the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Zabriskie Schedler Property is a long story with many misteps , including the fact that a former councilwomen didnt knwo it was in Ridgewood . The Village Council rescinded the 2015 Aronsohn/ Sonenfeld resolution that included a 90 ft.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 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 completed in late 2017.
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 2017. Click herefor the presentation. 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 Village Council voted to adopt this new plan in 2018. Later in the year, our Engineering Department brought in free landfill from multi-family housing developments and Ridgewood Water repairs to create a berm and level out the land.
Hearings were held on the pre-approval of bidders for the historic house. The scope of the work included the replacement of the roof, as well as interior restoration of the house including replacement of doors and windows, plumbing, HVAC, and renovation of the kitchen. Preliminary work was done for the submission of the Zabriskie-Schedler House into the National and State Register of Historic Places, which will be considered by the State in March this year. The Village applied for, and received, grant funding through Bergen County Historic Preservation grants. We received 50/50 matching grants of $116,725 (Phase I), $200,000 (Phase IIa) and $75,650 (Phase IIb), for a total in grant funding of $392,375, which will be matched by the Village. The Village also applied for a Community Development Block Grant for the ADA ramp into the house from the parking lot.
Every so often the town Council gets it right. I have no problem criticizing, so I have to give kudos when they do something good.
And let’s not forget: the view from Dad’s house is much improved.
yes all the construction is a big improvement ,give it up already…………………..
It’s going to cost a hell of a lot more money than at the restore that house that place is going to be a money pit come on who are you falling. Did you put up a concrete wall along 17 930
It’s going to cost a hell of a lot more money than at the restore that house that place is going to be a money pit come on who are you falling. Did you put up a concrete wall along 17,
The haters cannot stop hating. Leave Susan’s family alone. And by the way you asshole, her father passed away. Show a little compassion
All of those municipal taxpayer dollars cleaning up the brush through 2017 for Jack & Clara Traina, and bird watchers who don’t spend money in the Ridgewood CBD. Why does the Village need to own this dilapidated home and 7-acre property, the Habernickle farm, and the old Elks HQ which takes these properties off the municipal tax rolls? https://www.elec.state.nj.us/ELECReport/SearchContributorDetails.aspx?cid=15EB62
most parents support their kids , it is not very much money
Two-faced hypocrisy. The cries about Habernickle from all of the Knudsen sycophants posting here with James’ obvious approval? What has your girl done for the greater good of all Ridgewood residents? She’s had a narrow focus of self-interests, period.
Including wages, accumulated sick leave, platinum healthcare and other benefits private sector workers don’t get, every new police and fire hire in Ridgewood costs the Village $5 mm+ in today’s dollars. We should get the top candidates in the County and state for that, not just through nepotism for Village residents. That’s $15 mm+ on the ledger for Knudsen’s sons and yet she refuses to recuse from Council discussions on contracts or the RPD or RFD. Why is Ridgewood Water moving to the Elks HQ, hmmm? We shouldn’t even be in the water business as a Village, so sell it and the Elks. To say she’s conflicted is an understatement. Rogers won’t say anything on this because he works for Susan and her sycophants on the Council, not Villagers.
police bashing is going to get you know where , the Police department is governed by civil service laws , if you don’t like then stop voting for guys like Murphy and you might at lest stand a chance of changing them
Rogers works for the mayor ,Susan is not the mayor
Rogers works for the entire Council. And who wears the pants? Knudsen’s emails come seconds after Hache’s emails.
What’s with multiple posters including Jane Shinozuka and James thing the Knudsen line that she’s only one of five Council members? There is a block of voters that do what she says including Sedon, Walsh and Hache. Schedler is on the Village Council public agenda yet again despite our failing CBD, further bankruptcies, multiple potholes, rising Village debt, Valley leaving (no need fur so many cops any more). This woman worked tirelessly to ensure the residency requirements remained and that the college equivalency requirements were ignored. RPD hires are based on Civil service laws yes, plus educational & residency requirements set by the Village. Why haven’t you followed up on the alleged attempts by Knudsen to change the college equivalency requirements? Or maintain the residency requirements?
The town lawyer “works” for the Council is probably a true fact. He seems absolutely incapable of challenging any council member over anything they want, even if is detrimental to the village. One thing for sure, he “doesn’t wear the pants”! There have been so many things that are not beneficial to the town–including the garage and ALL the new downtown construction. Is it possible that he could have placed a limit to the over-building? Could he have encouraged this and prior Councils to take some action that would have allowed the first one or two but not everyone who asked? Our neighboring communities have fought hard to prevent open development. Our Council and lawyer welcomed them with open arms. And we didn’t have “a builders’ remedy ” filed to force us (which still could have been limited as to the amount of construction they could do.) Residents howled and complained about the construction during BOTH Councils reign and the lawyer never, publicly at least, considered listening to them and making a complaint. Is he being paid to make sure that everything the Council’s want is easily granted–against many ardent complainers?
A lot of the anti kundsen types should move Virginia they would fit in better
Haters they all be. With the constant attacks and lies to advance their 2020 candidates. Didn’t Voight and company file all their manufactured complaints with state ethics board? Didn’t the state ethics board find their looney claims baseless? Same ethics board found aronsohn and sonenfold guilty of ethics violations.
Voight and company are launching 2020 with the same old lies. Guess they already forgot Knudsen won by a landslide despite their efforts to malign and destroy her.
There are only a few knudsen haters who keep regurgitating the same bullsh***.
Virginia deserves them. Haters won’t be missed.
Wear the pants? Sexist statement. Something against women?
there is a well know gang in town of bigots and misogynist that have been after Knudsen since day one
Voigt is getting ready to run in 2020?
This blog is nothing more than a campaign platform for Knudsen and her apologists.
Sadly this blog has a one way agenda and refuses to call out Knudsen and Sedon for the lack of any meaningful progress for Village residents. Who does Schedler benefit? The apologists here won’t even calm her out fur her support for Garagezilla, but go crazy to this day about the redevelopment of the eyesores in our CBD like the decrepit Ken Smith Chevrolet, Brogan Cadillac or the old Town Garage. Let’s call balls and strikes instead of being sycophants for a narrow interest Council member.
Think of the high density housing this way ,if you kissed the right arse
When your wife kicks you out youll have some cheap housing to turn too
I WOULD LOVE THE KNOW THE COST OF THE COPPER ROOF AND GUTTERS ON THE ZABRISKIE- SCHEDLER HOUSE. THANK YOU.