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Time to Clean Up the Town Garage in Ridgewood

Town Garage Ridgewood
September 1,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the residents in Ridgewood reject the idea the town is run by an”anti-development majority opinion”. The objection most have with the proposed development projects is that they do little to help improve the central business district and do almost nothing to address some of the current problems . A typical example is the newly misguided proposal of destroying Van Neste park . The simple fact is that it will like most of the current proposals that will do nothing to fix the town garage property and issues dating back to 2007.

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Readers have previously stated the, “Previous councils also spent over $1.0 million on “environmental studies” with funds raised from the previous Village garage bonding. They were looking to remediate the land on a old gas station site and the site of the old Town Garage. What happened to those studies????”

In 2007 , the Town Garage has a checked past and was featured in a series of articles on the Ridgewood blog ,”The current hot discussion topic among those who monitor Village Hall happenings is how an out of town firm was able purchase the Town Garage property from right out under the noses of Village Council members. Village ownership of the subject property (see posted photo) is seen as key to the successful construction of a municipal parking garage.” https://theridgewoodblog.net/the-town-garage-120-franklin-avenue-the-eye-of-the-storm/

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More Recently the Town Garage was featured prominently in the parking lot discussion for the central business district in Ridgewood .” the Town Garage site and the village owned property in that area.  The DEP declared it a remediation site 10 years ago.  Nothing has been done and their is an underground water stream running through the property that is compromised by seepage from the hydraulic and diesel fuel tanks still buried there,  The village spent 35,000 dollars to identify what needed to be done several years ago and I have not heard a thing until last weeks meeting at the very end where the council discussed briefly the abandoned property ordinance, eminent domain and the fact that there is a toxic flume at the site which is adding to the contamination and needs monitoring so as to minimize the effect on the water and I believe wells were mentioned.  I have more information which I will forward to you.  Saw in old minutes where Keith Killion and Pat Mancuso saw the need to clean the site and put a garage there.  It is so much more centrally located and would be used by employees, shoppers ,diners as well as commuters more readily than HUdson Street.”
https://theridgewoodblog.net/town-garage-site-in-ridgewood-and-the-village-owned-property-in-that-area-still-a-dep-declared-it-a-remediation-site/

The fact remains the Town Garage property must be cleaned up and made safe . It is one of many properties down town that need major rehabilitation . A rehabilitation in keeping with and consistent with the over all small town feel of the Village of Ridgewood .
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20 thoughts on “Time to Clean Up the Town Garage in Ridgewood

  1. Hear hear. How many years or decades must go by before the right thing is done? Meanwhile we throw millions of dollars at the wall. Take the place by eminent domain, clean it up (surely grants are available when public drinking water is involved), and use the lot for something appropriate, such as a garage–not housing or retail (or a performing arts center).

  2. The above article may be true, but who will be on the hook to pay for this mess?

  3. Pull out the tanks, start cleaning, pave and use for parking.

  4. It needs to get cleaned but it is not a viable commuter garage location. Too far from the train.

  5. The Town Garage is about a quarter mile from the train. How could that be considered too far?

  6. “It needs to get cleaned but it is not a viable commuter garage location. Too far from the train.”
    .
    Commuter Garage???
    I thought we needed a CBD “shoppers/diners” garage – wasn’t that the rationale for the monster garage on Hudson St?

    Or wait were we lied to… again?

    .

  7. Funny how a quarter mile is too far in Jersey, but many people walk far longer than that in Manhattan.
    Exercise would do many people some good.

  8. Would be a great location for a Stewarts. Or a beer garden. Then again, every location is a great location for beer garden.

  9. A beer garden next to the Ben & Jerry’s patio for a rollicking Franklin Avenue. Patrons can throw things to each other.

  10. Brian, too far from the train? It’s only 3 short blocks! If the train were the only consideration, then Ken Smith property would be the prime location since it’s adjacent to the platform.

  11. Great article! The longer we wait to clean up the site, the more expensive it gets, Matt Rogers said at the present time it would be around1.2 million. There are grants available. It can be part of the development contract if we should ever decide what we want to do there. We can acquire the property through eminent domain. It is the perfect place for a municipal garage as it will provide parking for the CBD and for commuters. The Hudson street lot would never have provided legitimate parking opportunities for shoppers, employees, diners etc. Franklin Ave needs to be attended to and it is a major artery for all Ridgewood travel. This is where we should put our intellectual and financial capital resources to work.

  12. The problem with the town garage is that is a pollution nightmare. The property is now owned by a group of private investors who scooped it up to profit from a possible quick sale to the town as a parking garage. The investors should be on the hook for the remediation, but surely own the property in some sort of LLC with no assets. The town should take the property or start proceedings to have the current owners clean it up. the current cost of $1.2 million is an estimate and costs can surely be higher. We have let this pollution continue for too long and based on us having a ground water system need to do something NOW. we have waited wait too long. Hopefully the new council will shift into high gear and get something accomplished. That parking lot along with the town garage would make a nice parking garage. Forget about retail space.

  13. We still have a village council?

  14. who ever own,s it needs to clean it up. it’s a shit hole, how come the council did zip on this site, send the owner a must warning letter to clean the place up.

  15. What we desperately need is another bank.

  16. Worrying about what to build there is missing the point. Even if the entire lot were left undeveloped, we can’t just let all that poison contaminate our water! Clean it up now!

  17. I smell a lawsuit. And the remediation work will cost double or triple the $1.2 million mentioned above. Soil and ground water remediation is a mafia/Union racket. And municipal work ALWAYS goes over budget on “change orders” and graft, thats how municipalities, Bergen country and the state government in Trenton steal from taxpayers. Follow the money on who did the initial $1.0 million environmental assessment with monies raised as part of the previous municipal garage bonding…. Stinks higher than the toxic sludge at the old town garage.

  18. So who exactly is this LLC who owns the property? Usually remediation responsibilities go back to the prior owners and so on and so on … it is a real blight in the center of town and until it is resolved, the current owners should at least be required to keep it neat.

  19. send the police over, give out warning letters to clean the site up.

  20. Maybe they can put a chain link fence around it.

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