the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The critics were right. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Historic Preservation Office has officially deemed Ridgewood’s plan to build a large artificial turf sports field next to the historic Zabriskie-Schedler House an encroachment that fails to meet preservation standards.
In a letter dated May 29, the state Historic Preservation Office told Ridgewood officials that the “size, scale, and materials” of the proposed field and its amenities are incompatible with the historic property and violate the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
Ridgewood Ignored the Warnings — And It Shows
The letter, sent by HPO Administrator Katherine Marcopul to Village Manager Keith Kazmark, reinforces what preservationists and local residents have long argued: The plan is too big, too disruptive, and completely out of step with the site’s historical significance.
The current plan—approved by the Ridgewood Village Council in April 2023—calls for overlapping adult-sized baseball and multipurpose artificial turf fields. But it’s not the final say yet. The project is now heading toward a key review by the New Jersey Historic Sites Council on June 19.
Here’s What the State Wants Ridgewood to Fix
In a list that reads like a reality check, the letter outlines what Ridgewood must do if it wants any chance of moving forward:
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Add an enhanced planting plan to screen the field from the historic house
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Submit plans for a comfort station, lighting, benches, bleachers, and other park amenities
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Provide an analysis of alternative plans, including the 2017 child-sized 50-yard x 75-yard grass field
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Explain the choice of synthetic turf vs. natural grass, given the site’s agricultural history
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Justify parking expansion in relation to the field’s scale
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Submit a remediation plan for 11,000+ cubic yards of contaminated soil dumped on-site in 2018–2019
Residents Say “We Told You So”
Ellie Gruber, who leads the Friends of the Historic Zabriskie Schedler House, didn’t mince words:
“The village has made a misstep, and they shouldn’t be trying to get such a large field.”
She added that a smaller, grass-only field would not only protect the historic character of the site but would also make neighbors much happier. Many locals still support the original 2017 plan — a modest, child-sized field and walking path with minimal intrusion.
Upcoming Hearing: Mark Your Calendar
Ridgewood’s revised application will be reviewed by the New Jersey Historic Sites Council on June 19 at 10 a.m.
Remote access is available via Zoom:
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Meeting ID: 224 415 965 709
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Passcode: gE2AMon
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Their bait and switch failed.
time to fire KK
brought him in to get this over the finish line
fail
Please!!!!
Love it !
Take that Peewee !!
They will never learn what they they don’t stop, isn’t it amazing how pushy they are for this field. Enough is enough already stop wasting time effort and money. This is gonna be the law of the state and that’s it. No but Ridge was going to have their attorneys We’re gonna fight. You see what they worry about, but when it comes to the public health regarding the toxic contamination, they don’t give two shits about. If they did and were concerned, they would reach out to neighboring homeowners and employees for their well-being. how can these politicians and upper management put their head on on the pillow at night, this is what we’ve been telling you all about these people have no backbone, they have no blood in their veins, just ice, their hypocrites, liars, they look right at your face and they believe their bullshit stories. All their closed door, backdoor meetings are done we know who you are.
Didn’t experts say that Benjamin Franklin could not be expanded but also that Glen School could be and yet this was never made apparent to the state agency? Seems very manipulative on the part of Vagianos, Winograd, Weitz and the village manager going along with the lies. What a shame.
Gee. I wonder why PFAS Paulie doesn’t say anything about Glen as a possibility.
Lies? What Lies, this board is 100% Transparent, so is the Mgr.
I guess it might be transparent when you are looking through the rose colored glasses that they pass out at meetings. Go refill your oxygen machine, you need a breath of fresh air.
If we tried to make a list of all of the questions this mayor and council have told over many months. It could make for an interesting artifactor a time capsule that Matrix New Worl Engineering could dig up on the property many years from now at $1,250.00 per hour. Ya, that sounds right.
You mean a list of all of their lies.
Ha ha ha!
Dirty Paulie and his clown council get humiliated yet again.
Seriously…how many times is this idiotic fantasy field going to get reality-checked?
This is NEVER going to happen. Council-you are embarrassing yourselves and more importantly, our town.
Now stop spending our money on it, waive the white flag, and move on to more pressing business.
Hahaha. All you fanatical sports a-holes have been TOLD
scottie?
Maybe the Village should just let a developer build
My understanding is the property is not zoned for development – so anytime the council or manager say that, it’s purely a bully statement and acting as a threat to residents. RT 17 south, are the target for developers as that is how the majority of the traffic flows for rush hour.
Where can we see the full letter?
https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/DocumentCenter/View/5484/Response-to-SHPO-Application?bidId=
Next smack down will be from Valley Hospital.
Didn’t Evan Weitz say that the state has no say so about what we do with our property?
Evan Has no clue, I bet he just thought they could Bond it and they would be all set !! I also guess Keith Kazshark doesn’t have the pull Paulie Hired him for.
exactly…he should be fired
I want to hear Evan Weitz tell the SHPO State officials that they cannot control what Ridgewood does with the property. C’mon Evan this is your moment where you can assert that municipal authority you think you have.
