Ridgewood residents grow frustrated with planner’s housing testimony
NOVEMBER 21, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2014, 10:29 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Frustration with a lack of certainty was the theme of Monday’s Planning Board hearing on a master plan amendment that would allow high-density apartments downtown.
At the meeting, which at one point attracted more than 70 people, about 20 members of the public continued questioning Village Planner Blais Brancheau about the proposed amendment.
That questioning first began at a meeting earlier this month.
This Monday, many residents related their concern to the “speculative nature” of the benefits expected from the amendment – like an expected boost to business in the Central Business District (CBD) and the belief that many local seniors would want to move from a home to an apartment.
These concerns came in combination with what many consider to be a biased decision on the village’s part: to say that, on the other hand, factors of speculative concern to the public either were unlikely or should not drive the decision-making process for the Planning Board.
Some of these concerning factors for the public included the maximum units that could be built with the proposed amendment and associated costs. On Monday, Brancheau revised an estimate he offered at the last meeting – 500-700 units – to 325-545 units, calling this an unlikely scenario and a “very, very rough guess.”
“I just would like to know what the real numbers are … We have not yet heard any numbers in terms of extra costs, much less the projected revenue of the taxes on these buildings,” said resident Felicia Angus.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/frustration-builds-as-questioning-continues-1.1138966
This is the motto of our Council and our Planner.
If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.
W. C. Fields
Hey Roberta since you are hiring all these new people on our dime how about a new planner ?
Y’know, a town with money is like a mule with a spinning wheel. No one knows how he got it and danged if he knows how to use it! The name’s Lanley. Lyle Lanley. And I come before you good people tonight with an idea. Probably the greatest… Aw, it’s not for you. It’s more of a Shelbyville idea. All right, I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll show you my idea! I give you the Springfield Solano County Monorail! I’ve sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrooke, and by gum, it put them on the map!
Well, sir, there’s nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car
Monorail!
what a mess
The future always holds more development. DUH!!! Look at New Joisey, densest state in nation. Super crowded here guys.
So why not fuck up Ridgewood; amend the master plan so that certain people can continue to add to their wealth.
Add 1,000 plus residents in the CBD. “Imagine all the people…” And smile.
Remember what our MASTER PLANNER says: Big development will BENEFIT YOU.
build on broad st. it,s time to fix that area up.