Village Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. This is the village council regular public meeting. The date is February 11th, 2026. The time is 6:30. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall, by mail to the Rididgewood News, the record, and by submission to all persons entitled the same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting. Roll call. Council member Mortimer here. Deputy Mayor Parin here. Council member Whites here. Council member Windgrad here. Mayor Vajanos

here. Will you all please join us in a salute to our flag? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And we will go to the minutes. I move the village council minutes of January 7th, 2026, having been reviewed by the village council and now available in the village clerk's office be approved as submitted. I second that. Mortimer, yes. Parin, yes. Whites, yes. Wiggrad, yes.

And yes. And now we have a couple of proclamations to read. So Frank, you want to kick it off?

Yep. Whereas the National Education Association's ReadAcross America Day, which promotes a nationalwide love of reading, will be celebrated on March 2nd, 2026, honoring the birthday of Theodore Seuss Gazelle, better known as Dr. Seuss. And whereas read across America will be observed statewide through the New Jersey Education Association and its partners to encourage reading and adult involvement in students educations. And whereas the village of Ridgewood is committed to fostering strong reading habits that support students academic success and future opportunities. And whereas the village recognizes that community engagement and investment in education strengthen our quality of life and long-term well-being. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the village council of the village of Rididgewood urges all residents to ensure every child is reading with a caring adult on March 2nd, 2026. And be it further resolved that the village council proudly supports ReadAcross America Day and reaffirms its dedication to promoting programs that help make America's children strong, enthusiastic readers.

Thank you, Frank. And let's move on, Evan. Super Science Saturday. So whereas Saturday, March 7th, 2026, is a 37th annual Super Science Saturday, which is a communitywide fair dedicated to the idea that science is exciting and fun and has students from all of Rididgewood schools participating in the Hall of Science. Whereas this event is built as the greatest science extravaganza in Northern New Jersey. And more than 1,000 science lovers from Rididgewood and surrounding communities will flock to Rididgewood High School to see a host of science exhibits, workshops, and demonstrations. Whereas super science Saturday appeals to everyone from the casual observer to the aspiring scientists sparking an interest in students, adults and organizing and organiz organizations wishing to further explore their passion and where some of the events will include science circus presented by the library science center exhibits from the Brooklyn Robot Foundry, Thomas Edison National Historical Park, the Ridgewood Police Fire and EMS, and whereas this year's Super Science Saturday will present the sky tonight, a brand new planetarium exhibit inviting the community to explore the wonders of Rididgewood's night sky. And whereas this annual event, which began over 30 years ago by award-winning science teacher Jim Wallace to encourage families to share their scientific interests and talents, is now run by a parents committee of dedicated volunteers and has become a hallmark of goodwill and cooperation which provides a valuable service to our youth. Now therefore, be it resolved that the village council of the village of Rididgewood does hereby proclaim March 7th, 2026 as Super Science Saturday in the village of Rididgewood and invite science enthusiasts of all ages to come to Rididgewood High School to join the festivities. Thanks, Evan. And let me just say for those of you who have never been to Super Science Saturday, it is one of the most fun events in town. Um, I recommend it. Um, you can spend 10 minutes there or several hours. I I I defy you to spend 10 minutes there. Um Jim Wallace, just by chance, was my both of my daughters science teachers when they were in

middle school. Pam, dad's night. Okay, we're going down into the Well, excuse me. No, no, no. My fault. I'm We're We're taking this one out of order. Yeah, I'm last. Nope. You're absolutely right. Siobhan.

Sure. So whereas the American Red Cross, founded in 1881 and chartered by Congress in 1905, has served as a vital emergency response and humanitarian organization for more than 140 years. And whereas the Red Cross through its dedicated volunteers, donors, and partners provides impartial assistance in times of need. And whereas the organization shelters, feeds, and comforts people affected by disasters, supplying about 40% of the nation's blood, teaching teaches life-saving skills, delivers humanitarian aid, and supports service members, veterans, and their families. And whereas in 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed the first Red Cross Month to honor community heroes who ensure their neighbors would never face crisis alone. And whereas the Red Cross invites all residents to participate in Red Cross month by giving blood, volunteering, or learning life-saving skills. Now, therefore, it be resolved that the village council of the village of Rididgewood does hereby proclaim March 2026 as the American Red Cross Month in the village of Rididgewood. And I also just want to remind the public that if you haven't taken a CPR class, um this council had an initiative last year and we're continuing it this year. Um if anybody would like to learn CPR, we do offer it through our fire department and please just reach out. It's an extremely important skill for everybody to have.

Thanks Siobhan. And I am going to read the proclamation proclaiming March colurectal cancer cancer awareness month. Whereas colurectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in the United States taking more than 55,000 American lives each year. and is a major health concern for New Jersey families as it is now the leading cause of cancer death in men under 50 and the second in women under 50 and whereas colurectal cancer cancer is both preventable and treatable and an estimated 55% of cases and deaths are linked to modifiable risk factors such as diet, physical inactivity, smoking and alcohol use. And whereas in February 2000, President Clinton designated March as National Colurectal Cancer Month to raise awareness and encourage screening. Yet nearly onethird of eligible individuals remain unscreened, allowing the disease to pro progress before symptoms appear. And whereas the New Jersey Cancer Education and Early Detection Program provides comprehensive education, outreach, screening, case management, and follow-up services throughout New Jersey. And whereas the 2026 national theme, uniting for equity across the CRC continuum, highlights the urgent need to reduce disparities and ensure that all communities benefit from prevention, early detection, and treatment. Now therefore, be it resolved that the village council of the village of Rididgewood does hereby proclaim March 2026 as colorctyl cancer awareness month in the village of Rididgewood, New Jersey and urges all residents to learn

about colorctal cancer cancer and get screened. Thank you all. And now, okay, we will go to a more fun proclamation which is for dad's night. And we're going to go into the well. And who are we inviting up? Uh Kevin Quinn and Heather. Do we have a mic? Or Dylan? Can we have a mic? Dylan, can we have a mic? Dylan's gonna get one. Let's go.

Yep. This is the proclamation for Dad's Night. If anybody in the room has ever been in Dad's Night, I invite you to come up for this proclamation as well. Okay, so Paul's here. Anybody else? Matt.

Oh, yeah. is a former chairman of Dad's Night. This is a position that will live in

and you wrote for Dad's Night also, right? Didn't you write the skits also? Yeah.

Okay. Whereas the village of Ridgewood treasures its children and whereas our school system supports and nurtures our children and whereas Dad's Night has helped our schools by raising hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past 80 years. And whereas Dad's Night is dedicated to providing this service to the vill's children. And whereas this year's event will be titled Dad's Night 82, Mission Imp Mission Dad Possible. Now therefore, the village council of the village of Rididgewood does hereby proclaim Friday, March 6, 2026 and Saturday, March 7, 2026 as Dad's Night 82 Mission Dad Possible at Somerville Elementary School and Paw Elementary School in the village of Ridgewood in honor of all the dads here this evening. as well as those who have volunteered before them. So,

yeah. And just out of curiosity, why is it Dad's Night 82 if you've been doing this for 80 years? I think there was a few years that the show was so bad we decided not to talk about it. Those are the years that that Matt was chairman, but hopefully that doesn't happen this year. Okay. Did you want to say anything else? No, just thank you very much and thank you for all the support from everyone in the community. Uh whether it's coming to see the show or local business that are sponsoring. We really appreciate it helping out all of our kids at SS Halls in Somerville. Thank you. And thank you for all the money that you've raised for Halls and Summerville schools over the years.

Yeah. For the playgrounds, for the school, for the classrooms. It's been really helpful. Thank you. We'll take a picture. Thank you very much. I got my sonating the mayorship or how does that work?

No. No. I'll be fine. I'll be fine. Okay. And let's go right to public comment.

Okay. I'd just like to make a statement. There are many residents who would like to make comments this evening. I want to remind you that during public comments, each speaker is limited to three minutes and each speaker may speak only once at the beginning of the meeting. If two people get up to the podium to speak together, they still have three minutes total to speak. You may not give your extra time to another speaker. A bell will ring when there is one minute remaining for the speaker. At three minutes, a buzzer will sound and the speaker will stop speaking at that time. If you are here in person making your comments, please keep an eye on the timer over here because if you are mid-sentence or say you almost done, you will not be able to continue past the three minutes. If you are speaking on hybrid access, I recommend that you set your timer on your phone or that you look at your watch or clock in your home and listen for the bell because then you know you have one minute left and you should start wrapping up your comments in order to be respectful of everyone who wishes to speak this evening. Once your three minutes are up, please move away from the podium and take your seat. If you are on hybrid access and the three minutes are up, please stop speaking at that time. If you need additional time, there is another time for public comments at the end of the meeting, which is also limited to three minutes per person. During the public comments at the end of the meeting, you may continue your public comments from the beginning of the meeting, or you may make new comments at that time. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in adhering to the three-minut time limit so that we can allow as many residents as possible to speak. Okay,

anybody? Sure.

The the you see the green light is on. Got it. Great.

Kathy, no. Resident. Um, first off, I just want to clarify maybe um about the ordinances that you have listed for the final adoption. Is there can can the public speak after each one or do they have to speak now? because that's not clear, I think, to some people. So, we have to speak now. If anybody has anything to say about those first ordinances, the overlays and all of that, you have to speak now. It won't be after each ordinance. Um, I'm unhappy about the ordinances. I think you all know that. Um, I'm really worried about what's going to happen to Ridgewood. um the overlays downtown. If they build over all those stores, it changes the ambiance of the town. And where are those people going to park if you put apartments? We have the one garage. Are they are we going to need another one? Because the residents of Ridgewood should not have to pay for parking for people who live in those apartments. That should be the developers when that happens. Um it's just and what's happening with Kensington. um is not just as sometimes you have said the immediate residents. It's not just the immediate residents. They're taking the biggest hit, but all of us who live all over town are taking the hit as to all of the extra cars. There's been a change even since we put in all these other apartments in town in the traffic and you just sit and sit. Um all of the development that could happen with this uh affects the schools which many of them are at capacity and it just affects everything driving around town the safety of the kids. So I really I don't know the final what you're going to say but listening to you before that it just seems like you're all gung-ho for it and it really disappoints me. I'm a longtime resident.

I grew up here. my grandchildren are here in town and it really concerns me. So the safety of everybody you drive around all these accidents we're having. Um so that that's what I have to say. But I wanted to clarify about the ordinance speaking because that wasn't clear to some people. So thank you. Thank you Kathy. Uh before my time starts, I just want to um submit this for the record. Um and then also give you guys a little um things I'm going to be talking to. Uh

you can give we'll pass them. Do you want us to pass them? I'm not

I'd just like to see what you're referencing.

Do you want I'll give you the last copy when I'm done. Okay, I'm ready. Uh, hi. Good evening everyone. My name is Kayn Thomaseski. I'm a Ridgewood Ridgewood resident. I want to state I support affordable housing. What I do not support is developerdriven zoning pushed through diminished neighborhood protections in a process that appears to be coordinated and out of public view. I keep mentioning dates every time I come up here and talk. Unfortunately, I missed the 2 am meeting, but in December, I discussed some important dates and receipts, but I want to go over those again. Um, October 22nd, 2023, we have from an OPA request the text outreach from Kensington's attorney, Michael Rafiti, trying to connect, reaching out to Paul, saying, "Hi, I hope you're well. October 22nd, 2023. Do you have a few minutes to talk? I look forward to catching up. Paul, mayor, you're very smart. All of your responses are always, um, I will call you. Can I call you? Then um October 30th, that's 8 days later, we have the email from Michael Rafiti to you, Paul, directly, only you, communicating, I am pleased to let you know that Kensington Senior Development has 75 North Maple, 65 North Maple under contract, and our intent is to gain entitlements. The application will not go in front of the zoning board of adjustments. We don't have exact timing, but we want to move as quick as we can. That's 2023. And then we have the text where Mr. Rafiti writes in that text chain, um, I am heading north. I am making a trip north to meet with the four others on the council. Separate meetings. Looking forward looking for feedback sooner rather than later so we can make our changes officially, get the ball

rolling. Happy to make copies for everyone. I just want to note that separate meetings is very important. looking for feedback, making changes, get the ball run running. This is not transparent public process. That's public, that's private coordination. And the reason why separate meetings matter, as we've all stated, is that New Jersey's Sunshine Law, the Open Public Meetings Act, is meant to prevent public business from being shaped through private consensus building outside a notified meeting. Now, let's fast forward April 11th. We have the email I referenced in December where Paul is responding to Michael Rafiti, Beth McManis, Paul Pam Parin is on there and Keith saying, "Let's set up a meeting so we can take stock of where we are and move this along as quickly as possible." April 11th. So then we get to these public facing lies last December. We hear we're here with you. We're with you. We're with you. How many times I heard that from you in August? We we hear we hear you. That's why we're voting this down. But when the outcome is already being shaped behind the scenes since 2023, probably before that, those reassurances start to feel a little bit like we just heard earlier, a skit, a performance.

Time is up.

