June 20, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 5 Ridgewood New highway commercial zone gets green light by John Koster The Ridgewood Village Council supported the unanimous decision of the Ridgewood Planning Board and voted for a small new highway commercial zone along Route 17, despite the objections of some people who live within sight of the new zone. “Please, please, no. Don’t turn the strip into more commercial (property),” one woman said at the meeting. She was the only detractor at the most recent meeting, but at past meetings other residents have said they enjoy the view of the sunrise and the sight of the trees and that they hoped to see the site left as it is. The case for the creation of the small new zone through a change of the master plan was briefly presented by Thomas Wells, an attorney representing the property owners. Wells said that private land owners had owned the property in question for 35 years and had been unable to develop it until the Ridgewood Planning Board, over a period of two years, had worked on a zone that would allow commercial development related to the highway, but not at all related to the residential neighborhoods nearby. The site, Wells confirmed, would have no access to either Linwood Avenue or to Paramus Road, the two county roads on the perimeters, but only to and from the highway. The planning board unanimously favored the master plan revision,” Wells said. Mayor Keith Killion and Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh, both of whom are also Ridgewood Planning Board members, confirmed Wells’ statement. The new zone was approved unanimously by adoption of an ordinance at the June 13 public meeting. Supporters of the change said the property owners have the right to make use of the land on which they have paid taxes for 35 years, and Ridgewood can use the ratables as long as the residents’ safety and privacy are protected. The new highway commercial zone is officially intended to avoid the “highway strip” appearance by requiring generous setbacks and imposing architectural, sign, and landscaping standards. The ordinance forbids motor vehicle sales or rentals, filling stations, garden centers, contractor yards, storage warehouses, drive-in restaurants with heavy takeout uses, hotels, motels, and other commercial establishments. The ordinance establishes the minimum lot size as 75,000 square feet, minimum frontage as 300 feet on the access street, maximum floor area coverage as 25 percent of the lot, and maximum improvement coverage -- including the parking area -- as 75 percent of the lot. Driveway access to non-residential uses is limited to access to Route 17, except for emergency access, and the parking areas are to contain landscaped areas of at least 10 square feet for each parking space in the lot. The ordinance requires 30foot buffers to separate non-residential uses from residential zones outside the highway commercial zone. The ordinance requires that at least 10 percent of the surface area of walls in new construction shall consist of windows and doors, and discourages large bare wall spaces. No artificial lighting that leads to a nuisance for neighboring properties will be permitted. Boyd Loving, a resident who frequently speaks at coun- The Ridgewood Board of Education has accepted $8,564 in donations from three different groups for the enhancement of student life without the use of tax dollars. The George Washington Middle School Home and School Association donated $4,800 to pay the chaperone expenses for the eighth grade trip to Washington, and the Willard School Home and School Association donated $2,764 for Willard School field trip expenses. Trustees accept $8,564 for district cil meetings, did not comment during the hearing on the new zone, but objected to a separate land transaction: the agreement to purchase a small section of land adjacent to the Schedler Property, the General Energy Property, for $100,000. Loving said the land had most recently been revalued at $67,200 and that the stipulated price was a 33 percent increase over what the land is officially worth. “You heard my comments on this one at the last meeting,” Loving said. “I think we have been squeezed on this one, and I don’t like being squeezed.” Replying to a question from Loving, Ridgewood Village Attorney Matt Rogers said the owner of the property had indeed been approached by Ridgewood and had declined to donate the property to the village instead of selling it. “There was never any doubt in anybody’s mind that he was not going to give us the property,” Rogers said. The acquisition of the added land increases the size of the Schedler Property, which Ridgewood bought for $2.7 million a few years ago. The village has not officially determined whether the land will be kept pristine or developed with a recreation field on part of the acreage, and trees and parking on the remainder. The $100,000 transaction included $30,000 from the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund, $30,000 from (continued on page 17) The Ridgewood Japanese Association donated $1,000 to upgrade the sound system at the Education Center. Ridgewood Board of Education members and school administrators cite the donations such as the ones received at the June 4 meeting as an excellent way to maintain the high quality of education in Ridgewood at a reasonable cost. J. KOSTER