RENDERING COURTESY OF MARCHETTO HIGGINS STIEVE ARCHITECTS
Same old Story : Proposed Ridgewood development would have minimal impact…sure
Sounds like we have heard this all before , and of course no kids and no traffic…sure
Whats the point of Planning Boards hearing
Thursday January 17, 2013, 4:03 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
The impact that a 37,000-square-foot, four-story mixed use development at Franklin Avenue and Chestnut Street will have on Central Business District (CBD) traffic and already crowded Ridgewood schools is minimal, according to experts hired by project developer Dinallo Construction.
Testimony for the proposed Ridgewood Station development began this week, as planners and traffic engineers stated their case for the 114-unit luxury apartment building. The complex, which would be located at the former Ken Smith Motors site and in the shadow of the NJ Transit commuter railway, also features more than 7,000 square feet for retail and 166 parking spaces.
Branding the project as a transit-oriented development (TOD), Hoboken-based planner Paul Phillips suggested that the target demographic, working professionals and young couples, and the growing shift toward single-bedroom dwellings will limit traffic and keep the number of new students to a “couple of handfuls.”
“I don’t believe it will overwhelm the area,” Phillips said during Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting.
Is the developer paying for the John Jahr’s fees associated with this project, or are the taxpayers?
114 units meand 228 people and their vehicles. How could this not affect the downtown? And there are. Other developments in the works.
It is interesting that a planner from Hoboken thinks that there will be no impact. Compared to Hoboken Ridgewood must seem like a rural village.
The numbers must be wrong. 114 units in a 37,000 building would average 325 sq ft per apartment. Doesn’t sound very luxury to me! It also doesn’t leave space for lobby, hallways, elevator shafts, stairs, etc. Are we sure this figure is correct???
I checked the Ridgewood high school directory. There are 110 children from three different apartment buildings in town. That doesn’t include Gw middle school or Ridge/Orchard school that all fall into the downtown district. So if we just guessed and added another 110 kids in those 4 schools that comes out to 55 kids per school or two more 27 child classes per school on the west side and the high school. Willard seems to be out of the apt/address.