Thank you. I'm happy to give everyone the rest of the OPA requests that we have. They're all public. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Rosio Veriguete. I am not here tonight to debate affordable housing policy. I am here to address a legal compliance issue with ordinance 4071. Under New Jersey municipal land use law, specifically NJSA 4055D-62A, a zoning ordinance must either be substantially consistent with the master plan or the governing body must state explicit reasons on the record explaining any inconsistency. That requirement is mandatory, not optional, not discretionary. Ordinance for 071 clearly departs from the 2022 master plan. It creates a sight specific overlay. It overrides underlying zoning standards. It fixes use density and bold requirements in advance and it limits planning board discretion. Yet no findings were adopted explaining those departures. Without those findings, the statute simply hasn't been satisfied and the courts have been very clear about this. In piso mantin and manapan realy the New Jersey Supreme Court held that when a governing body adopts son inconsistent with his master plan without proper findings the ordinance is procedurally defective and subject to invalidation

and importantly monal compliance doesn't excuse this cases like mount lural second hills development and fairer housing center versus Cherry Hill all say the same thing. Affordable housing obligations must still follow the municipal land use law and sound planning principles. Settlement does not override the law. So this is not about being for or against housing. is about whether the village council follow the required legal process. If approvals are granted under an ordinance that lacks a statutory compliance, those approvals and the ordinance itself are vulnerable to challenge through a compliant ilo or prerogative rit including requests for injunctive relief and backatures unnecessary risk and expenses for the village and us the taxpayers. So my re my question to the record is very simple. Has this council adopted the findings required by NJSA455D-62A explaining ordinance 4071 inconsistency with the master plan? If not, I respectfully urge the council to suspend reliance.

Time is up. Sorry, I'm going to finish. Time is up. Time is up. If not, I respectfully urge the council to suspend reliance on the ordinance and cure the defect before proceeding further. Please, we can because moving forward under illegally defective ordinance point of order three minutes and I'm asking it illegally indefensible. Thank you very much. Mayor, can I just respond? Want me to respond at the end of these or do you want me to Yes, at the end. At the end. Gather them all.

How embarrassing was that? Oh my god. Ann loving Ridgewood resident. I am here to speak about ordinance 4074. The mayor recused himself during public hearing because the outcome could directly affect his properties in the CBD. Presumably, that's why he recused himself. And presumably, he will recuse from voting tonight. Now, I have something to say about the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission electronic filing. Councilman Mortimer received approximately $22,300 of his reported campaign contributions from the Paul Vaganos for Village Council treasure chest. That was about 60% of the money received for Mr. Mortimer's campaign. Deputy Mayor Pamela Parin received, according to the reports online, about $15,000 of her reported campaign contributions from the Paul Vaganos for village council treasure chest. This was about 55% of the deputy mayor's accepted money for her campaign. Since both of their campaigns were heavily funded by Mayor Vagano's large, I believe that both Mr. Mortimer and Miss Parin should also recuse from voting on ordinance 4074 along with Mayor Vajanos. If they do vote, this could give the possible impression that their votes are influenced by the mayor's substantial financial support of their campaigns. Please do the right thing and don't vote Mr. Mortimer, Miss Parin, and Mr. Vaganos on ordinance 4074.

And while I have a minute and 15 seconds left, this is so obnoxious, this bell ringing thing. I'm sick of it. The mayor tried to have a stovoce private conversation with me about this last week. As somebody mentioned, he doesn't like to go on record with any texting or emails. Everything has to be a private conversation. This is obnoxious. That lengthy thing that the village clerk read was just intimidating. Not to me, but to some people. You can't do this. You can't do that. If two people come up, you can't do this. You can't add time. Come on. This is not user friendly at all. You were voted to by us. Well, not by me. I didn't vote for any of you, but you were elected by majority to serve the residents of Ridgewood and you're just obnoxious saying, "Well, you can't talk for this. You can't do that." Give it up. Be nice. Just It used to be fine. We could see the clock. It's in huge numbers. We can see it. And for the village clerk to be shouting at a resident, that was mortifying. I hope you're all embarrassed that you allowed that to happen. Thank you, Ann. Who else?

Hi, Sandy Santangelo, village resident of 24 years, third house in Ridgewood that I've just purchased. I'm first time here, but I've watched all your meetings and have been appalled by all that's going on. I'm most disheartened by what you're going to be doing to this village that I love and that I've raised my four children in and continue to live in. I have a couple questions. First question is options for affordable housing. I've noticed that Glenrock and other towns have done things like purchase homes within the community and make them accessible for affordable housing. There are other options that this village could have paths that we could have gone down, but I feel like we just took the easy way out. Why could we not rent apartments and subsidize the the participants who or the people who live there? Affordable housing shouldn't be shoved to the ends. Affordable housing should be within our community, within our neighborhoods, so the people who live in those homes feel welcome, not ostracized. two, the Kensington development that's going to provide what? Nine, six affordable housing units. Doesn't even

Oh, even worse. Four. Is this obnoxious, gigantic building going to also be allowed to put Verizon towers or other telecommunication towers on top of it like we've allowed to go next to Smith Brothers? Because by the way, those towers in Europe are not allowed within a mile of housing and developments. So, are those going to be able are they going to be able to rent their their rooftop to Verizon? Question I'd like to know. Thirdly, how many units are still available at Chestnut Village? Is that still affordable housing? Are there units available? Have they converted to cost more money now? that that development was made for affordable housing and I I question to see if it is still in that Kensington down the line. Are they going to be able to charge regular rent for their couple of beds that they're giving us? It's disgraceful that you sitting on this council live in this town and are going to let this happen. You know as well as I do how dangerous putting this building is in that neighborhood is. My children went to went to Ridgewood High School, went to Somerville, went to BF and they all walked through there. It's going to be on your conscience when the first child gets struck by a car or a ambulance or a truck delivering goods. No business. No business in our town. I'm done.

Thank you, Sandy.

BC Magleiano. Uh, ordinance 4071. Uh section E number five, stair towers doesn't give you the height. That means bulkhead doors. In other words, stairs go to the roof. There's like a box on top of it. Is it 10 feet, 8 feet? It says 58 feet. So like that's like almost six stories. How many staircases get four or six or eight? The most dangerous one is 5B. What the lady said about the antennas says it's a fancy word there. Rooftop. I know that definition. Could be the generator on that roof. They could put other stuff there. You guys call it the uh elevator penthouse. It could be elevator shafts. Right now, they believe they said they're going to put it underneath the ground. But if they can't put the uh mechanics underneath the ground, the water table, they're going to put that thing 15t up in the air. That's a dangerous word. I know you have to vote on this ordinance. Could you table that section to the side? Is a very dangerous word. They could do a lot there. And affordable housing. My question is, does a Ridgewood residents get preference? Do we go on top of the list to apply for this stuff? And what's the income for low income, moderate income? And I see one of them very low income, affordable housing. Could it be a single person going there or it has to be a family? Say like a young kid is out of high school. He's working for a couple years. He wants to buy something. Does he qualify? could you tell us where could we qualify

for it? Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, Dominic.

Boy, I made it right in time. Cynthia O'Keefe, Ridgewood President. Um, I had dialed in on Zoom, so I got to hear everybody's comments, and I agree wholeheartedly with the fact that this project is appalling, as someone said. Um, I did a little factf finding about Kensington, and we all know what's gone on because Kayn read some of the Oprah documents into record. Very disappointing. Um, but in 2018, Kensington filed a lawsuit with the town of Verona, and they proposed a project that was 85,000 square feet with 92 units, um, 23 fewer beds than Ridgwood. And we're not getting a bang for our buck because there's four affordable units available to Medicare patients, okay? The rest will be paying through the nose. Um Michael Rafiti who was a partner with Kensington estimated that with the Verona facility there would be between 15,000 to 20,000 visitors per year. Okay. So these people are going down Franklin and Marshall. And uh he also estimated the facility would create over 100 well-paying full-time jobs. Employees of the facility would be assigned to three separate shifts, morning and evening, would have approximately 40 to 45 staff members coming into the facility. The morning shift would be 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and the evening shift from 3 to 11 and the overnight shift from 11 to 7. When questioned about the potential traffic congestion that this facility would cause, Rafiti commented that it's unlikely the staff would arrive exactly at the end of each shift. So that means cars coming up and down the street at all times. Not to mention the visitors and other things. Are they planning events in the uh facility? One never knows. I guess we'll find out. It'll all

be done in a vacuum like everything else in this village. Um Rafiti explained how they plan to remove the waste generated by the facility's operation. Based on their experience from other Kensington uh facilities, they anticipated garbage pickups would occur four to five times a week, recycling pickups three times a week, produce delivery six times a week, dry food and bread delivery two to three times a week. Based on the statistic statistics gathered from the five other Kensington facilities, they projected an average of seven to eight ambulance calls per month, but preferred to have their own ambulance service that they would contract. So, I don't know if any of you like listening to an ambulance siren when you're sleeping, but that's what these neighbors will be dealing with, and they have you to thank for it. So, maybe you can give them your number and they can call you at 3:00 in the morning. Um, Verona also had a middle school and several elementary schools. You know, the children walk from our high school to downtown to get sandwiches because we have an open c campus for lunch. Um, so there will be 500 trips that will be happening per day.

Time is up confirmed. Thank you. Thank you, Cynthia.

Okay. Good evening. My name is Michael. know Richwood resident. Um I want to correct Cynthia. One of the things that came out at the one of the Kensington meetings is that they expect to have 200 employees. So that'll be a lot of people coming and going. Uh the one thing that really bothers me about this Kensington project is that I believe one of the planners said that our our zoning at the time was something like 18 units per acre. So that would equate to somewhere around let's say 25 units for one and a quarter acres and Kensington is going to have 110 or 115 something like that. So that bothers me. Um so I'm against the proposal. That's about it. Thank you. Thank you, Michael. Hello, my name is Megan Capiello. I'm a village resident. We live at 296 Lake View Drive. This is in regards to ordinance number 4072. We are the tiny ranch home located directly behind 299 Gothal. Our house is the closest to the train tracks out of all of Lake View Drive. I'm a stay-at-home mom. My home is our everything. We moved here because we wanted a safe and peaceful neighborhood where we could raise our children in the great Rididgewood school system. And we're so lucky that we're here and we're incredibly blessed that we get to enjoy a beautiful pond and park every day in what I consider the greatest town. I rock my son to sleep multiple times a

day. We look out the windows and point out the blue jays, cardinals, deer, fox, and most importantly, we sometimes get a glimpse of a bald eagle. If you put town homes there, you will devastate our daily way of life. Every window in the back of our home will be blocked by 40 foot town homes. Looking out our windows will never be the same. Why are you allowing such large town homes in an area that's only twostory homes? The street in our home are so special to me. My grandparents raised my dad and his siblings on the street. My aunt and uncle raised their kids on the street. My godfather was raised in the home that I live in now. I grew up coming here my entire life and now we are lucky enough to be raising our child on the same street in the same neighborhood. Now, every time I look out our back windows, I cry. We got your certified letter on January 2nd. I wish you could see how much these town homes will devour our tiny little ranch home and completely change the character and charm that we love so much. Thank you.

Thank you, Megan. Anybody else?

Shelley Rothstein, Ridgewood, resident. Uh, for the first time, I have no papers. I have no photos. I have uh nothing prepared. Um, I appreciate what everybody else Kayn um spoke about and everybody else, especially on the other ordinances because we've been kind of alone for a while. So, thank you. Um, this week, Siobhan, you came to my neighborhood. You were unable to park on my street because it is still snow covered. Approximately two feet in either direction on either side. Two feet in is snow covered. We on Franklin only have parking on one side of the street. Right now we have no parking. Siobhan, you had to park I believe in one of the private lots

or in someone. I came on foot.

Okay. On foot. Okay. Thank you. Um you wouldn't have had anywhere to park. Today, while I went to Stop and Shop, I had to call our streets department because half of Cottage Place, right in front of Stop and Shop, right in the middle of town, was blocked by snow and almost impassable. Two cars could not pass because there's still snow. So, our town cannot even take care of the streets covered with snow now. Yet you're going to allow more of a building. You're going to allow a building like Kensington whose entrance and exit will be on Franklin, which right now is barely passable. When the Amazon truck comes to make a delivery, no other car can pass. Yet, that's going to be their entrance for their deliveries, for their staff, for their visitors, for everything. It is almost impossible to make that corner with the snow. And maybe this was a freak snowstorm, but you know what? With climate change, they're going to come faster and harder as the years pass. We all know that. So, Keith, I know you made some posts on social media about giving people a little bit of time and giving the businesses time to clear their sidewalks. Um, a lot of people were complaining about the pedestrian crossings. There's still a pedestrian crossing on North Irving and East Ridgewood Avenue on the route to the high school that was never cleared. The kids have to step over a pile of ice. So until this village can make snow removal safe for its residents, I don't know how a property like Kensington and other

properties bringing more people and more traffic into town can be safe. Thank you. Thank you, Shelley. And we're going to go to our hybrid access right now. Natalia, you're up. Okay. Sorry, I was trying to Hello. Yes, we can hear you.

