April 7,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood
Ridgewood NJ, Fair share housing is driving all the high density housing in Bergen County and the rest of the state ,destroying neighborhoods and communities in their wake. . Anyone who is saying I am progressive and I want to run for higher level office in NJ, and at the same time saying “I will oppose” high density development, is not being honest with voters. This and the “rainbow flag” is the only progressive cause where they can show their voting record in Ridgewood to gain a ticket for higher office in NJ. This is exactly with Harwin’s mentor Paul Aronsohn did in 2008 and what a mess that made.
Fair Share Housing using the “Mount laurel Doctrine” clams to be helping working families but instead seems to be the DEVEOPERS BEST FRIEND. Forced over development creates more demand for police, fire, schools, roads ,sewers ,electric and water. , Often over whelming the infrastructure of the target town.
The back ground ,the New Jersey Supreme Court, in Mount Laurel I (1975) and Mount Laurel II (1983), declared that municipal land use regulations that prevent affordable housing opportunities for the poor are unconstitutional and ordered all New Jersey municipalities to plan, zone for, and take affirmative actions to provide realistic opportunities for their “fair share” of the region’s need for affordable housing for low and moderate-income people. Peter J. O’Connor, founder and Executive Director of Fair Share Housing Center, was one of three attorneys who brought the original Mount Laurel litigation.
The Mount Laurel Doctrine, which prohibits economic discrimination against the poor by the state and municipalities in the exercise of their land use powers, was the first case of its type in the nation and is widely regarded as one of the most significant civil rights cases in the United States since Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The Mount Laurel Doctrine today is a cornerstone of land use courses in all of our nation’s law schools.
In 1985, the New Jersey Legislature, in direct response to the Mount Laurel decisions, enacted the Fair Housing Act, which created the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) to assess the statewide need for affordable housing, allocate that need on a municipal fair share basis, and review and approve municipal housing plans aimed at implementing the local fair share obligation.
A new Village Master Plan document will guide Ridgewood’s development 40 plus years into the future making it critically important for trusted, experienced Council members to be active participants. Council members with a proven track record of protecting resident property values, Ridgewood neighborhoods, and the character of the Village we call home. Mayor Knudsen is the most experienced Council member in the area of Municipal Land Use making her participation important to the future of the Village. Experienced Council members with a comprehensive understanding of Municipal Land Use patterns, development and zoning, will serve the community best as we begin the exciting Master Plan process.
For details on the misinformation about the effects of additional apartments in Ridgewood, all you have to do is examine the poorly supported assumptions used in the decision to move to full day kindergarten. The town relied on a study (contracted for by developers) that concluded, with no real evidence, that the additional housing would bring no more than 50 students into the school system. The school board then argued that with 50 new students, the district would have roughly 4 additional students per grade. They did not look at existing apartments to get a sense of students per unit. The number 50 probably is a very low figure. Look at your own neighborhood to see the ages of kids when new families move to town. The distribution is not even across the ages. There is a high percent of kindergarten or younger students in new arrivals. It is rare that a new junior or senior arrives. The majority of new students in the first year will be in kindergarten, creating a bubble of overcrowding, one that will move through the schools and which will be continued as younger siblings move into the school system. Rather than 4 new students in kindergarten, we are more likely to see 15 or 20, based on past experience. The rooms do not exist for an additional kindergarten room or for anywhere near that many additional students in the existing classrooms. Expect a move to expand the schools, with its resulting new bond to raise the money.