Evan The Bond King will say nothing during the SHPO presentation. 100% guaranteed.
Will council person SW “community Karen” have something to say?
A five-year-old could have told us that ten years ago.
They sold their souls to the sports groups and have no other choice but to go down with the sinking ship.
How much did they pay Primavera for his ability to steer the project through SHPO?
Wonder what Mrs. Due Diligence thinks.
Not only the shady consultant, Primavera, but lots of hands in the pockets of Ridgewood for this project. Matrix Engineering, Suburban Engineering, Ruffel from Preservation NJ historic consultant, attorneys, and more. Costing taxpayers $1.5MM to start for a village mistake. Priceless
https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/DocumentCenter/View/5484/Response-to-SHPO-Application?bidId=
Read the letter yourself.
That letter is incredible. What a 3rd rate joke this town has become.
Final nail in the coffin
Project is dead. Mismanagement, deception, poor planning, bad decisions, health hazards and many other reasons led to its demise. It is a good case study for other towns to learn from the self inflicted wounds caused by Village leadership.
Kazmark is tight with Tanesha Way, deputy Lt Gov of NJ and also Shawn LaTourette, so he probably thinks this is a slam dunk. We will see.
Keith is no fool.
The Schedler Scheme is Paulie, Wino, and the Engineer’s debacle, not his.
He’s not wasting favors on a DOA baseball field (with a massive remediation bill looming) that he could care less about.
If Keith Kazmark was smart he would recuse himself at the hearing because he knows Shawn LaTorrette and it would really look like political favoritism for him to weigh in on the project given this relationship. I think he has aspirations to go higher in the political world and this VM roles is a stepping stone. Does he want the Schedler debacle to haunt his political career?
the level of of who knows who and who knows what is what is concerning. Calling in favors, Keith?
Does the state agency know that the head of Ridgewood baseball, deeply rooted in this BS plan, suggested dumping all of the contaminated soil onto the former Mayor’s property? When they ask about the remediation efforts in the plan, will this be included. After all, he went on record as the President of RBSA stating that this was his remediation solution.
Will the man-child Scottie be wearing his cool baseball uniform for the Zoom call on June 19th?
I say, go for it.
Was not Whino’s husband part of the group who decided on a smaller field and eco turf as a proposed solution? She is always talking about how much she loves kids but with everything we know about lawsuits over PFAS in our water, why would she keep insisting that this field be turf along with the other dorks, Weitz, Mortimer and that joke of a mayor.
Frank Mortimer said that artificial turf is safe, so don’t worry. Would you trust this guy to tell you anything? Marketing flim slammer for sure. What a dummy? I also would not buy honey from a dude who thinks that plastic grass with PFAS is not toxic.
After this clown show plan is formally rejected, and the scale of remediation costs become clear, I guarantee you Wino will pivot back to the 2017 Schedler Plan, the one she publicly supported during her campaign.
And she will do this without a single ounce of shame.
Who cares what Whino does. She knows less than a preschooler. She is a dim bulb. This was all orchestrated by one person and that is Paul Vagianos. The rest are just his puppets but he is the puppet master.
Where is Walt Kane from Kane in your corner. He should cover the hearing on Channel 12 so that all of New Jersey can see what a joke Ridgewood has become.
Once again, team Vagianos, one of, if not the worst most politically incorrect bunch of liars made up of council members and village manager puppets, thinks nothing of taking tax dollars to continue this ridiculous plan while lying to a government agency. It is really quite unbelievable that this guy can think that this is okay.
No the final nail will be from the law suit regarding the exposure of contamination. We have a few employees passed and present that documentation shows that they were there. And guess what everyone especially the lawyers for the Village Of Ridgewood. There is no timeframe on this lawsuit. Meaning, if any individual that feels good now, but a few years down the road test positive, guess what the village is responsible to the end. And is now getting out of this. Who to blame well, mayors, council members, managers, especially, engineering department, head of departments, Health department, village attorneys, this is more than dropping the ball and what’s extremely amazing is that how many individuals are very quiet about this, they don’t even mention it Very sneaky, or they just scared to bring it up. But don’t worry we, and I do mean we are on top of this. And what is so fantastic is that Bergen County Department of health, New Jersey state DEP, village taxpayers, don’t even know that the village choose not to is the situation with reaching out to any concern residence, or employees. And yes, you have a few certain individuals. will put thumbs down. that’s OK, you have your right to your opinion, we know who you are people talk.☠️ speaking with a birth officials from the state. I just saw flabbergasted over the village. This is a big hit for the town, very embarrassing, they lost their sense of responsibility, no one can trust them and that’s coming from the top of New Jersey.
Don’t worry village manager Kazmark and the village CFO Rooney think that there will be a giant windfall of tax money from Valley Hospital coming soon, so this should help with lawsuits from either village workers and residents impacted. Also you think $1.5 million is going to cut it to clean up the dirty dirt, guess again. You are talking way more than that to move and dispose of this contaminated soil, so when Valley money doesn’t come through guess who will be on the hook for this village boondoggle? Once again the deep pockets from RW residents.