Can you speak? Oh, okay. So, um Natalia Bridgewood resident um just wanted to uh I guess kind of reiterate other people's concerns, but I'm more concerned about the process. Uh, I think many neighbors already expressed concerns about specific projects and how everyone raised their concerns about safety, traffic, privacy, right? But I'm concerned about how these ordinances came about. Um so I wanted to submit this statement the public record to document concerns regarding the process in which these ordinances um were being advanced and specifically where the public has been afforded a meaningful opportunity to for participation under that is required under NJ law right the public hearing uh is not a merely a procedural formality it must provide a meaningful opportunity for participation but throughout this process the ordinances um that we've seen were consistently presented to residents as on asis basis. The public effectively been offered a binary choice. Support the ordinances the way they are drafted or oppose them. But then suggestion was that the opposition risks triggering builder's remedy. That framing does not uh constitute meaningful public participation. the participation, the meaningful engagement, uh it requires residents concerns to be acknowledged, evaluated and where appropriate reflected in modifications. But what modifications did we see in ordinance uh 4071 for example, right? So a sideby-side review of ordinance 4052 and ordinance 4071 reflects that the revisions did not introduce additional neighborhood protections. Instead, the following changes were made. Maximum lot coverage

increased from 85 to 88%. Mandatory roof design requirements were removed and replaced with planning board discretion. The buff the planter planted rear buffer remained not required as now explicitly stated as not required. Fence requirements were reduced from required to permitted and certain mandatory design and buffering requirements were removed from the ordinance and replaced quote with planning board discretion. building height remains 50 feet. These revisions do not reflect added privacy protections or enhanced buffering. So all of these the way these ordinances came about raises uh a lot of concerns specifically raised by residents uh and all of them uh reflect to opma requirements. Concerns uh include back channel consensus prior to public hearings decisions presented presented as complete i.e He decided hearings open and closed the same evening without opportunity to respond to deliberation and repeated late night meetings that were limiting public access and engagement. This these are the concerns and I would like to get um added to the

time is up. Thank you, Natalya. Kelly, you're up. Kelly, are you there? Yep. Hello. Yep, we can hear you. Go ahead. Okay. Um, I just wanted to quickly say that please identify yourself.

Oh, Kelly Joya. G I O I A. Um, I'm against the Kensington development. I think it's going to destroy the neighborhood and I don't think that many people in the town realize what's happening. I think you need better outreach to the entire community. Um because I talked to my neighbors. I live on Fairway Road and even though there's many signs down by Maple, people do not realize what's happening. They don't even realize about the other overlays either. So, I don't know. I I say to um the group that's opposed, don't give up. Don't give up. We fought the hospital. That's all I have to say. Have a good night.

Thank you, Kelly. Yep. Heather, do we have any more time in our aotted time? We're probably close to the 40 minutes, but the council can We can take one more. Do you have anybody left online either, Paul? Anybody online? No one else is on public access. Let the clock begin.

Andy Welch Rididgewood, resident. I wasn't going to say anything tonight. I've been to almost every one of these meetings and every one of them has had 100% negative testimony to this action. So you sit back and you say, "How did we get here?" And Evan approached me earlier and as I was sitting here listening to everybody reminded me of Aam's razor, an age-old approach to problem solving that says generally the simplest explanation is the right one. And when we learn that the town has been working with Kensington on this property for more than two years and didn't disclose that until August and they disclosed it as a surprise. They'd never seen the model. And then we uh we see heads shake that I don't support this, but originally you did, but you say you don't support it knowing that you have the backing of a singular judge now to run cover behind from a confidential hearing that none of us saw and we know we weren't entitled to, but we're not in a position of trust with our leadership anymore. And I think the actions that have occurred for the last six months have just eaten at that trust. And I go back to AAM's razor and I ask myself, what's the simplest explan explanation to this fiasco? Because I don't believe that the law was intended for one singular judge to put four affordable living spaces in 120 unit building in the most dangerous intersection in the city. And it is a city now.

Thank you, Andy. Excuse me. I'm going to close public comment now. No, no, we have we've closed public comment and only one person could speak at a time um in the beginning. Anyway, so uh we are done with public comment. Um Matt, you want to lead off the response to the questions? questions that were raised. Sorry.

Thank you. I'm going to try and answer the questions that were raised during the uh during the comments. Um first issue that was brought up I think were the emails early in the process. Um I think as we have explained from this day as before, it's incumbent and required by affordable housing and the case law that's been um issued on many many cases over the years since 1973 actually when this all started um that municipalities, the governmental entities to engage developers if they seek information with regard to developing an affordable housing uh project within their boundary. ies. Um they if they come in here and they begin to say, "Listen, we'd like to do this or do that and you disregard them and you don't talk to them, you leave yourself open for bad faith, which eventually gets to a situation where you can face as one of as the main remedy for any of these Mount Laurel cases, the withdrawal of the immunity from developer suits, the um removal of the presumption of validity to all our zoning ordinances." And that's basically what each town in New Jersey is fighting against. Um, separate meetings was brought up as an issue. Has to be separate meetings. They can't meet with more than a quorum of the council. Quorum of the council is three members. If you're to meet with three members or more, you have to give notice of it. They wanted to meet separately to get initial review, initial information, initial uh concepts with regard to what they had in mind. I I have no idea whether or not those meetings, those separate meetings ever took place, but that's why it's used. That's why it's approached that way. Um people have spoken about the master plan. We explained once before and I

explained once before, the master plan is a policy. It's a policy that's established and set up by the planning board. The planning board oversees the master plan. When these ordinances came through, they were sent to the planning board for a finding as to whether or not they were consistent with the master plan. The planning board found and issued a written letter stating that they were consistent with the master plan. So the planning board reviewed them. They're the body that's supposed to find it out. They're make the determination. They determined that it was cons these projects this these ordinances were consistent with the master plan. A speaker got up before and started talking about case law. And I said this before, the cases that were cited and the ones that she talked about, if you read them, you would understand what the village is doing and why the village is doing it. It explains Mount Laurel and the principles of zoning and planning that go along with it. So if you read that fair share case, that that puts it in a nutshell. So I suggest you do because that tells why the village has to do what it's doing. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. Rosia, please. No. Rosio, forgive me.

Political contribution. Forgive me. No. You cannot speak right now. We were quiet while you while you spoke. You must be quiet while we speak. No. No. No. No. No. No. There is no but. Rosio. Rosio. I'm inviting. You cannot speak now. I'm inviting anyone to read the cases. Go ahead, read them yourself.

So, political contributions, there is nothing improper about political contributions when it comes to the rec uh the mayor's decision to recuse himself from uh 4074. In fact, he asked me ahead of time whether or not he had to do it. And since it's being applied similarly to everybody else in the zone, technically it doesn't uh raise itself to be an ethical concern where he would have to recuse himself. He chose to do it on his own just to wipe away any concern that anybody else may have about it. So with regard to whether or not somebody else should recuse themselves, well, frankly, the mayor didn't have to. He chose to do it. uh political contributions are made all the time. Um there's nothing improper about them. If anybody has an issue with them, there is a uh agency within the state that you can review them and they can deter make that determination for you. But there's nothing wrong with making political contributions. With regard, somebody brought up the the issue of um units per acre. Uh units per acre is the um restriction that is used with regard to um affordable housing living units, not for assisted living units where you're dealing with an individual person in each one. This is for families, whether it be threebedroom, twobedroom, or even a single bedroom. So that's why it's used when you're dealing with that type of development. If you've got something such as special needs housing or something such as assisted living, you're dealing with a completely different animal. You're dealing with

it. You don't have units per acre as applicable to those um cell towers. In the ordinances that are being presented and voted to be voted on tonight, there is nothing that permits cell towers on the building. Um, with regard to qualifying for an affordable unit, each town in the state of New Jersey is required to have a affordable housing administrator. The village of Ridgewood has an affordable housing administrator. It's an entity known as Piaza, PIA Aza, and Associates. Applications for affordable units in any affordable housing in this town as well as any other town in New Jersey have to go through the administrator. And the administrator decides whether or not the applicant uh qualifies for the income levels that are necessary for very low, low, and moderate income. Somebody asked about the numbers and what qualifies for low and very low and moderate income housing. I don't have those numbers off the top of my head, but you can get those from the state and if you go on a state website, you can you can get them. But nobody in this town makes a decision. There is a an entity that every just about every community uses in the state of New Jersey, PAZA, to do and be their administrator. Um, one of the things we talked about before too is that we don't for the most part we don't get to decide how we meet our

need or or our RDP when it comes to these um rounds of affordable housing. years ago when someone brought this up how one judge can make a decision about this. That's what this has come down to. It used to be back in the first and second round there was an entity known as the council on affordable housing. The council on affordable housing would review every town's affordable housing plan and decide whether or not it met the criteria for certification and approval. What happened is that back in the prior to 2015 and in between that and the second round, 2015 was the third round. Uh about 2000 was the second round the or maybe 2005. The legislature did not act properly with regard to setting up the regulations and the legis and the necessary law regarding the development of affordable units in each town. So the courts took it over. So once the board, the court council on affordable housing was no longer in place to make that decision because that was abolished by the legislature, the courts then came became the party to judge whether or not a town achieved its certification for providing affordable units. And that's why the judge now makes a decision. And that's why when you have a trial, you go to a single judge. Obviously, there's reviews. You can go to the appellet division. You can go to the New Jersey Supreme Court. You can go to the US Supreme Court if you want. But that's why the judges are making the determination at this point in time. So, I don't know if I Oh, yes. Process. Someone talked about the the process of the uh presentation, introduction and

the adoption of the of these ordinances. Um, I can all I can say is that I feel very comfortable and I have followed it through because I was here when it was being done that we have adhered to all the requirements of the open public meetings act of the municipal land use law and the requirements of what we call the fourth round affordable housing program which is what we have to which is what we're involved in in order to get our certification maintain our immunity from developer suits. So we have complied with the requirements, given notice where proper, um had had discussions, had public comment and public hearings sessions where required and um we've satisfied all the requirements that are that are there by both statutes, by both sets of statutes, I should say. So I think that's it in terms of answering your questions.

Thank you, Matt. Would anybody from the council like to respond? I I would um so I'm going to take a stab at some bits of information that came out. We have something before we vote where we'll say other things, but um it was mentioned during public comment that our current zoning is 18 units per acre and that is incorrect. Um just anecdotally when I was a kid the Bair condominiums became condominiums and at that point the threshold was 12. I'm 53 so it gives you an idea of how much it's progressed. But in round one the acreage density went up significantly. It's no longer 18. I believe I don't have my computer in front of me. It's in the mid30s. Um I also want to address the Kensington issue just because you know I know people come and expect us to say more tactile things. Kensington um from my vantage point has been around for about 10 years. This is their third attempt. So I'm just saying that because anybody who was up here has has seen Kensington. Uh their first proposal was at the town garage where they offered to pay for the remediation and come in there and that was defeated. The second attempt was in my neighborhood over on Broad Street and that was killed at the council level. So that just they've been holding forums. I know before I was on council they were there. Um I know there was a comment about subdividing houses. We do do that. We have several houses in the community that are subdivided for both elderly and for special needs. So, if you want to email me tomorrow, I can list them all out for you. But it's not just, you know, I don't want people to think that the obligation is just one big build, we have we've chipped away at it through other types of living. So, if you wanted to look at a house that's been subdivided to help us hit our obligation, you can email me that and I will let you know. Um, I also wanted to let people know that for each of the locations, I did I did go on foot. Um, and I did go by car and I did meet with them this this week and I am grateful

for all the residents who had me into their neighborhood. Um, with respect to elections because you know there's a lot of process and a lot of words that were used to. Um, when you run for office you have to do an enormous amount of disclosure. Um, there is a governing website called elect and the fact that those things were said means that my colleagues disclosed it which is the right thing to do. Um, this is a total separate topic, but running in the state of New Jersey in the United States requires a lot of transparency. You disclose a lot of things. So, I think if people are looking and elect and trying to take something that was self-disclosed, that's not really okay because elections are increasingly expensive both emotionally and financially. So when those things come out at the public comment as elected official, we all disclose that, sign our lives away. And I just want to be supportive of anybody who is bold enough to do that, particularly the three that were cited, and I'm proud of you guys for running. And if anybody has any questions about our election campaign, it it's publicly available. Um, and lastly, the the public comment, it's incredibly important that it mean, you know, that we don't have screaming and shouting. So the record can be established. So I'm sorry for the rigor that people are feelings assigned, but if someone were to exceed it, we have to be even in the approach. Um I think I think that's it. If we missed any questions or anybody has like wants the detail of which houses are subdivided, what what happened in the first round, what happened in the second round, we can give you all that. We just don't have access to the internet. So I think that's it.

