the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, looks like the Village of Ridgewood is starting condemnation proceedings against the owner of former Town Garage property at 120 Franklin Avenue .
This long time Central business district eyesore is what a reader once called , “Amazing that the town has avoided in dealing with this dangerous junkyard.”
The owner of record of the said land and premises is RIDGEWOOD 120, LLC, address: 100 Dutch Hill Rd, Suite 340, Orangeburg, New York 10962.
In February of 2017, a reader summed up the still current situation, “Contamination at the Town Garage was well known to the purchasers who rushed to beat the Village in buying the land–hoping to make a substantial profit when they then sold it to the Village. They own it. It should be their responsibility for cleaning it up before selling it to the Village at a handsome profit. Is the Village going to subtract the cost of cleanup from the eventual purchase price? Or are we paying a premium to purchase the land and then must add cleanup costs to that? The lawyer groups were in such a rush to buy–why aren’t they being forced to do the cleanup? A homeowner with a leaking oil tank can’t just pass that cost on to the buyer, so why are we cleaning up land we don’t own?”
In May of 2023,Village Council members proceeded with their plan to purchase the former Town Garage property near Ben & Jerry’s. Word is that in lieu of demolishing the existing building, encapsulating contaminants present on property and constructing a pocket park, Mayor Paul Vagianos wants instead to demolish the building and add additional municipal parking (maybe even a parking deck) on the lot.
Clearly the Mayor felt one empty parking garage in Ridgewood was not enough.
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So let me get this straight, our mayor has indicated publicly that he is opposed to building a park at that location, yet the legal document indicates we want to build a park? Has the mayor changed his mind, or are we trying to buy the land at a discount and then turn it into a revenue generating parking lot later? I wouldn’t trust that man if he was standing in front of me with handcuffs on.
Peewee wants this property badly….
More parking when there are always spots available in the parking garage?
What an eyesore. Please a pretty pocket park.
Mayor VA Jay Jay at it again and all the other newly elected vermin.
long overdue, even if we just knock it down and make it part of the parking lot.
Go on the DEP website. Buying contaminated land is for idiots. Why do you think it’s never been developed?!
You took the words right off of my keyboard.
Can you provide the NJDEP link? I’ve never been able to locate anything but a list number. No remedial investigations, or anything there.
This is about the fourth time since 2007 that the Village has “started the condemnation process.” It was a dumb idea then as it is now. I guess every council has to try. It’s like a right of passage.
What really warms my heart about the entire mess is that Ridgewood 120 LLC has owned the property since 2007, thinking they would flip it quick to then Mayor Pfund and Village Manager Jim TenBeers. So think about it. This outfit probably thought they would hold the property for less than a year and make a quick buck. Fast forward 17 years later, and they still own it. On top of that they have paid 17 years of property taxes on an income-loosing piece of contaminated land. At this point I don’t think they could ever recoup their “investment,” selling the property at any current market price.
The shady deal fell through, and the bad actors lost tons of money. It serves them right. Maybe Pee Wee is buddies with that group, and he is trying to bail them out. It would not surprise me.
The truck says it all…this is Saracenos property.
Let him clean it up.
Another example of Paul Vagianos and his incompetence. This man is unfit to serve the public and should be banned from service. His self serving ways and a costing taxpayers millions.
Of course Paul Vagainos wants a parking lot there, at the expense of taxpayers. It’s a free land grab for him to add parking for his 4 properties and landlord friends.
WAKE UP RIDGEWOOD! #PaulVagianos and friends are using tax payer resources to benefit their private businesses.
Elections have consequences folks. Just venting here isn’t going to do much except make you feel a little better. Vote and tell your friends to vote
This will cost us A LOT of money.
It will take YEARS (decades?)
…and it will benefit a handful of people.
The American Dream is still alive!
Thank you for the transparency. I’m sick of the Village Manager churning posts of puppies and unicorns. Give us the facts, good, bad and ugly. #keithkazmark #stoplying
What a deceitful and dishonest group. They were only going to announce this upon completion. Are they not supposed to get public consent to buy properties or does everything always have to be hidden from the residents.