January 17,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to Councilmen Ramon Hache’s latest news letter , the Village Council rescinded the 2015 resolution that included a 90 ft. baseball diamond and a 120 x 75 yard multi-purpose field. To be clear, a 90 ft. diamond refers to the distance between the bases, not the depth of the outfield. The 2015 plan would have led to the clear-cutting of most of the trees on the property and the athletic fields component would have taken up more than 4 acres (total size of the property is 7 acres).
The Councilmen states, ” The Schedler property presented a few challenges, some of which were immediate and some required some planning into the future. There were numerous dead trees, hanging limbs and leaning trees that had to be removed immediately since they posed a liability. The cleanup was authorized in October. In order to move forward on planning for the future use of the property, the Village Council created an ad hoc committee to propose a development plan. The ad hoc committee met regularly and also reached out to residents and sports groups for input regarding their respective needs.
The ad hoc committee presented its recommendation to the Village Council in December. The new plan is significantly scaled down compared to the 2015 plan. It strikes a balance between the needs of the neighborhood, and sports groups, while taking consideration of historical preservation and passive recreation. The new plan does not include a baseball diamond and the proposed 50 x 75 yard multipurpose field only takes up a little over ¾ of an acre. The plan includes parking, a playground, walking trails, and bathrooms with a built-in overhang that can provide shelter from lightning. The next phase of planning will involve cost estimates. Only then will the Village Council be ready to move forward on a final plan.”
SW’s writing ?
I want to hear what that goofball doctor has to say, now that the soccer field has been designed primarily for younger children. He should be jumping up and down screaming about the health of the little children, or not.
Or maybe we need another video. Or a some parent to let their kid accuse the council of being on the take because they are in favor of this. Or a search for snail darters on the site. I do hope that the falling down house gets renovated so we can lease it to {wait for it}…. HEALTHBARN!!
Bathrooms sure to balloon over budget..has to be gold plated for VOR. expect an unbudgeted number of field stones or some other ridiculous spending fiasco.Only the best with other people money.
I’m confused….so there’s no athletic field now…?
If that’s true then that means another field is town will be targeted….whack-a-mole…!
Nevermind, I see a 50×70 field….which confirms to me that the recreation committee will take whatever they can get…this wasn’t just a push by the RBSA…
All it needs now is a government subsidized business…
Let just get it done and move on.
I can’t wait for the bathrooms now have a place to go Doo doo ?
Any field there is a stupid disaster.
@1:15 perfect place for healthbarn. The buses can come right off the highway and the lease can be re-written in favor of the tax payers this time
Well you brought up a interesting though 8:19. Who wrote the original lease for the Health Barn ? I hope it wasn’t BKIE LANE.
There are no clear statistics on how many kids even live over there and how many would use the field. It is all guess work
The council said the field would be used for practice, because it is not an official size, Hache said 2 meetings ago. So kids would be bused their I guess, kids on sports teams.
11:36 does not matter how many will use it. Some people are in it to make money with turf field and other initial capital expenses. They don’t care what will happen after that.
Property was originally purchased (at the behest of local neighborhood who didn’t want it to become a car dealership) for athletic fields. If the neighborhood doesn’t want athletic fields, then the property should be sold.
We would like to know who’s going to maintain it and keep it clean. We all know parks And recreation departmentis are short on staffing
Glen school is on the same side of the highway and it is heavily used by teams from all over. I assume that would happen here, particularly if it was only used for practice. (Practice time is very hard to get in Ridgewood, and has been for years even before all these newer sports began.) I am happy to see that the all purpose field is approximately where that dilapidated house is now standing. Maybe one room in the middle could be considered historical.
12:25 why do you think parks and recs department is short on staff? What do they actually do? Don’t they outsource everything to Downs tree service?. If so, why do we need more teM members there? If hired, what exactly will they do?
Sue is conflicted. She took $1,000 from Jack & Clara Traina on March 1, 2014 in her campaign for Village Council. The public record is here: https://www.elec.state.nj.us//ELECReport/SearchContributorDetails.aspx?cid=12340C
They live across the street from the Schedler property, which means Sue is as conflicted as anyone. The Village should just sell this and Habernickle, as we have no business owning properties like these. #SelfservingSue
Not one cent of Village tax dollars should be spent on Schedler. Who paid for the cleanup of numerous dead trees, hanging limbs and leaning trees that supposedly “had to be removed immediately since they posed a liability”? Sounds like Self-serving Sue is spending more taxpayer dollars to fund her pet projects like Scheduler even though she is conflcted. Further, why are Villagers taking on this liability if it poses immediate risks? Sue Knudsen’s parents benefit from this expenditure (see https://www.elec.state.nj.us//ELECReport/SearchContributorDetails.aspx?cid=12340C ). The cleanup was authorized in October. In order to move forward on planning for the future use of the property, the Village Council created an ad hoc committee to propose a development plan. How can Sue serve on this committee when she is so conflicted? This smells bad.
Delzio go take a nap