the staff of the Ridgewood blog
It was introduced by the Village Council under Mayor Pfund in 2007 (https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/minutes/07RPMJUN13.pdf ). Chapter § 190-143 of the amended Village Code is the kicker; it established procedures for interested persions (i.e. developers) to request amendments to the Village Master Plan or development regulations. Council members Mancuso, Ringler Shagin, Wiest, and Pfund all voted in favor of the ordinance. Chapter § 190-143 is here https://ecode360.com/6694062 and many residents argue that this should be repealed to ensure that we don’t see overdevelopment at Valley and in the CBD in terms of densities and building scale. It’s felt this will better protect our property values.
the text can be see at https://stopvalley.com/Minutes/2007-08-07%20Ordinance%203066.pdf if you cut and paste that into your browser you can see it all.
It is long, setting out the fees involved and procedures – the key part is
§ 190-143. Application to Village Council or Planning Board.
Any interested party may request that an amendment or amendments be made to the Village Master Plan or development regulations. The request(s) shall be made to the Village Council and/or the Village Planning Board https://theridgewoodblog.net/so-what-is-ordinance-3066/
Readers say time Repeal “Pfunds Folly” ordinance 3066!
We have former Mayor and now appointed local judge Pfund to thank. Without Ordinance 3066, passed purposely in July 2007 when many residents were down the shore, applications to amend the Master Plan would never have even been considered. Then the developers used an old anchoring by applying for 50 units, only to say they’d “comprised” down to 35. The anchor number used should have been the 12 in the Master Plan, and they should have comprised at 18-24, reflecting current Village densities. Development is surely need in the CBD – it’s an eyesore with too much dead space and decaying remnants of the past – but Ordinance 3066 and the 50 number should have never happened in the first place. That’s Pfund’s folly…. These wheels have been in motion since 2007
I had little hope going into last night’s meeting. I am so proud of everyone who came and stood up for our village. Bottom line, we have to repeal ordinance 3066. Also, say no to ordinances requesting our Master Planner. Our Master Plan should be treated with the respect it deserves. It has been in place for decades, protecting our village from the potential high density developments that are on the table now. Should development occur, yes, but within the safeguards of the master plan. Developers: get a variance and if appropriate for Ridgewood it will pass. If the densities are to low for your project and potential profits, to bad, come to the table with something else. But don’t threaten residents with statements “if you don’t give us this, we’ll do something you really won’t like”. That is not neighborly or nice.
We should have been signing petitions to repeal Ordinance 3066 five years ago or more. I agree that 35 units is too high, but that’s because developers are allowed to submit proposals to amend the Master Plan under Ordinance 3066 (passed by then Mayor Pfund under cover of July summer vacations in 2007 to help out his pals at Valley), and its easy to anchor the debate initially at 50 units and then say you’ve “compromised down to 35 units even though the initial anchoring of the discussion should have been at 12 units as per the existing Master Plan. https://theridgewoodblog.net/readers-say-time-repeal-pfunds-folly-ordinance-3066/
Looking for clarification–is the argument that if you repeal this ordinance then each project would have to separately apply for a variance to build more instead of being able to change the Master Plan and then piggy back in any other projects?
As the ad says: JUST DO IT !!!
“Council members Mancuso, Ringler Shagin, Wiest, and Pfund all voted in favor of the ordinance.”
Mancuso has moved away. Ringler Shagin and Wiest are still at it; they openly endorsed the three council candidates who did not win on Tuesday. (Disappointing, guys.) Pfund is now our municipal JUDGE, thanks to our outgoing mayor and his system of paybacks.
Jacques Harlow must have voted no. I wonder what he would say now.
Can the municipal judge be replaced at the council’s will? He needs to be removed from any official business at Village Hall and from receiving one cent of our property taxes. Instead, he should be paying our lawyers (and we need some new ones, big time: Rogers, Price, and their firms must go) for all the trouble that ordinance has caused.
Thanks for recycling my previous comments above on this James – repealing 3066 and going after Valley’s not-for-profit status (worth +$4mn/year in property taxes) are the top two priorities IMO for the next Council. A zero increase PBA contract with higher pension & healthcare contributions and no accumulated leave payouts on retirement (“use-it or lose-it”) would be next. After that, working with the BoE on shared ways to reduce property taxes, and downgrading all Village and BoE employees to Bronze health care coverage so as to avoid having property tax payers 40% ACA excise tax on public health plans from 2020~ would be next on my list, then redeveloping the eyesores downtown (the old car dealers, the old Town Garage, etc) would be next, but developers would have to submit plans to develop based on an anchor number of 12 units in the Master Plan, and then the Village can comprise up at 18-24 units, reflecting current Village densities. Not rocket science.
Pfund’s house was up for sale a few months back – has probably already been sold.
Not sure if he is staying in town or moving out.
We need ne signs in the village: “REPEAL 3066”
He moved to another one.