Thanks Siobhan. Anybody else? Sure. I'd like to say a couple of things. Um, so as I've said before, I I don't like this vote. I do not like the Mount Laurel decisions and I'm not happy about the vote that I'm forced to cast tonight. Um, I agree with many of you. Kathy, you said everything you said tonight, I could have said as well. The problem I have is that despite all the work we've done, there's simply no alternative that's been presented, I think, to this council that allows us to preserve Ridgewood. Um, as you've heard, basically a judge has ordered us to enter into this agreement. If we do not enter into this agreement, we lose our immunity to builder lawsuits, which means that we lose all control over what get built in Ridgewood. That is a far worse fate than the bad fate that we have to vote on tonight. During the last seven or eight months, we've had dozens of hours of hearings on this. We've had about a half a dozen presentations uh by lawyers, by our planner. Um, we had a a a um a set aside hearing just on this in December. We had a hearing in August. Uh, we had a hearing uh last month that went to 2:30 in the morning. Um, all to talk about this issue. And again, nobody has been able to suggest any meaningful course of action. That to me represents an alternative to what the judge is ordering us to do. I know there was talk tonight about one judge having to do this. It's more than one judge. Federal court in Trenton has ruled against this. Third Circuit has upheld that. Um, numerous other courts have upheld the Mount Laurel decisions. Um, again, I do not like the law, but I took an oath to follow it. I will also say that there were comments tonight about some sort of conspiracy among some of my fellow council members. Um, this notion that there is this two-yearong shadow campaign coupled with somehow getting a New Jersey court judge to be complicit. Um, I've known Paul and Pam for a long time. Uh, I've been on this DEAS now for three years. I've never seen any malice or mis or double dealing by them or

anybody else affiliated with this council. Quite candidly and quite respectfully to the gentleman that made that count that accusation. I simply find it not credible. With all of that, um, other towns fared far worse than us. Um, the 27 towns that banded together, they lost in federal court as we were told they were likely to do. Other towns have had to build far larger things in order to meet their affordable housing mandate. Um, and again, that's just something something we simply cannot do. Excuse me, Rosio. With all due respect, they are not. Um,

excuse me, Rosio. Excuse me. Excuse me, Rosio. You cannot do this. Rosio, we are quiet while you speak. You must, Rosio, please. Rosio, I am asking as as much as I can. Rosio, Rosio, you must stop. Rosio, this is this is not going to be done. Rosio, you must stop. Rosio, common courtesy. Rosio, common courtesy, that's all I'm asking. Rosio, please, please allow allow the council to respond to your comments. Rosio.

So on that last point um about they're still fighting. I spent 10 years as a litigator in federal court in the district of New Jersey. Well, the last three years of my career was in the district of New Jersey. I spent 10 years exclusively litigating in federal court. I feel fairly confident while disappointed that they have lost in federal court. Again, I come back to where I started. There is simply no alternative I see that is better than the one we presented with as bad as the one that we're going to vote for tonight. I cannot in good consciousness turn over the future of Rididgewood to developers, lawyers, and judges. Essentially, we're making a decision that we do not like, we do not want, but has been forced upon us by the state law here in New Jersey. And again, as I've said before, I would love to pander to all of you. I would love to get up here and bang my fist on this counter and say, I'm going to fight like hell, but I know what's going to happen. I'm going to spend millions of your dollars on a lawsuit that will lose and we will have far more buildings in this town than we have now and more than the affordable housing mandate that's being forced upon us will call to us again and I say this with all due respect. I appreciate all of your viewpoints. I agree with most of them. But understand that there is nothing we can do here that will be better for Bridgewood that the to vote for this to vote for this god-awful thing tonight which I think is really not in our best interest but is better than the alternative.

Thanks Evas. I would. Thank you Frank. Yeah, listen it it's and let me just say there is an opportunity at the end of the evening for public comment again. Frank,

just to put it simply is that state law overcomes municipal law. Nobody up here is is benefiting from this or wants to vote um to stop this. It's it's more that we're being forced to. And I think as the village manager said back in August, which I think is a great quote, is it's the greatest example of government malpractice. You have a right to feel upset. I'm upset, too. But you know what? It's not pointed at the state like they're the people that this needs to change. I mean, this got written into the constitution, you know, it just it's it's mindboggling. And as someone said that how you weren't allowed to be part of the judge thing, I think that's appalling. I do, you know. So, it's it's I you have a right to be upset. I'm just saying that it's the state and we're doing the best case scenario because the builder's immunity that we keep talking about. Imagine if that nothing Richwood has and all that we've built doesn't matter. That builders can come in throughout every neighborhood and say, "I want to do this here." And that's what that's what I don't want to do. Like I want to stop and uh the massive overdevelopment and preserve our village as best as I can and I'm going to and I have to look at the bigger picture and that's what I'm going to do.

Thanks, Frank. Uh somebody asked about what are the criteria for low and middle and moderate income and um in the fair share element and housing plan that is on the website for the village that gives you some idea. I forget the page number but there's a uh a graph there that shows you what the income levels are for each of those. And that's just a very broad u description of eligibility. When you get down to talking to Piaza, the administrator, there's a whole litany of questions that have to be answered in order to meet eligibility. But what you see online is the general outline. Um Paul uh from his campaign out of the generosity of his heart contributed to my campaign. But nobody buys my vote. I read and prepare for these meetings and my decisions 40, 60 hours a week. I live and breathe for this town and to serve you. and I will continue to serve you as best I can. I'm not just doing this off the top of my head. And I'm not doing it because somebody bought my vote. That's all I have to say.

Thanks, Pim. Um, we've talked about this a lot and I'll bring you back to our f first vote on this. We had put it up for a vote because we thought it was a good idea. And then we heard from the residents who were directly affected by this. And I announced from the day before the vote that despite the affordable housing requirements, we were all going to vote no because you asked us to. You asked us to. You wanted us to. So we said we're going to do that and Kathy that we have said that that that you you have sat here for so many meetings and you say that we are gung-ho for this. We have told everyone again and again and again we don't want to do this. We do not want to do this. And then we took we we took a hailmary pass just a few weeks ago when we knew the federal case was coming down when two dozen two dozen towns were uh were in litigation over this and we said we're going to take a chance that the that the judge won't hammer us on this even though we we told the judge that we were going to do this. we were going to vote that night and we said we're going to delay the vote and the case came down the other way against us. Everyone here, everyone here says we don't want to do this. You don't have to believe us. I understand that. You can believe that there is some giant conspiracy going on. I as I as I said before and by the way, we spent I think four hours at that meeting in December just answering questions. We answered every single question that was posed. Every one.

We don't want to do this. But remember the map that that some of you called the fear map? Let me tell you, it's a good name for it because I'm afraid of it. I'm afraid that if we don't do what we have to do tonight, that that map is going to become a reality tomorrow morning. That's what's going to happen. Because I'm telling you, we waited to see if the judge was going to hammer us because we put this vote off despite the fact that we told her we were going to vote that night. And so if we put it off again or if we say no, there's there's no turning back. And what happened at Gothal Road and Chestnut Street are a direct result of our saying no the first time. It happened once, it will happen again. Gothul Road and Chestnut Street were not included in this. If we had said yes the first time, we would not be in litigation and we would not have had to include them. As for that email, I'm going to read that email and I'm going to read the one that that that was quoted for me. It was addressed to the professionals who are handling the the application, which as Matt said, we have to talk to them by law. We have to talk to them. And we had a June deadline for submitting our affordable housing plan. So, we wanted to see if this was something that we needed to or should

include in. It was addressed to Michael Rafiti, his attorney Jason Tuvel, one of their professionals, Paul Grigel, our professional Beth McManus, and Pam. And it said all, let's set up a meeting so we can take stock of where we are and move this thing along as quickly as possible to determine if we needed to include it, if we should include it. I have said many times publicly for those of you who doubt the process I've heard about the process many times everything that we have said everything that I have said has been recorded speak to an attorney to ensure that we are doing the right thing because And again, a land use attorney, someone familiar with these things, you have a record. And if we are doing the wrong thing, they'll let you know pretty confident that we're in good standing on this. But instead of throwing accusations around about a conspiracy and about how long we've been meeting, which by the way has grown from 6 months to two years tonight because the story just gets better that way. Um please, I I beg you speak to an attorney and ask them if we have any choice at all in this. We don't want to do this. I'll say it till my last breath, but we have no choice. I am I I look at this issue that was just raised tonight about political

contributions that somehow because I made legal political contributions that I disclosed to the election law enforcement commission who after they received this didn't say anything about us doing anything wrong. But for those of you who believe that anybody here might be influenced by a contribution to my campaign, obviously you don't know the four people next to me. And obviously you may have forgotten Pam's stand on turf. We have had many public and private conversations about this. I think that that's the best example of the fact that political contributions do not influence anybody on the states. We have explained these things many times and I and I understand your frustration and I've said to you, please, you can't take it out on the judge. You can't take it out on the state legislators even though you can because you can vote for them. You can't take it out on the Supreme Court. You can only take it out on us. We get that. We really do. And please Come and vent to us as you have many times, but please take a moment. If you really think that we did something wrong, speak to an attorney. How many times will I ask you that before you just make accusations? But I understand the accusations. I understand

it's your frustration. We We don't like this position that we are in, but we're going to move forward. And with that,

Paul, could I make one more? I for you to know. So, there was a question whether um the round one obligations still had a low income component. They all do. So, I think it was the one behind the Y, but all of the first round obligations still have the low income. And again, if anybody had any questions from public comment regarding the details, the densities, the units, the existing overlays, please know that beyond the vote tonight, this is there's many overlays throughout town, which I'm I'm going to address later. But if anybody had a detailed question like that, we're here for that. But I just want to say that the the low-inccome obligation hasn't been removed from any of the first rounds.

And with that, let's move on. The village council has conducted public hearings on ordinances 4071. Excuse me. Oh, I beg your pardon.

Village managers report. Keith, mayor, I'll be very brief tonight. Um, understanding you have important votes ahead of you. Um, but I just wanted to let the public know that we are continuing the suspension of rear yard collection. At this time, our rec our recycling and sanitation supervisor, Sean Hamlin, is out there evaluating this decision each and every day. Um, unfortunately, we are still dealing with some pretty significant black ice and for our employees to go um to collect rear yard is still a concern. Matter of fact, I had two slip and falls this morning um with guys collecting curbside. So, we're asking you um for just a few more days to place your curb place your um garbage curbside uh to help our employees with the collection and we will re-evaluate this um on Tuesday after President's Day. Uh secondly, I just want to remind everyone that village offices are closed both tomorrow, February 12th for Lincoln's birthday and Monday for President's Day. Uh there'll be no recycling pickup at the recycling center. um will also be closed. Please check your village calendar for the garbage and recycling pickups uh for the this week and next week as they will change due to the holidays. Um and that's all I have tonight.

Thanks, Keith. Let's go to council reports. Frank, nothing. Siobhan, nothing. Oh my wait, this is a holiday. Wait, I I have to say I will be extraordinarily brief. Uh July 4th, uh committee has kicked off. Unfortunately, uh I could not make it because we were in budget hearings. Similarly, HBC met on Monday as well. Again, because of budget meetings, I could not make it. I do want to thank Heather. I see a picture of my friend Lorraine Reynolds on the wall over there. I'm glad to see that. Um, but that is all I have as well. Thank you, Evan. Pam,

uh, Green Ridgewood met on Thursday. We talked about skip the stuff, which is a law, new law that recently passed that requires um restaurants to not give plastic forks, spoons, um uh chopsticks unless the the client, the the patron asks for them first. Um and at the meeting, we were also discussing preparations for the daffodil festival and Earth Day fair. The central business district advisory committee will be meeting tomorrow morning at 8:30 via Zoom. Our agenda is on the village website and at the top of the agenda is the Zoom link if you wish to join. Um we will be recapping and discussing the Walker Consultants visit visit of February 3rd. Um and the planning board will be meeting on February 17th and addressing an application for a minor site plan um approval and uh we'll probably also be well I I can't speculate on what else is coming on that that the Richard Business Alliance continues to meet. We had a very productive discussion of the directors yesterday. Um, and uh, we are still in startup mode for that nonprofit organization. That's all I have.

Thanks, Pimp. And I had the pleasure and honor to sit in for Siobhan at the Sha Tree Commission last night. And the main focus there is their thousand tree initiative where they want to plant a thousand trees across the village and track it so that the uh community can know how far along we are for that. And it was a a great group of people. Um uh I really enjoy I've been there before and and I enjoyed it again last night. And with that we will now go to our ordinances. The village council conducted public hearings on ordinances 4071 through 4075 on January 14th, 2026, has listened and responded to comments from the public and has closed the public hearings. At this time, the village council will be voting on each ordinance separately. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4071 by title? an ordinance amending chapter 190 land use and development to create the S1 senior overlay zone district.

I move that ordinance four 4071 be adopted in final publication as required by law. I second the motion Mortimer.

So I joined the village council because I wanted to help my neighbors and serve our village. Tonight feels more like the state bullying us and all the other municipalities in New Jersey to make decisions that no one wants to make. In our case, the do it or else mandate is approve these ordinances or lose your builder's immunity. Pascal's wager style logic would dictate that rational decision-making requires avoiding the risk altogether when the cost of being wrong would be disastrous. And if Rididgewood would lose its immunity to builder's remedy, it would be disastrous. our master plan, all of our zoning restrictions, and what makes Ridgewood Ridgewood would be lost forever. Plain and simple, builders would be able to build what they want, where they want, and there would be nothing that we could do, the planning board or the zoning board could do to stop them. Therefore, I'm voting yes to support these ordinances because I'm voting to protect our village from the risk of losing our immunity. I want to stop massive overdevelopment in Rididgewood and to do so requires making the decision that no one wants to make and while it's hard it's the right decision for Rididgewood specifically to this ordinance in Kensington. This is a tough decision. I feel for you and the N and but what I am grateful at is that through this I got to meet some really great people and I'm honored about that. But given that the height and the size of this building fits into our existing zoning regulations and since the judge has already told us approve it or lose your builder's remedy and since this fulfills the need for assisted living facilities to serve our aging population, I am voting yes. Parent,

I share your concerns about size, um, bulk, uh, traffic, flooding, entrances, exits, balconies, deliveries, and all of those things are are the nitty-gritty of what will be addressed when the matter comes before the planning board. I sit on the planning board and I look forward to seeing real specifications, real plans, not something we have to speculate about, but something we can really um understand and then comment intelligently on. And for that reason, on all of these um well, this one 407 4071, I vote yes. whites.

