty good.
turning Ridgewood into Camden is not moving forward , people move to Ridgewood for the small town feel , access to NYC and the great schools , no one asked you to change anything
Ignoring @ 2:00 who clearly thinks 3 year olds are allowed to vote among other odd claims….
@1:54, we absolutely can and should do a recall vote. It is nj state law. 25% of registered voters (so roughly 4200 people) would need to sign on and that would trigger a recall vote in November. Mahwah is actually in this process right now ( or at least they were recently for different reasons).
It defies all logic beyond the board being completely on the take from the developers. The lack of infrastructure from a traffic and service (hello water! Who else is on restrictions now except for ridgewood?) standpoint, lack of room in schools or in the budget for more teachers, horrific traffic conditions around schools and in town (which will become a construction zone), lack of quantification of demand by empty nesters and lack of support of how this would even help downtown businesses. Low income people will be working during the day and not have the disposable income to buy overpriced goods on ridgewood avenue. How stupid is the planning board?????
What’s wrong with Camden?
Classic knee jerk reaction.
And your just as bad as everyone else on here blathering about small town this and village that…small town…yea right.
That’s just a bad as the comment about the “great schools” which is only a selling tool for when junior graduates and your outta here. And the BOE keeps pulling the wool over your eyes and they laugh all the way to the bank. And besides, if no one asked me to change anything then why are things changing? That’s pretty simple as well…it’s called progress.
you have never been to Camden I guess ? Just to clue you in you must live in Detroit or something Camden is a shit hole , even by 3rd world standards
Hey 2:00 get it straight “The petition requires the signatures of 25% of the registered voters in the jurisdiction, as of the last general election. I doubt if there are 2400 registered voters in Ridgewood as of the last general election. To add to that they received 1000 signers in less then 24 hours imagine what could happen if they had some time. TIC TOCK time is running out for your friends.
Albert had is hands real deep into this one.
Correction to 4:30 2400 registered voters in Rdgewood
That’s funny;2:47. The “overpriced goods” on east Ridgewood Ave. Yeah, when I need a new watch I shop at Arthur Groom and Co.
No, I go to Macy’s.
I would not pay $200 for a casual skirt etc.
Will the apartment dwellers shop on East Ridgewood Ave?
The village like all other towns in Bergen county is having growing pains ,it’s just a matter of time until people start moving out and the next generation start moving in ,all except for the hights section ,that will not Change for some time ,but those who reside there will become disappointed with the village and move on .like everything else in life ,things Change ,this will pass.
The Village Planner is out of touch with the community and has to go.
@ 4:30, it really is shocking but according to sources online there really are over 17,000 registered voters in town (only about 6k voted last time but it is registered voters that you need 25% of). That said, I do not think it will be remotely difficult to get 4k people to sign on. It will be even easier to vote them out but unfortunately the damage will be done by then.
https://patch.com/new-jersey/ridgewood/election-follow-look-how-ridgewood-and-glen-rock-voted
Well I guess you have never been to Donkey’s place in Camden either…pretty awsome
cheesesteaks…and by 3rd world standards its a pretty good cheesesteak. I know all about it.
just a better class of people in Camden…
I’ll sign.
can’t wait till we are told our COAH allotment.