November 24,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, According to Village Hall residents will have an opportunity to chime in on the parking garage design on December 2nd. The three designs presented included the original structure, as depicted on Villlage of Ridgewood (VOR) site, with 405 spaces (130,000sq ft), a modified version with 355 stalls (120,000sq ft) and the lowest profile version with 305 stalls (109,000 sq ft). The cost per stall decreases for each added level:
405 stalls @ $28,000 = 11.5 mil
355 stalls @ $29,300 = 10.4 mil
305 stalls @ $31,000 = 9.5 mil
You can see the higher you go the more efficient the project becomes IF, of course, those spaces are utilized.
As far as the design, it is exactly as shown at the informal meetings. The 355 version indicates a lower profile along Hudson St but retains the same height along Broad. The 305 version includes the lower profile on both Broad and Hudson. For some reason I didn’t include the heights in my notes but will ask Roberta for those details. Each version includes cantilevering over the entire Hudson St sidewalk with an additional 20″ cantilever extending over the street. The cantilevers were depicted in the original design and, I believe cannot be eliminated due to the lot width.
Also Mayor Aronsohn sent an email (personal email) to residents regarding the three garage designs and process moving forward. His letter indicates surprise ,surprise higher cost for each version likely based on factoring in the original $500,000 bond.
No one worth their salt in urban planning would recommend a parking garage like this in the CBD. We need more pedestrian and open space, bike and bus lanes, and less parking. This is the most backward idea in recent memory, almost up there in stupidity with Valley’s Super-sized expansion insanity.
Yeah. More bike lanes. The last one was a spectacular idea and so well received!
My youngest kids will probably have no need to own a car – it’s a stupid investment that depreciates 20% the minute you drive it out of the dealer’s lot, and the cost to maintain, insure and fuel a car is ridiculous given the amount of time a car actually sits parked during the day. Clearly our Council is too stupid and arrogant to understand the power of uber and what technology means for the future of transport, turning low-return, old world cars into utilities instead of things that need to be parked in a monstrosity of a garage.
I am outraged
Does the Council have any idea of how out of proportion with the rest of the Village the proposed parking structure is? It will dwarf everything around it for miles. I’ve got to think they are all in on this as something this big will make the proposed multi-family projects look much more palatable.
It is a done deal people get used to it.
Civil disobedience…refuse to pay increase in property taxes?
I was in town Saturday for dinner. Parked without a problem at Hudson.
On the way hom passed two open spots on Ridgewood Ave. then I saw a minivan with Florida plates do a U turn (3 point, it was a minivan after all) on Ridgewood Ave near Tito’s. The guy was crazed. He had to back up twice just to straighten his car to get ready to parallel park.
He must have thought that there was no parking in town. Crazy Florida drivers.
Mayor provides a lot of his personal opinions in Ridgewood news on his personal preference for the
largest mega garage to serve his people and finally solve this non problem.guy is amazing,,
Sure, the public will have a chance to speak out, as the title says. But don’t expect any answers to questions that the threesome do not like.
Every Picture tells a Story. Scary Picture. Scarier direction this town is taking. By the BULLY Party. Time for change Sweep these folks out..deaf to constituents always know better. Bad managers
Newver had a problem parking – the issue is Paulie V wants more capacity for non-Village residents to visit his restaurant downtown on the weekends. $15mn in taxpayer funding to cater to his weekend whims. Paulie A and Albert are so arrogant they can’t smell the rat here, or maybe they’re in on the scam. Time to vote in a new Governing body.
@ 2:46, you are cute. It is not a done deal at all. Majority of those who voted said yes to parking in general, not this mega structure. Because it is a bond issue, there are specific measures that can be taken by voters against implementing any plan out of scale with residents desires.
Expect a well timed New Years day or other hazing day Rope a Dope move on this while the Village sheep are out grazing.All the bad stuff is positioned for maximum ground coverage Ie summer vacation votes& motions etc disregarding the facts and voter citizen awareness impacts or protest,That’s why they CALL IT THE Back Room.Taxpayers usually take the bullet there with little or no notice or real participation,Watch for any Bonding motions..stop this mistake it can’t be fixed once built,
Not this year. We are all watching
The word is they’ve figured out a way to get the money without having the required council votes.
Noted 11.24. It’s Turkey Day so no surprise we have joined the turkeys on D day.The arrogance is what really gets me going.This Garage is a monstrosity .Valley Lawyers getting counter Sui ready once that steel is up.AND WHY NOT .? Ps last Eve weds the town was a ghost town of empty parking spaces..they don’t build big churches for EASTER demand levels