For all the reasons that have been voiced by our citizens and for all the reasons I have put on the record since August, I regretfully vote yes. Wendra,

sure. So, um, at 53 and raised locally, I've had a unique advantage and disadvantage to see our town uh, change significantly. I see places that used to be open land that are now streets, literally streets with multiple houses on it. We've seen lots of development, lots lots of things change. Um, when I ran, I used the phrase that Rididgewood is fairly built out for all the reasons you guys cited. You know, there's there's no more horses in Ridgewood. There's no there's excessive traffic. And I want to say thank you to all the neighbors and all the areas that welcomed me and allowed me to listen. And I'm incredibly empathetic that this touches your largest investment of your life. Um, with that being said, I want to say a couple things about the process. I want to make sure that the town knows that no matter who was sitting up here, this decision would need to be made. That there's there's nothing related to this council that made this fourth obligation. It's a question of timing from the state. And no matter what would have happened, you would have had five decision makers making this. The loss of local zoning control would be catastrophic to our community. would just be absolutely cat catastrophic. I also want to say that during my listening I'm a little concerned that people um don't have a full conceptualization of what's occurred on in the second and the third round as well. There have been people who have come to the public comment who live in an overlay zone resisting this. So while this is a big thing and especially for this neighborhood, there are many big things. So if you're interested in development and you want to check if your home or your business is inlay zone, there have been three other rounds. So I don't think the town fully understands how many zones exist and again we're available for that. Um with respect to this area, I've been through it many many times. It's literally down the street from my house.

It's on my way to work here. I just want to say a couple things. Um the buildings that exist there have exceeded their life. I mean, the residents understand that that corner is experiencing change. The idea of Kensington Senior Housing was more appealing because it didn't bring school age kids in and it would be softer than, let's say, multiple homes. I do understand the intricacies of the street corner and we are committed. We've engaged a third party engineering service called Boswell and we're going to um move forward with that. And lastly, um I want to say that during the first round of our housing obligation, I live in the historic area. It was it was not a great moment for our town. So I'm very grateful to the discourse and the neighbors who've been so polite and professional with me. But what happened in the first round obligation is that it became an absolute fight. And what was left in the middle of that fight, it was like a fracture and then a cleave and then a big valley was we lost a lot of our considerations. So, for the neighbors that are going to move through this process after the vote tonight to the planning board, I'm I'm here to remain engaged. I've engaged the shade tree commission to talk about natural buffers. If you look at maple, we don't really plant trees on county roads because the county won't give us any money. We're amendable to softer things here. With the first round obligation, I I felt that there and I still feel this way. There was an enormous missed opportunity. There were no upgrades to traffic lights. There was no traffic improvements. So um after I vote yes and this moves on within the planning board if you need help in talking about considerations are helping that I know the council our subcommittees citizen safety and shade tree will be there for you and I really really want to remain sincere with the neighbors in that because we do want to help with the buffers. Um and lastly, um I vote yes.

Vaganos. Um for the reasons that Frank laid out so eloquently and as Siobhan said, whoever was sitting in these seats was going to make the same decision. And as Evan said, I regretfully vote yes. And so we move on to 4072. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4072 by Tyler?

An ordinance to amend chapter 190 land use and development of the code of the village of Bridgewood to modify zoning standards to create the TO1 townhouse overlay district. I move that an ordinance 4072 be adopted. It's classic. I second the motion. Mortimer again. Regretfully vote yes. Parin. Yes. Whites? Yes. Windrad? Yes. Vanos? Yes. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4073 by title?

An ordinance to amend chapter 190 land use development of the code of the village of Ridgewood to modify zoning standards to create the CR1 commercial residential district. I move that ordinance 4073 be adopted and the final publication as required by law. I second the motion. Mortimer. Yes. Perin. Yes. Whites? Yes. Wiggrad? Yes. Vaganos? Yes. I am recusing myself in this matter. So, I'm turning it over to Deputy Mayor Pam. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4074 by title? an ordinance to amend chapter 190 land use and development of the code of the village of Rididgewood to modify zoning standards for the B1 and B2 districts.

I second the motion. Oh, sorry. I move that ordinance 4074 be adopted in the final publication as required by law. I second the motion. Mortimer I of my own accord without being influenced by any campaign decisions vote yes. Perin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Winterrad. Yes. Mayor Ganos is recusing. I'm back for 4075. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4075 by title?

An ordinance to amend chapter 190 land use and development of the code of the village of Ridgewood to modify the mandatory affordable housing set aside standards. I move that ordinance 4075 be adopted in final publication as required by law. I second the motion. Mortimer. Yes. Haron, yes. Whites, yes. Winterrad, yes. Yes. Heather, the following resolutions number 26-48 through 26-49 will be adopted by consent agenda with one vote by the village council. They will be read by title only. Approve temporary water utility capital budget. Approve temporary general capital budget. I have a motion. So moved. Second. Mortimer.

Yes. Parin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Winterrad. Yes. Vaganos. Yes. And now we will go to other ordinances. I move the first reading. Reading of ordinance 4084. A second. Mortimer. Yes. Pin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Wiggrad. Yes. Veanos.

Yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4084 by title? a bond ordinance providing for various water utility improvements in and by the village of Rididgewood in the county of Bergen, New Jersey, appropriating 4,955,600 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $4,77,600 bonds or notes of the village to finance part of the cost thereof. I move that ordinance 4084 be adopted on the first reading and that March 11th, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon. I second the motion. Mortimer, yes. Parin, yes. Whites, yes. Wiggrad, yes. Vaganos,

yes. I move the first reading of ordinance 4085. I second the motion. Mortimer, yes. Parin, yes. Whites, yes. Yes. Vaganos, yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4085 by title? An ordinance to amend chapter 145 of the code of the village of Bridgewood fees at section 145-6 enumeration of fees relating to code chapters. I move that ordinance 4085 be adopted on the first reading and that March 11th 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon. I second the motion. Mortimer yes. Herin yes. Whites. Yes. Winterrad. Yes. Vaganos.

Yes. Heather take it away. The following resolutions number 26-50 through 26-52 are to be adopted by a consent agenda with one vote by the village council. They will be read by title only. Award contract under educational services commission of New Jersey contract. Security upgrades at various water facilities. Award professional services contract. Hydrogeeologic and engineering consulting services. Authorize refund of overp payments on water accounts. I have a motion. So moved. Second. Mortimer. Yes. Parin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Wiggrad. Yes. Vaganos. Yes. I move the first reading of ordinance 4086.

Second. Second. Mortimer. Yes.

Par. Well, I'd first like to say that on page three, um, paragraph C1, this has to do with replacement of of maple field turf, planting of residential trees, removal of hazardous trees, and planting of park trees, including all work and materials necessary therefore, and incidental there too. U we have been advised by our bond council Matt Jessup that the term turf here refers to natural grass as well as artificial turf so that a future council could decide to use the funds in this sinking fund for either uh going back to natural grass or to continue with artificial turf. And because there is that option, this is not just to replace the artificial turf. Uh I vote yes.

Whites. Yes. Wiggrad. Yes. Janis, yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4086 by title? a bond ordinance providing for various capital improvements in and by the village of Ridgewood in the county of Bergen, New Jersey, appropriating $6,799,545 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 6,459,428 bonds or notes of the village to finance part of the cost thereof. I move that ordinance 4086 be adopted on the first reading and that March 11th, 2026 be adopted as the date for the hearing thereon. I second the motion. Mortimer, yes.

Parin, for the reasons I stated just a minute ago, I vote yes. Whites, yes. Wonder. So, I just want to take a brief moment and thank our department heads and all the people who participated in the hours and hours of discussion regarding this year's capital spend. I want to thank Keith and his team, Heather for all your work and for the snacks most importantly. And with that, I vote yes. Thank you. Vaganas, yes. I move the first reading of ordinance 4087. I second. Mortimer, yes. Parin, yes. Whites, yes. Wiggrad, yes. Vaganos,

yes. So ordered. Will the clerk please read ordinance 4087 by title? an ordinance to amend chapter 190 of the code of the village of Rididgewood entitled zoning at section 190-122 entitled signs and at section 190-12H10 entitled blade signs. I move that ordinance 4087 be adopted on the first reading and that March 11th, 2026 be fixed as the date for the hearing thereon. I second the motion. Mortimer. Yes. Parin would love to see more blade signs in town. They are in keeping with the small town feel of our downtown and I vote enthusiastically in favor of this measure. Okay. Whites,

I'm not as enthusiastic, but uh I like it too. So yes, I'm going to end with super enthusiastic about this and thank Pam and her committee in HPC. This is um this is big for our merchants and big for our main street. So thank you and yes and Janice. I'm with Pam. Yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4076 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened. Second. Mortimer. Yep. Perin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Winterrad. Yes. Vaganos.

Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 4076? An ordinance to amend chapter 265 of the code of the village of Ridgewood vehicles and traffic at section 265-59 schedule 9 stop intersections. The public hearing is now open. Anyone wishing to speak on this ordinance, please come up. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second. Mortimer. Yes. Parin. Yes. Whites? Yes. Winterrad. Yes. Vagos. Yes.

Do I'm sorry. I move that ordinance 4076 be adopted on the second reading and the final publication as required by law. I second the motion. Mortimer. Yes. Parin. I think this will uh improve safety in the recycling center for both employees and the public. Therefore, I vote yes. Whites, yes. Wiggrad, yes. Vaganos, yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4077 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened. Second. Mortimer, yes. Pin, yes. Whites, yes. Wiggrad, yes. Vanos,

yes. Will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 4077? an ordinance to amend chapter 145 fees of the village code for grade and pool membership fees, tennis pickle ball membership fees, and summer day camp fees. The public hearing is now open. Anyone wishing to comment on this ordinance, please come up now. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second. Mortimer. I especially because the fees are being held as they were last year. Um so it's easy for me to say yes. Uh, Parin, yes. Whites, Frank stole my line, yes. Wiggrad, yes. Vaganos, yes. I move that or excuse me,

I move that ordinance 4077 be adopted on the second reading and final publication as required by law. I second the motto, yes. Parin, yes. Whites, yes. Wiggrad, yes. Yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4078 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened. Second Mortimer. Yes. Perin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Wiggrad. Yes. Vaganos. Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 4078? An ordinance to rescend and repeal chapter 210 of the code of the village of Ridgewood entitled Park and Ride Facility. The public hearing is now open. Anyone wishing to speak on this ordinance, please come forward.

Uh, good evening, Boyd loving Ridgewood resident. Uh, I certainly understand why this is being done because we are no longer involved in the park and ride facility. But whenever the park and ride facility is mentioned, I have never gotten, pardon me, I have never gotten what I consider to be a straight story as to what happened with us in the New Jersey DOT that we gave up the revenue that was associated with that facility. The explanations I've been given or I've heard mentioned here in public indicate that we were plowing a lot. we were taking care of the facility and we weren't getting our fair share back. But I see the facility is now operating as a free parking facility. They've expanded the lot. You can park for free. And that kind of takes away from the business of uh people parking in Rididgewood. They're going over to the parking ride and parking for free and getting into the city. And I do think that we're probably losing some revenue as a result of that. So, I would like if the manager could provide a somewhat detailed explanation of why we got out of there. What was it that happened over there that we decided to give up the revenue associated with that and just let the state run it and have free parking over there? It's a public hearing, so I don't have to sit down.

When the hearing is over, we will when we close the hearing, then there will be responses. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Boyd. Anyone else? Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second. Mortimer. Yes. Perin? Yes. Whites? Yes. Wiggrad? Yes. Vaganos? Yes. Through you, mayor. The turnover of the park and ride back to the state for operation happened before my tenure here. So, if it's okay, I will defer to Heather um as she was involved with those negotiations.

Yes. So, you're right, Mr. Loving, that um we were responsible for all the maintenance. We had to pave. We had to do the curbing. We had to um do the pedestrian bridge from one side of Route 17 to the other. Um the revenue that we were realizing was not that great. And any revenue that we had um took in, some of it went to the state. They kept it in a trust fund. And then when we wanted to make improvements like we wanted to um make some um shielding with um plantings but for the residents who live nearby, we would have to go to the state and ask them permission to use some of that money from that trust fund. They came in and uh started to negotiate with us for a new contract because the contract had expired and they were going to put additional responsibilities on the village at that point. um with Bob Rooney looking at the revenue stream with Chris Ruddouser really realizing how much time was spent by our various departments maintaining that area. Um they determined that it really wasn't worthwhile for us to continue any longer. And as a reminder, we didn't have all of that space that was metered. It was just one section that was metered. Another section actually was um I think it was the shortline bus had spaces as well as the park and fly had spaces. So those were not metered spaces. Um so we were um at that point we said to them um you know we think we're going to give it up and uh they said no no don't do that. They came back and didn't change anything in the um contract at all. And at that point we said yes we'll be done. And I think it was in the fall and we said as of April 1st of that following year we would be done and that's when we ended it.

