>Route 17 corridor : Ridgewood Planning Board hears idea for new commercial zone
Ridgewood Planning Board hears idea for new commercial zone
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
BY MICHAEL SEDON
The Ridgewood News
Staff Writer
The Planning Board heard a conceptual idea at its last meeting that would require re-zoning a portion of the village’s property that abuts Route 17 for commercial use.
No formal application has been submitted to the board, but Attorney Thomas Wells discussed the possibility of re-zoning block 4807, lot 1 to allow a variety of possible commercial uses on the property and add ratables to the village’s tax rolls.
Wells requested a meeting with the Planning Board attorney and the village planner to discuss the next steps in this process, said Planning Board Secretary Barbara Carlton.
“He [Wells] may want to know that this is not inconsistent with Blais’ [Brancheau village planner] contemplated proposal for the redevelopment corridor, but he wasn’t that explicit,” said Planning Board Vice Chairman Albert Pucciarelli. “Route 17 is almost unrelenting retail from Suffern to Lyndhurst but for this stretch, which seems to be a green break in that unrelenting retail, to which Mr. Wells replied that his client should not be required to dedicate his land to green space.”
A broader discussion took place at the Planning Board months ago to re-zone Ridgewood’s portion of the Route 17 corridor to allow commercial development, but those discussions were “preliminary,” Pucciarelli said. That discussion will have to basically “start over,” since the makeup of the board has changed, he added.
Board members at the meeting had concerns about the topography of the property and how the steepness of the slopes would affect rain water runoff, and buffers between this property and its neighbors, Pucciarelli said.
Some commercial uses that would be considered are offices, a hotel, self storage, car wash, cell towers, retail and many other possibilities, according to information from the Planning Board. This particular property has been in the news previously as one of the lots considered for re-zoning in the plan was the site of the controversial Baker Residential townhouses, according to conceptual drawings and the village’s tax map.
E-mail: sedon@northjersey.com
