Ridgewood weighs multifamily housing for downtown
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
The Record
RIDGEWOOD — The Planning Board this week directed the village planner to draft an amendment to the master plan, permitting high-density, multifamily housing complexes downtown.
Four proposals for such developments sit before the Planning Board, but the master plan prohibits them.
Blais Brancheau said he would do his best to prepare a possible master plan amendment before the board’s Oct. 15 meeting. If he does, a public hearing could be set for early November.
On Monday night, the Planning Board agreed that the public should have its say on the proposal, which has been before the board for more than two years.
OK, so we have the tail wagging the dog, right? Developers say they want something and the Village Planner figures out a way to make that happen. If we all could do that we wouldn’t need variances would we? So; where does the process go from here? Who is the body or individual who has the power to stand up and say this whole thing is ridiculous? The density levels they are talking about will make Fort Lee and Hackensack look like Kansas, forget about what it is going to make downtown Ridgewood look like.
The idea that apartments are going to draw young professionals to Ridgewood is laughable. Young professionals want to live in Manhattan or as close as they can be to Manhattan as in, Hoboken. They do not want to live out in Ridgewood. The apartments will be filled with people looking to use the schools without paying taxes. The developers are all looking at numbers as if their individual project will be the only one. Add all four and all that new capacity and you are going to have a dramatic drop in rental rates which will lower the bar to enter Ridgewood considerably.
Traffic problems will be beyond what any of us can imagine and all the shop and restaurant owners who think they see thousands of new customers on the horizon are going to be shocked when downtown Ridgewood becomes nothing more than a large parking lot.
Does the Village Council have the ability to say “No” to this? Is there a way to gauge where they stand? It scares the beejesus out of me that Arohnson sits on the Planning Board and in his throne on the Council. People have been fighting the Valley expansion for years. The proposed developments in the downtown area will make Valley look like someone putting a screened porch on their house.
People better start to focus on this or it is going to happen and it will be too late to undo it. The Council should state where they stand on the issue and if they are in favor of massive development in downtown Ridgewood. If they are then the discussion of a recall election should be started and the Council turned over before it is too late.
Ridgewood needs lots of multiple-family housing downtown like Hope Street needs buried electric service. Just vote no.
The developers cannot predict who will be in the housing. They say young professionals because it sells the project, reality will probably be much different. No young professional wants to live in Ridgewood. It is when the kids come that they move to suburbia. A one bedroom apt can house a family of four desperate to move out of an urban area. Can you imagine what a two bedroom apt will bring?
And they will want parking for their two cars. You can’t survive in Ridgewood without a car.
Its all preposterous. Why is the board stupid enough to even ask for the proposed amendment?
# 4 Just look who from the Council are on the Planning board. Paul Aronsohn ” The Carpetbagger”and ALBERT PUCCIARELL ” Big Al the Developers Friend” They are driving the bus.
Friends of my sons are moving back to Ridgewood in large numbers because they are all having kids. They are not looking for downtown housing they are looking for the houses they all grew up in. When they were the young professionals they lived in Hoboken, Jersey City and New York. I sincerely doubt that you are going to buck this trend with the proposed developments.
Paul Aronsohn is driving the bus. He grew up in Fort Lee. Need we say more?
This will not help downtown businesses. People are not going to eat out and buy expensive clothes. They are going to drive to the malls and supermarkets, like everyone else.
At least two of the Planning Board members have direct ties to the construction industry.