I I did just also want to add because the park and ride Evan and I when we first took our seats in our first council chat um Heather while she was still the manager pressured them to be better neighbors and pay for the improvements that went around the lot because there was a dissatisfaction. Um we had already released control. It was beyond our decision. But I do want to thank Heather for that. I know that the neighbors Evan that was one of the first things we worked on together. Um equally important to know is I think from the prior councils and Heather's COVID had really impacted commuter traffic at that point because the first time we it was beyond us was 2023 and I don't think commuting was back up. So I just I want to say thank you for all the improvements and it's nice to know that commuting's kicking back in.

Move it. So I need a motion. Um, I move that ordinance 4078 be adopted on the second reading and the final publication as required by law. I second the motion. Mortimer, yes. Parin, yes. Whites, yes. Wiggrad, yes. And yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4079 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened. Second. Mortimer. Yes. Per, yes. Whites, yes. Yes. Vaganos, yes. Will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 4079?

An ordinance to man salary ordinance 4067 fixing the salaries, wages, and other compensation for the non-UN employees of the village of Bridwood County of Bergen in the state of New Jersey for the year 2026. The public hearing on this ordinance is now open. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. I second. Mortimer, yes. Perin, yes. Whites, yes. Windrad, yes. Vaganos, yes. I move that ordinance 4079 be adopted on the second reading and the final publication as required by law. I second the motion. Mortimer, yes. Perin, yes. Whites, yes. Windrad, yes. Vianosis,

yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4080 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be opened. Second. Mortimer. Yes. Parin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Yes. Majanos. Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 4080? An ordinance to amend salary ordinance 4066 fixing the salaries, wages, and other compensation for non-union officers and employees of the village of Ridgewood County of Burton and state of New Jersey for the year 2026. The public hearing on this ordinance is now open. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second. Mortimer. Yes. Yes. Perin. Yes. Whites. Yes.

Wiggrad. Yes. Vagos. Yes. I move that the ordinance 4080 be adopted on the second reading of the final publication as required by law. I second the motion. Mortimer. Yes. Parin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Wiggrad. Yes. Vanos. Yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4081 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be open. Second. Mortimer. Yes. Haron. Yes. Sites. Yes. Winter. Yes. Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 4081?

An ordinance to vacate the public interest of the village of Ridgewood in a certain property located at block 2608, lot 20, and transfer its interests therein to the adjacent property owners consistent with the attached map. The public hearing on this matter is now open. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second. Mortimer, yes. Perin, yes. Whites, yes. Monrad, yes. Bajanos, yes. I move that ordinance 4081 be adopted on the second reading and the final publication as required by law. I second. Uh, Mortimer, yep. Parin, yes. Whites, yes. Wergrad,

I'm going to go quickly. Thank you, Matt, for all your work on this and, uh, thank you to everybody who made it happen. I think it's better for everybody. So yes and Vanos. Yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4082 by title on second reading and that the public hearing there on be open. Second. Mortimer. Yep. Parin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Wiggrad. Yes. Vaganos. Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 4082? An ordinance to amend chapter 145-10 fees of the village code for use of fields. The public hearing on this matter is now open. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second. Mortimer, yes. Parin,

yes. Whites, yes. Wiggrad, yes. And Vaganos, yes. I move that ordinance 4082 be adopted on the second reading and the final publication as required by law. I second that motion. Mortimer, yes. Harin, yes. Whites, yes. Wiggrad, yes. Vaganos, yes. I move the clerk read ordinance 4083 by title on second reading and that the public hearing thereon be open. Second. Mortimer. Yes. Parin. Yes. Whites? Yes. Yes. Vanos? Yes. Will the clerk please read the title of ordinance 4083.

An ordinance to amend chapter 145-10 fees of the village code for use of fields. The public hearing is now open. Seeing no one, I move the public hearing be closed. Second. Mortimer. Yes. Parin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Wonder. Yes. Vaganas. Yes. And this is I move Sorry. I move that ordinance 4083 be adopted on the second reading and final publication as required by law. I second the motion. Mortimer.

Yeah. I I want to say that um if you haven't been to the pavilion yet, it's absolutely beautiful. Um I'm excited that we'll be able to collect revenue on different people that want to use it. Um so it's going to be an exciting time. So with that, I say yes. Parn. Um, this is for rental of the pavilion at Habernickl Park and it's beautiful and I think this is very reasonable rental fees and I look forward to having my 55th Ridgewood High School reunion there. What do you think? I thought you were going to say your 55th birthday. No, that's that's been a

that's a few years away. I understand. So, your vote Oh, yeah. Yes. Whites. Whites. Oh, yes. Winter. Yes. Vagianis. Yes. Let's go to our resolutions. Heather,

the following resolutions number 26-53 through 26-67 are to be adopted by a consent agenda with one vote by the village council. They will be read by title only. Award contract under state contract purchase of equipment and service for vehicles police department. Award contract under source cooperative purchasing program. Fleet Leasing Maintenance Program, Police Department or contract under Educational Services Commission of New Jersey, Cooperative Purchasing System, Security Systems Vendor for Access Control and CCTV, authorized shared services agreement, cosmetology inspections with Norwood. We send and replace resolution number 26-21, annual maintenance for software finance department. We send and replace resolution number 25-510. Appoint village attorney. Accept donation improvements to community center. Accept donation removal and replacement of patio at the children's sensory garden at the stable. Accept donation renovation of varsity baseball field and softball fields at Veterans Field. Authorized payment partial refund of tax court judgment settlement 330 Franklin Turnpike. Authorize application for local recreation improvement grant community garden at Irene Habernel Family Park. Appoint liaison from parks recreation and conservation board to Shetry Commission. Appoint members to central business district advisory committee. Appoint member to Green Ridgewood and appoint member to green team advisory committee. I have a motion. So moved.

Second. Mortimer. Yes. Parin. Yes. Whites. Yes. Wiggrad is not here at the moment and Bajanos. Yes. And with that, let's return to public comment.

Hi, Sandy Santangelo, resident. So, I guess my comment would be um where do we go now? Um my comment would be um Mr. Mayor, you had said that when you were first approached, or not when not when you were first approached, but when Kensington came about, you and the planning board passed it for zoning and that it fit the the master plan that you thought it was a good idea until the residents spoke up against it. That frightens me because anyone looking at the space, not Kensington in in I have no problem with it, Kensington. I have a problem with Kensington being at that location. And you all sitting on this board or this council thought that it was a good idea. It solved a problem that putting Kensington at that location. never occurred to you that that would be a problem that that would cause this much of a problem. And that scares me because there's more Kensingtons coming. We have not fulfilled, I'm guessing, our affordable housing requirements. So that means we have to go on the offense and stop playing defense. So I guess my question to you is what are your plans for the future? How are we going to fulfill these requirements and not have to go and say yes to things that we know are going to help to destroy our village? I'd asked a question about rentals, why we couldn't subsidize a rental to and and I don't know if it's legal. I don't know if this is something this can do. So, I need to know the answers. Are there things that we could do? Can we

rent from a landlord and subsidize to help af our affordable housing? I just think we need to start playing offense and not defense. And I'm very scared that maybe that's not where we're looking. Thank you, Sandy.

Hello everyone. Um, I just have a few observations. Kieran Doyle, Ridgewood resident. Um, it was apparently with great regret among all of you that you voted yes for the um, Kensington location on Maple. Um, it was obviously to the great regret of the folks, you know, fewer tonight than most nights probably because maybe the weather or people saw the writing on the wall. But in keeping what with what Sandy said, I really hope that you try to bring more imagination and proactivity to the problems we're all confronting. Um I have family who live in the river towns in Irvington Dos Ferry over there and I was talking with my brother who's in Irvington and my niece who's dos furry and according to them and I hope that maybe you'll you know look into this yourselves um those towns are taking a more proactive role in keeping with what Sandy said you know the the idea of allowing 120 units for the sake of getting 12 that go in our column forfford affordable housing is unsustainable. We can't keep getting just onetenth of um these big projects. So, if it means the town subsidizing construction, if it means the town subsidizing rent, if it re means the town somehow putting more of its own money into it, I think that's worth saving the town and its character, it also more evenly spreads the burden of these projects across everyone in the town because you know these by definition these discrete projects are going to burden my neighbors and to some extent myself but you know wouldn't it be more reasonable if we all since the town all has the responsibility if we all were to bear the burden so on this issue of zoning I really hope you folks take a more proactive role I I don't

know much about the job you do or how you go about doing it I don't know about what organizations there may be among village managers mayors. I don't know to what extent you can look and see what others are doing. Obviously, the towns I talked about are in New York. Maybe things are different there, but I urge you to please look into it. Um, also the other thing those towns are doing is they're uh coming up with greater regulations about leaf blowers and lawnmowers. And I wonder whether we can adopt a system where just the same way uh recycling and garbage collections are done by zone. That the ability for commercial leaf blowers and lawnmowers to be used is done by zone. So no one neighborhood is getting pounded six days a week with the noise rather there are certain days when you can rest. Um and on transparency there's a lot of talk about that. When there's a big issue like the one you've been dealing with, you guys have a great way of celebrating your accomplishments through the newsletters, maybe you could also explain to folks that there are some big issues about to be discussed and use those same vehicles that you use for celebrating your accomplishments. You pride yourself on being a proactive council. That's fine. It's great for us, but you know, that is a vehicle by which you could communicate these big issues. And in the one second I have left,

stop signs have become optional in this town. Please get the police to start enforcing it. Whether you're in a car or on your feet, people treat them like yield signs. It's completely absurd. Thank you. Thank you, Karen. Anybody else?

Karen's tall. Cynthia O'Keefe, Ridgewood resident. All I can say after witnessing this, wow. Just wow. It is like having an outofbody experience coming to these meetings and watching what I would call performance performative justification as you know someone uh just said you were all in on this plan until people came out and spoke and were upset and spoke against it. So, my question, and I'll ask it again, and I'll probably never get an answer, but you hired a very experienced and probably expensive professional planner for affordable housing, Beth McManis. I don't understand why she didn't come to you early on in the procedure, the process of figuring out where these properties were and saying, "Hey, why don't we engage residents?" Everything was done in a vacuum until the planning board meeting and there were very few people who knew about this. So, can you learn a lesson from like I'm a shedler neighbor. You told us you're going to put artificial turf next to our private wells. You didn't listen to residents. We begged you for mercy. Begged. Okay. This is the same playbook. Do what you want and tell everyone, "Oh, but we really care." remember Ridgewood Cares. Maybe should I I should get you all a t-shirt that says Ridgewood Cares on the front and then I'll vote yes on the back. And I'd also like to know how many times you didn't all vote as a majority block. I think it was once when Pam said she didn't vote for artificial turf, which you still plan to put through next to our private wells, by the way. Um, I think residents eyes are opening up to what's really going on here. And it's a

shame. Maybe people will get more actively involved and civically engaged because what you're doing, this will be your legacy. I saw some building owners sitting in the audience tonight and they probably are popping the champagne right now, Paul, just as you may be when you get home. It's really disgrace. It's despicable what I think you're doing that there's no advanced planning. And I think that you're not really taking things into consideration. If you're three of you are were attorneys, give me a break that you don't do your due diligence. I've said this over and over. It's an underperformance. You're you were elected to vote to to work for constituents and I see a lot of things that are and you know, people in Ridgewood talk. So don't think that we don't hear some of the stuff that goes on. I I'm not going to, you know, sling arrows at anybody, but you know, I know what was said about Shedler, and I can just imagine what was said about this project. It's hurting families. Their largest investment, you know, sounds like Siobhan, you dodged a bullet and didn't get affordable housing in your neighborhood. Good for you. But some people are not going to be that lucky tonight and they're going to cry themselves to sleep. And it's really a shame. I feel sorry for you.