Please help Habernickel That was a smoke and mirrors job too. The DEP could not have approved this business taking so much from that park and that neighborhood along with all the favors$$$. Someone look into this! It’s does not seem right. It’s not a non profit and it’s not a shared profit endeavor with the town
You have to get Green Acres to look into what Keith Kazmark is now trying to keep secret with closed meetings on the lease. If Ridgewood needs money so badly, why do they give ridiculously low cost leases to private businesses who are running operations. Healthbarn has multiple entities and It is not solely a non profit and there are many amenities like a brand new $350,000.00 pavilion because they have friends in high places who had financial entanglements like Mayor Vagianos and Ramon Cache.
It’s not NON profit at all. The non profit part is located in lydhurst owned by the same owner of the business at the gate house. Green acres only listens to the VM and Nancy Bigios. They do not want to hear the truth. It has been 9 years of mis management from parks and rec covering up what is really going on over there. Green acres does NOT want to step in and that is the confusing part. Because it goes against green acres by laws. Someone is facilitating false information to green acres
They have a huge kitchen and patio area for private parties, a brand new $350,000 pavilion that no other park has that will soon to be fully equipped with at least 1-2 bathrooms because Healthbarn doesn’t want kids in the house to go potty unless they are part of a private party they are throwing. There is a washer and dryer and shower and garage. A giant gardening brand new ADA playground. What has this tenant done to deserve all of this for less that $4,000 per month. Crazy! and allowed to run operations for private events and parties all while looking like a non profit.
Yes!!! This^^^. While “looking “ like a non profit. This business runs over 65 hours a week!!!!! 6 days and evening too. Why all the favors? Why does green acres turn the other way? Why is Nancy Bigios and others so overly involved? Yet never in the park Nancy? Ridgewood department meetings are held there with the owner. Why does she have more say in that park than the tax payers and neighbors? What is really going on? Why did Ramon Hache use this business for his feed the front lines? Where did the 4 million go that was presented to him, the mayor and this business owner? Seriously how do we get to the bottom of this? And what is our new village mangers personal interest?
Send anonymous videos if all of the hours or activities going on outside the lease. Send to green acres. They can’t deny photos and videos then if you get no results, send to the attorney generals office
I believe there are folks in the neighborhood who have already been doing just that.
At least wo families I know of.
Of course the taxpayers will be paying the bill. And you’re exactly right. The price to remove. The cat made soil is going up day by day, oh well.
The town of Roselle New Jersey popped up on the news today regarding their Dpw yard is contaminated employees are getting sick and the same thing as occurring there with members of the mayor, council, management looking a blonde eye. There you go wake up people it’s no joke. This is about the safety of the neighbors and employees, the bottom line is they know they got caught with their pants down.
Test Hebernickle. It was built up too at some point. I don’t want to bring my kids there until it’s tested. It’s looks run down could it be from the toxins
There was plenty of toxic dirt dumped at that location filled in major holes the swimming pool in the back of the old main house that whole property should be tested. we had employees working there for a long period of time. The village should just stop ignoring this and just get these sites tested, do the right thing for once. I love to meet the individual stuff with thumbs down, obviously they’re misinformed from the DEP they must be management. I wouldn’t trust anyone from the village Hall.☎️ you can call me anytime. I’ll be more than happy to meet you.
Yes that place has to be loaded with contaminated soil. They filled in a pool and foundation of a home. The only toxic area that they said was fixed was by the garden and pkayscape. Small area. How did they narrow that down. The woods, trails and all grassy area should be tested. Especially where the barn was and areas where trees keep dying
Who cares what Whino does. She knows less than a preschooler. She is a dim bulb. This was all orchestrated by one person and that is Paul Vagianos. The rest are just his puppets but he is the puppet master.
We have much more pressing quality of life issues in Ridgewood. Just wait til Valley wins and everyone’s taxes go through the roof. We bonded for the everything, you think we are covered? I am willing to bet we are nkt even close. When all of these bonds need to be paid and no money from Valley, it will get interesting.
I would love to see that. The village is one big scam one after another. Oh don’t worry I have a few more spots for the D e p to inspect. Just remember I have more info than anyone else. Enjoy shit heads.
Hot of the press , with speaking with state health official’s of New Jersey and the DEP, they are with talks with BERGEN County health department, will be reaching out too the village of Ridgewood health department, with regards of a list of employees that worked at that location, and other locations throughout the village that have and had contamination on their sites. This is extremely important for the health and well-being of those individuals. This all will be documented. This is what happens when the village fails to do their part, well I guess my thumb is on top of their heads right now. Because I just supersede them. Remember Ridgewood answers for the state, the state doesn’t answer to Ridgewood. They sweep us under the carpet, well now I just lifted the carpet up. And to you individuals that put thumbs down guess what this is for you🖕🏼, enjoy
You should reach out to News12 or The Record.
Everyone should be calling channel 12 news, and other major networks. But the investigation news department at channel 12 has been doing a pretty good story on it.
Again, thumbs down, you have no balls, no backbone, no blood in your veins, no guts, because if you did, you would give us a call you pieces of shit
☠️