the staff of The Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Councilwoman Siobhan Winograd confirmed during Wednesday night’s Village Council Public Work Session what many residents living on or near West Saddle River Road had suspected; that is, the Village would like to acquire 510 West Saddle River Road (Block 4704, Lot 8), a currently unoccupied, 0.8727 acre residential (zone R125) property. The target property is immediately adjacent to Village owned parkland (the former Schedler property).
If successfully acquired, it is believed the target property would be developed as a parking area for the proposed Schedler Athletic Complex.
No acquisition price was revealed at the meeting, nor was there any mention made as to whether the current owner was amenable to sale, or whether the property would have to be acquired via the eminent domain process.
The plan from 2019 was good for soccer, lacrosse, softball and football.
Only baseball team wants a bigger diamond. Baseball teams should be paying for this purchase.
So know taxpayers know why the Mayor requested another $500K be allocated to the project. What a scumbag.
Doubling down on their stupidity….
Adding insult to injury, that nutjob Winograd actually chastised members of the public for not being aware the Council was likely to purchase the property. The idiot claimed that expanding parkland is a standard governmental practice, and elected officials are always seeking opportunities to buy adjacent properties. So, I guess everyone who owns property adjacent to a Village owned park should now be concerned that their property may become a target of acquisition, at least while Ms. Winograd remains in office. What a moron she is.
I could not believe she said that, but she did; we have it on tape. Unbelievable.
I do not recall any discussions about buying properties adjacent to Habernickel. Nor about any park other than Citizens and Schedler. She’s a big fat liar.
If memory serves Citizens used to be private lots and the village acquired then to make Citizens Park. So it has happened before, albeit many many years ago.
Yes, in 2003, the Village purchased 54 S. Monroe Street for $600K and knocked down the house to expand Citizens. If you go to Google Earth, you can see the house in 2002
Why the thumbs down. The poster is simply stating fact.
Winograd is certainly in the running for biggest nitwit in the history of Ridgewood politics. It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again – she is her own worst enemy. Put a sock in it honey; if you’d keep your big mouth shut, maybe you’ll be able to finish your term unscathed.
Too late
How insulting to people who live in the area. Vote the bums out.
How is it insulting? Now they will have the parking that they whined about.
Who actually voted for these people? It was so obvious to me that this was what we were going to get.
I recall all those winograd lawn signs..maybe those supporters should put those signs back in their front lawns to show their continued support!
How insulting to the home owner.
Look at the original plan from Schedler purchase. It includes 4 lots north of it for further expansion. Also Open Space has designated those lots as purchase options in almost all of their reports on availability of vacant land.
None of those lots are vacant. Structures on every single one of them.
The structures would be knocked down
and the lot to the north of them is a plant nursery / firewood operation.
Those properties are in no way vacant.
They are basically just empty with a little S#it and garbage on them AND, all these properties would be most valuable as commercial real estate with businesses that make money and pay Ridgewood taxes on them while sitting on one of the busiest commercial roads in the entire country.
510, 516 and 520 W. saddle River Road are most certainly not pry…did you not hear one of the homeowners speak at the hearing the other night. Oh that’s right, you don’t bother attending or listening to council meetings. You just come on here and make snarky uninformed remarks.
Build affordable housing. Close to 17
People forget these people won the election 60%-40%!! This echo chamber is in the minority. Sorry!
So, winning the election gives them the right to do anything they want, regardless of what taxpayers have to say about it? You’re a bigger nutjob than Winograd, and that’s saying a lot!
Many residents support the field project.
When we elect council members we expect them to make good decisions. They may consider input from the complainers but they are elected to get things done.
I would bet that number has since changed
are you saying 60% of the people in Ridgewood are idiots?
They had this up their sleeves the whole time !
Field Envy.
Have to keep up with Fair Lawn and Glen Roque.
No money left for emergency’s. Not smart at all.
Just because they want to buy someone’s property doesn’t mean that they will get that opportunity. Maybe this time in this instance they are getting darn lucky but that will be short lived. Just because it is located near an intended park doesn’t give them the right or priviledge to obtain it. In this instance it is quite likely that members of the council applied pressure on the owner in order to win at the opportunity to purchase the land which they intend to spend $500,000 to put a parking lot. Towns and cities do it all of the time to unsuspecting citizens so I wouldn’t put it past this crew as their pet project has no boundaries, literally and figuratively. It isn’t fair to that neighborhood to further encroach and to the person who made the comment that those properties were earmarked in original drawings, that might have been what the Village wanted ultimately but they will never, and I repeat, never get them all and for the record, they are zoned as affordable housing.
Just curious, how do you know that are zoned as affordable housing? How does one find that out?
Zoned in the R-125 district
Winnograd remembers everything about every parcel of land, and she was on with the adhoc committees recommendation from her husband. Now she ask if s sudden claims she’s blond and didn’t realize the fields flood and that baseball needs field. Duh, we are not blind to this game
The village is bankrupt, and they are going out and spending money that they don’t have. Bond this bond that. If you think this shit is hitting the fan now waiting till next year they were talking about five day furloughs next year it’ll be 15 days watch. The workers got lucky this year.
Prob polluted like the town owned Angelo garage…
“Sports complex”? That’s a bit over the top.
There is a small group of very angry residents agitating on Facebook. They respond each other’s posts . Now they all agree that a sidewalk on Glen is a better se of the funds. The field will not be a detriment to the neighborhood. They are lucky to get the field.
Otherwise pay the state back for Preservation money and sell to a developer. Let’s get our mandated low income housing off the books.
the kickbacks for the turf field must be huge
Additional motor vehicle traffic, noise, and litter will indeed be a detriment to our neighborhood. And your assessment of the property as something other than a sports complex is ridiculous. Get a life Bozo.
Vote with your feet.
how much longer will it be before local restate interests realize the town is sunk and its time to bail ?
meeting notes from the on-line
OPEN SPACE COMMITTEE Meeting Notes
March 16th, 2023 – The Stable
“Other items that need to be included on the agenda are relighting Vets and a potential increase in the Open Space Tax from a 0.5cent to 1-cent. It should be stressed that the additional funding will help to improve trails, possible acquisitions/park expansions plus upgrades in park infrastructure.”
“Item 26 needs to be assigned and developed which concerns the continued funding of the municipal Open Space Trust Fund to purchase additional lands.
The funding would include better trails, another field, investments into park infrastructure, Towne Garage and Park expansion. Looks like a 2024 ballot issue.”
…. so there’s more to come??