Thank you, Cynthia. Good evening again, Ann Loving. I'd like to say that the gentleman who spoke before when his three minutes were up was not interrupted, but Rosio was interrupted and Cynthia was interrupted at the end of three minutes, but the gentleman was not. It's way more civil to just let a person finish the last sentence or two, as you did for one person, but not for the two women I just referenced. Okay, Miss Winterrad, you suggested that the candidates Mortimer and Perin were bold enough to disclose your words. Bold enough to disclose their campaign contributions. It is required by law that they disclose. They weren't bold enough to disclose it. So, let's not pretend that disclosing campaign contributions is anything but required by law. And how dare you suggest that my looking this up and mentioning it and disclosing it here is in any way improper. Are you for real? I mean, you chastised me. Okay. Next. When one candidate gives a huge amount of money to get another one elected, this is not generosity of heart. This is because one candidate wants to get other candidates elected. I have given to candidates at the state, local, and national level. It's because I want those candidates elected. It's not generosity of heart. It's because you want them elected. You want them elected because they're like-minded. I understand that. Let's not pretend it's anything other than that. But when one candidate gives such a huge amount of money to another or in this case two other candidates, there is

an absolute impression that they will be in sync. A hint of impropriy refers to actions that while not proven wrong, create a reasonable perception of dishonesty, bias, or unethical behavior. I did not say, Miss Parn, that votes had been bought. I did not say that and do not misquote me. I said there is a possible impression of influence. So don't dis don't misquote me. I resent that. This possible impression of influence could have been avoided by recusing. The village attorney, that is the village council's attorney, stated that the mayor did not have to recuse, but he opted to. You could have opted to recuse in order to avoid that impression of impropriy as could have Mr. Mortimer. Both of you, you know, received large amounts of money from him. So, it would have been a good idea. And your example, Miss Parin, of the AstroTurf, excuse me, your example, Mr. Mayor, that that Miss Parin voted against you on the Astro Turf is a really lame example. Time is up. bec I'm going to just keep talking as the gentleman did. I have one more sentence and if you want to get in a shouting match, chief police is here. Turf does not directly affect the mayor's many real estate investments. However, the ordinance about the CBD did. Thank you.

Thank you, Ann.

Good evening again. Boyd, a loving Ridgewood resident. Uh Mr. uh Whites made a comment tonight about the Fourth of July committee met for the first time. I remind you that last year I made a suggestion regarding a portion of the parade being dedicated or being set aside for the sensory issue and was told that I made that suggestion too late in the game that nothing could be done. Mr. White's committee has met for the first time. I just remind you that if you could possibly squeeze that into the suggestions this year, that would be much appreciated. I think it would be appreciated by the people who have sensory perception or sensory issues. I too take issue with Miss Winterrad's comment that my wife did something wrong and improper and we had no right to look that information up. As my wife stated, by law that information needed to be disclosed. The candidates were not bold enough to disclose it. They were required to disclose it. There is a big difference between being bold enough and being required by law to do it. So, let us set the record straight, Miss Winterrad. They were required by law to disclose that information and they were not bold enough to disclose it. It was not an option. It was required. Got it. The other thing I would like to say is that although the information was disclosed, there is apparently some issue with the amount of money that was given. Um, sometimes I think you insult our intelligence that we're not in the back of the room checking things on our smartphones. This year in 2025, the amount of money that a candidate could give another candidate was increased to $17,300. The record indicates that Mr. Vaganos gave Mr. Mortimer $22,300

in 2024. So the question arises, did that amount exceed the required amount at that time? I don't know the answer to that, but I certainly think that if 17,300 was the amount in 2025 and that was considered to be an increase, the other amount was possibly over the limit. I know that they didn't say anything to you, but perhaps it's going to be caught at a later date. Again, we have a right to do things. There is freedom of speech in this um country. This goes to me like or this reminds me of the incident where my wife was assaulted in this room and the mayor suggested it was her fault for having her smartphone out. So, let us kind of get things straight here. We can do certain things and we shouldn't be blamed for when something else goes wrong. Thank you. Thank you, Boyd. Anybody else? Seeing no one, we'll go to our public comment section. Someone who is listed as K's spot. Oh, took her hand down.

Oh. Oh, are you there? Great.

Yeah. Hi. Thank you. Thank you, Kaylin Thomaseski, joining live from my house. Um, I appreciate everyone's uh responses to what I had said earlier. I wanted to make clear I never said a conspiracy. I um said very clearly a collusion. I also would love love the part about the performative justification because that's exactly what happens after we're done saying our piece. Um you all sit up there and give all your reasons and excuses for all of the things that we have made comments about. Um, I'd like to add about the recusing yourself from the central business district. Let's not act like all of these uh developments that are going to be coming from the overdevelopment for affordable housing is not going to draw masses amount of families, not just into the limited amount of affordable units. All of those families will be visiting the central business district. So, in my opinion, I feel that it's time that Rididgewood, if we continue to face these reoccurring concerns about transparency and accountability, I believe it's time for residents to formally explore modernizing our governance structure and moving away from the special charter that we have been under since 1894, where you all uh campaign and give each other money to get voted on to the council and then appoint each other as mayor and deputy mayor. Um, I also want to know who is speaking with the board of education, who is ensuring that we have all of the infrastructure set in place for all of this affordable housing and the overdevelopment housing that's going to be coming into place. Um, I haven't heard anything about that. I'm also very concerned about these timeline of events that we all want to act like this is normal yet. Um, mayor, you did

add to uh the statement of the email because the email added when you said and move this along as quickly as possible. Um, it ended there period. But what I would like to add to all of the findings that I don't think many people know is that in regards to ordinance 4071, um, this ordinance was written by the applicant, by the developer and we have the red lines from Beth McManis, um, where you can see that they even forgot to write in affordable housing as line number 12. Um, because that wasn't the goal. It's never been the goal. And I don't trust that when you read all the additional documents that have been brought forward through the OPA request, which I know you are very smart and you are wise to ensure that not much is documented on your end, that there isn't a bigger picture here. There isn't a a relationships that go much further and beyond than just we want to make sure that we make this happen. uh that we we alleviate ourselves from builder's remedy because we keep forgetting the main fact here is that up

the court wrote into the order that they were not allowed to intervene on our affordable housing and you all wrote them into the proposal. Thank you, Caitlyn. Natalya, you're up. Hello. Hi. Can you hear me? We can. Okay, great. So, I just wanted to reiterate some of my earlier just identify yourself, please.

Oh, Natalia Savage Ridgewood resident. Uh, so my my time starts now, right? So, I want to um just counter what you've I believe and I don't remember who exactly, but it's either you, mayor, or one of the BC council members dare to accuse residents of having blame residents of having to pass these additional ordinances. This is the problem of their your own doing. You yourself wrote in Kensington, you did not negotiate in good faith to ensure people's concerns about privacy protections and safety are addressed before you locked in all these things into the ordinance. Removed the only privacy they had like plantings. What that was even not explicitly made me mentioned, but right now it's explicitly removed from the ordinance. And I wanted to also say to you guys when you say, "Oh, that's the same. The the building size is already the same." Well, the height might be the same, but right now I would like you to please respond. How much of the lot is those three buildings are taking? Definitely not 88%. And the impervious lot coverage is not the same as the building bulk and building scale. Okay? So don't fool us by saying you guys are proving whatever is already there because it's definitely not there. We're not blind. Okay. I want to reiterate again um that the problem that I have is with the process. All these ordinances are presented as on as basis. Where is the negotiation? Where is the deliberation that you supposedly have had? Because I have not been present in any of these. So that only leads me to believe that there is some prehearing consensus formation that we are a public is not privy to. There

must be some outside outside communication like Caitlyn mentioned uh pulled in some text messages that you know instead of having to meet you just call each other or serial back channel communication mayor would meet with one of the members and other member go meet with another member. this way nothing goes into public eye because otherwise right how can you explain that we do not see you deliberate anything on these ordinances they are pre-written and they only pass as is or fail and then face the builder's remedy I we don't buy this BS I'm sorry there must be something behind because where is the deliberation explain to me please please address this one main question where is your deliberation about the details on these ordinances because the public is definitely not privy to it. Thank you.

Thank you, Natalya. Rosio, you're up. You're on mute at the moment. Rosio, that's better. Rosio, are you there? Hello. Hello. We can hear you. Perfect. Thank you. So when I mentioned the relevant case law, please state your name.

Rosio. Rosio. When I mentioned before the relevant case law, the fair share housing versus Sherry Hill. This is regard, this is for to you, Matt. Um, the approval of a settlement doesn't relieve a municipality of its obligation to comply with the municipal land use law. Ordinance 4071, like I said before, departs from the master plan and it is not complying with the municipal land use law because the way of the ordinance is being written. You guys remove the power of the planning board by setting in the ordinance already bulk height setbacks. The planning board right now the region planning board doesn't have any sayings on this ordinance 4071. So in those regards it violates the municipal land use law. the fact that Kensington hired a company to write the ordinance. And then you have a third party that never visited the site in question just red line her comments about the ordinance without oversight from the planning board or the stoning board of adjustments or anybody else from the village council. It just shows that the ordinance are basically against the master plan. So I don't know how I have to explain this. I submitted documentation, a legal draft about it. Um, nobody has got back to me about it. And the fact that in the meeting today the attorney which I in

the budget says that he gets paid $200,000 can even look at Supreme Court ruling. It just creates a compelling story that none of you actually care about the future of this town. Thank you. Thank you, Rosio. Katherine, you're up.

Katherine, you're on mute. Got it. Here we go.

U Cath Katherine Schmidt. Well, there's no doubt that everybody is disappointed that these ordinances have been passed because they are significantly, if not irreparably, going to change the look and feel of our town. I'm going to maintain a little bit of hope, despite what my friend Rosio just said, that maybe things can change as they begin being heard by the planning board. And I just want to offer this idea. Back when I was going for my MBA, I read a little book called Negotiating to Yes by William Yuri. Small book, still in publication, easy to pick up and read. And one of his principles was that usually we think of a negotiation as a pie and we figure out how big a slice of that pie we want to get and then the other person gets the other slice of the pie. But in order to get to yes on both sides, what you often have to do is figure out not how to slice the pie, but how do you make the pie bigger? And that model and that image always sticks in my mind when I'm really stuck. How do we make the pie bigger? So, I hope that there is still opportunity to think about making the pie bigger. I could come up with a lot of things right now, but I don't want to share them here. Um, but there's got to be a way that we can stand for affordable housing and yet still have the village that we've been looking for. And we've and that we've we came here for. Thank you.

Thank you, Katherine. Roric, up to you.

Yeah, Roric. a holiday village resident for 56 57 years. Uh I feel a little bit like a skunk at the garden party because I'm here to praise the five of you. I think I can speak for the majority, the solid majority of Ridgewood who do nothing but appreciate the hard work that you have put in and the creativity and the smarts. and you, the five of you, represent integrity and honesty. And the idea that there's something funny going on between the some of you is just ridiculous. So on behalf of the majority of the village of res village residents, I say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now, one thing I I'd like to say is I agree with Katherine Schmidt in what she said. This idea of this hand-to-hand combat all the time is ridiculous. Let's all work to see how we can make the pie bigger. Things change. Ridgewood now doesn't look like it did 50 years ago when we moved here when it was the mecca of shopping for Bergen County. It it's it looks different and so many things that are fought and are really improvements like the apartments taking over these abandoned uh buildings, these abandoned uh car dealerships etc. Now to go on the light side, I should say one thing that was very very funny was hearing my good friend Keith Gazmark basically being blamed for the snowstorm. I mean, I'm exaggerating to make a point, but I guess Keith, my friend, it comes to the territory, you're going to be blamed for

everything. You're doing a fantastic job and I want to thank you publicly for all the great work that you do. Thank you very much. Thank you, Roric. Thank you, Roric. Seeing no one else, going to close public comment. Can I go first? I usually don't. You Oh, you're requesting that by all means I know it's Go ahead.

So, um, so to Sandy and Kieran, um, you guys hit upon one of the points that made me vote for this thing tonight. As I discussed at the as we discussed at the um last public hearing, the one that went to 2:30 in the morning and the dedicated um dedicated uh hearing that we had in December, this buys us immunity for 10 years. So, one of the reasons why we're entering into this is that this essentially ends our affordable housing mandate for the next decade. And as I've said before, it is my fervent hope that saving New Jersey fixes this sometimes in the next 10 years. But what this does is give us our builders immunity so that we have that for the next 10 years. So, it means we can fight builders when they come in and want to put things where they shouldn't go. Um, but the fact that we're now getting that for the next 10 years is one of the reasons why um I did vote for this tonight. Um, also, I know there were discussion about um, you know, why perhaps some of us looked at Kensington initially as potentially a good idea. Um, as we've discussed at length, that property is already zoned for commercial and for residential housing, multif family housing. So, when this council were told, hey, there's a developer that's going to buy that property. Um, what we didn't want to see was a CVS 40 units of housing, which is what it's zoned for, which would be two or three people to a unit, which we were all told as part of a lot of the hearings that we had, would be far far far more um traffic and far more impact than something like Kensington. Now, with that, I'm not happy with what Kensington ultimately came up with. Um, but certainly to at least explore that idea initially made a lot of sense given what the alternatives would have been, which we were told would have been far worse. Um, Kieran, to your point around publication, um, and again, I don't want to be smart about this, but there were articles in north jersey.com. We've held well over 100 hours of their hearing time. We've had our lawyers speak and present to this group numerous times. Our planners speak numerous times. Social media picked up on this. I see my friend John Fry in the audience. I think John, you had at least a hundred yard signs up since August talking about this. So, nobody's hiding the ball here. Um, this was something that was

discussed at length at nauseium. Um, and the results tonight is only after hundreds of hours of deliberation or presentation by all of us. Um, finally, um, to my friend Boyd, um, I've been on the council for three years and I don't think anyone has added more uh, than you do from the audience. With that said, some of your comments tonight, especially the rhetorical got it to Siobhan, were quite simply not in good taste. And I don't say that um with any comfort because while I may disagree with you at times, I do always respect you. Additionally, your comments tonight about your wife being assaulted. Um for the folks that are hearing that for the first time, the police did investigate. They decided to take no action. Uh I won't comment on that further, but certainly I will say the mayor never said that it was anyone's fault for having a phone. And I do think respectfully that was disingenuous.

With that, I'm happy to turn over to the other members of the council for their comments. sort of um short to Matt if you want to speak to you you can always go first by the way Matt no no I' I' I'd like you to whoever wants to go before me is fine let's let's start with you and then and then we'll all jump in after

when I talk without my microphone it even works better for me so um Sandy I don't know if I'm going to answer all your questions but um when it comes to mount when it comes to Mount Laurel If there is a site that a developer likes and they decide that's where they want to put their place and put their development and it's a a new round. I mean they didn't wait till immediately after the third round was done to make this proposal. They knew that Mount Laurel was coming. The fourth round was coming and in 19 and in 2025 everybody's going to have to satisfy and get their certification again. So this was their choice of this property. Village didn't choose. We didn't look at this and say this is where this this development should go. This was their choice. They made their deals. They put their deals in line before from what I understand before they came to anybody in the village. Um the the whole issue of preserving the immunity from uh developer suits is so that we can plan for the future that we have a say in the plan because if we don't have the presumption of validity to our zoning ordinances and our planning um regulations we don't have the ability to control it. So the whole reason for getting the certification from the courts at this point for our what they call a fair share and housing element is to make sure that we have the ability to plan for the future to keep our ordinances intact with credibility and viability so that a developer has to pay attention to it. The only exception is affordable housing. And that always drags in these situations where affordable housing when they speak to it, the courts have held over the years that affordable units should be put near commercial areas and transportation hubs because they want that. you you couldn't put let's take just for instance if you

could build out on um you know one of our parks on the outside of town uh over by Pamis Road off of Grove Street you go out to Grove Park and you and you could build there if it wasn't wetlands you wouldn't look to putting that out there unless you had to because affordable people who have low income and the aspect of um uh income difficulties need transportation need commerce around to to keep to keep their their position as a tenant, as a as a person, as a human being alive. So that's why they've always asked for affordable units to be near commercial and transportation hubs. Um yeah, Kieran, um you know, you talked about New York and you talked about uh two towns in New York, but you also talked about other towns. I think if you read the newspaper at any time or see, you know, North Jersey online, you'll see all the towns in um in particularly in Bergen County and the areas in north of New Jersey suffering with the same issue that we are. Um I was asked by the council to go find out what the housing element and fair share plan in hocus was because we wanted to make sure that they weren't put anything on our border and if they did, was it something that we had to challenge? I met with the burough administrator just yesterday and he was telling me about the fact where his town the people in his town challenged an affordable development and it ended up because the developer came in said you're denying it. You're not going to get your compliance. I'm going to come in with something bigger. They ended up spending he said $5 million. Those were his words in terms of defending that and having to deal with it at a later date by putting up u assisting putting up the units that he needed. So, it's not having your immunity is a real problem when you're looking to the future and

trying to maintain control of the development in your town. Um, again, the the case that's been cited, I don't want to get into a legal argument, but Fair Share versus Cherry Hill, it's a case about developers, a developer coming in and trying and a town trying to zone out a development. The the town did not have their certification. So, the court granted the development because it was a builder's remedy suit. It's what we would we are trying to avoid occurring in Ridgewood and that's exactly why I said before keeps getting cited. I'll keep saying it. If you read that case, you'll see the reason why and what the what the town is doing right now uh in dealing with affordable housing. Um and just with regard to um some of the other properties just I think we said this before from the deis with the property with the development on Gothal Road there was an attorney involved for that developer. They came in with a proposal through discussions and negotiation that was shrunk down. Same with Chestnut Village. They wanted higher density uh per unit um per units per acre in that area. We shrunk that down. uh Kensington, the proposal that came in in the beginning was shrunk down. Um and even with regard to what fair share wanted in our area of the CBD and the B1B2, that again was negotiated and shrunk down. Um and I think we've said before what the what the purpose of the planning board in this is. planning board originally found that these ordinances met the uh consistent consistency with our master plan and they're going to be hearing the site plans on any developments that come as a result of these ordinances. So that's really their play and they have a major role as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks Matt. Can I can I go go that um I just wanted to address the questions about um being proactive and how can we have a game plan and that's one of the reasons why the open space referendum was so important because by having that extra money we can purchase properties and if a property is open space then nobody can build on it and so essence I take my seat that's why I push so hard for that because I do think I agree with you we have to be strategic and think ahead and that's one of the things that we are doing. Thanks Frank. I have I have a feeling somebody on this side has something to say.

I have a couple things to say. Um so Matt sort of summarized it with respect to location. We don't pick the location for any development. Kensington went into this area. Those buildings were for sale and that's what triggered our interface. We we don't make the recommendations. We're not brokers. We don't we don't do that. Um, with respect to offensive, clearly the development question is a real question for our community. It's like a serious issue that we all discuss a lot. Um, in addition to increasing the open space, which will effectively, it's a dedicated tax. It allows us to double the money each year that can sit there. So when a large parcel of land should become available, we would have kind of a treasure chest to potentially buy it. without that dedicated tax being increased. We hadn't kept up with the rates of property. So each year, just to give you an idea, um we hadn't increased it ever. It came in in 2001 and never been increased. While other towns in New Jersey are using this offensive technique, have increased it four times. So the referendum question that we placed this year was to have more money to potentially meaning us the government acquire future land which is is a good thing because now you know we we were kind of limping along with building that revenue. Additionally the bond on habernickel has now been paid. So instead of paying the interest on the habernnickel bond we'll save that and ultimately in 2029 we will pay off the shedler bond the the purchase bond. So that's that takes our budget line item from like $300,000 a year to just shy of a million. So that was one offensive step. We also are um deeply committed to parkland. We've taken proactive steps to clear the diversion which is where we spent about $600,000ish this last year so we would be more grantworthy for land acquisitions, land development. And that was um we have got to be one of the longest standing diversions in the entire state of New Jersey. And with that diversion still in

place, we were ineligible for funding that would help with land. Um, I had the opportunity to have a more intimate discussion with the neighbors. We put the option to buy on the movie theater. The movie theater is a prime example of our council taking proactive steps to thwart development because if we hadn't intervened there, the likelihood of it being sold to a third party and a potential request for the movie theater to become housing could have been potentially imminent. I'm not saying that to scare anybody, but we did take $250,000 of tax money as the ultimate offensive move because if we don't get the grant, that money goes away. And I think someone will probably come back here and remind me I just said that because I did. Um, and lastly, uh, well, two other points on the proactiveness. The town garage, the town garage, we utilized it. That's a redevelopment zone. So that's also in the heart of town. Keep in mind that was Kensington's first location. So we took incredibly legal expensive steps to acquire the town garage and now we own that land. And lastly um with respect to chipping away at our affordability um we have amped it up. So the percentage now is across the board at 20%. So when and if a development comes it will be future forward at 20%. So um we're always always open to ideas of how to do these things. The question is what do we want to do and then how do we fund them but I will say not in a defensive way because I want the community not we've been incredibly proactive in freeing up the money to expand parkland and promote those green spaces. If anybody ever has any idea from someplace else um please let us know. We're always looking forward for ideas with respect to a quality of life ordinance. Um Karen I think my husband sent you. He since co he hates leaf blowers. He hates the noise. Um, this has been a long-standing issue about, you know, industrial noise in a neighborhood. I don't know how that

would look, but from the environmental aspect and from the everyday life aspect, I think you there's a lot of consensus on things like that because the industrial noise is is a very big problem. So, I think probably the best person not to pass the buck would be to connect with Pam. You can CC me, but um those are things we hear repeatedly, especially now that more people are working from home. Um, okay, Cynthia left. But one of the things I want to say about Shedler is, um, one of the main calls to action in purchasing Shedler in 2009 was to prevent and make sure that low-income housing didn't go into that neighborhood for all the reasons Matt highlighted, it's far away from mass transit. And so the step to acquire that land and turn it into a park was to make sure that that neighborhood wasn't developed into a future housing that isolated people andor commercial development. Um okay with respect to the sensory friendly um we've brought the idea back about a sensory friendly element to the parade and access in general didn't love the concept. Evan and I had discussed it. There's a lot of things that become with neurode divergent getting into the parade getting out of the parade. We have put together a subcommittee which I've I think I've reported back here many times that the access committee is partnering with fourth of July. access is incredibly sensitive to one brush painting them because there's many elements of um disabilities within the committee and I know Paul was when Evan was away had intervened and we're going to cycle back to that probably at the end of this month to see how access can be there but I want to the general sentiment from the committee that serves us is that there wouldn't be an area that's appropriate for sensory friendly um you there's too many sirens there's too many variables and the families didn't feel that Okay. Um, with respect

to the board of ed, uh, Paul and Evan sit on a joint meeting with the board of ed. They meet with them, I believe, every four weeks. They're they speak about a myriad of things. This has been on it. I've had my own conversations with the board of eds who sit on my committee. And two last things. Okay. Um, with respect to the deliberation, I just want to believe this. We get massive packets and we go through our packets ourselves and so it's not like we just get up here and review these things. So we have a lot of individual deliberation where we can access full staff before the meeting. So to Natalia, some of the deliberation that we go through as individuals is not public facing because we're public, you know, we're just because we're public officials doesn't mean we don't do our own due diligence. And lastly, um it's been a long time. I talk a lot sometimes. I'm not entirely sure I called the the decision to disclose bold and if I did that's a mistake that is a mistake mistake mistake saying it again clearly it's it's a when you run you have to disclose but yes and all of us have done that and signed it I want to say again to anybody who's ever run you know we are we are reliant on people running in our country I think it's incredibly bold so the running is is bold the disclosure ure is a requirement. So, apologies if I got it wrong. We've been in our seats for a while. I also want to say this, and I'm going to make everybody laugh. No one is beholden to Paul. If you could be in our meetings of two, we're tough on him. I don't listen to Paul. Paul listens to me sometimes. I know Pam doesn't. I know Evan doesn't. And I know Frank doesn't. Paul is simply a ceremonial mayor. He has no power whatsoever except in these meetings. And in fact, when we chose the mayor, I felt that the position, most people in the town think he has more

authority, and he really doesn't. No offense, Paul. So, um, the idea that we would be beholden to him. My wife is watching this. Jeanie, I'll talk to you. There's a beholden relationship right there. It is important because we have a form of government that makes each five of us have a unique power. Paul's power is in being the chair in this meeting, marrying people, doing that. I want to say I think Paul is a wonderful mayor. I think Pam's a wonderful deputy mayor and I'm proud of everybody. But this idea that we're beholden to Paul, um I want all my Girl Scouts listening not happening. That's it. Thank you. You're welcome.

I think Pam, are you going to go on about my lack of power? Go ahead. No, I'm kidding. Kieran, please give me a call. 20116558427. We can talk about leaf blowers, which is one of Pam's signature movements. So, um, mayor, if I may. Yes, sure. And it's it's not actually about affordable housing. Um,

there there were some comments made at the first public hearing, and I've sat here for a good part of the night deliberating whether or not I wanted to address them. But um when Shelley spoke about her objection to Kensington, which I respect her position thoroughly, um she talked a lot about snow removal in the village. And as I've said from this day as many times, it's my fourth municipality. I haven't won an argument about snow removal in any of them. Um and I certainly don't expect to win arguments about snow removal here. Um it is an arduous job. Um, it is not easy and it is certainly a space where we are never going to please everyone. But I will tell you that the inference that we that our team did not go out there and do a bangup job with this storm. They did. Period. Full stop. We had 15.3 inches of snow in Ridgewood. To my knowledge, we haven't had that type of snow in something like 10 years. And what came after that snowstorm was 18 days of temperatures below freezing. The only days that we exceeded 32 degrees was on February 2nd at 36 degrees for a short period and on February 4th at 34 degrees for a short period. And then obviously yesterday and today. These plow operators across our bluecollar divisions were out in excess of 24 hours from that Sunday into that Monday. Mike Junter released them and then they were back Tuesday night for four consecutive nights from 11:00 p.m. to 700 p.m. removing so snow from the central business district and clearing

corners where it wasn't practical because there were 8 10ft snow piles on these corners. Helping our residents clear a path so that pedestrians could walk through the village and most importantly so that our kids could get to school. So the police department was a support agency on this. They went out, they identified corners, they submitted it to the streets division. I authorized the overtime and the guys were out there doing their work. We pulled crews from the water pollution control facility overnight to supplement that effort after Dr. Schwarz had shared with us some concerns that parents shared with him. So to infer that our guys did not do a good job is patently false. And I have to tell you, if I think that an employee in this village isn't doing the right thing or isn't pulling their load, I'll be the first one to call them out. I'll be the first one to call their union head to make sure we correct that. But in this snowstorm, our bluecollar men deserve a rousing round of applause. and I'm really sorry for them that the snow removal was brought into the conversation when it came to affordable housing.

Thanks, Keith. Uh Kieran, um you asked if there were other solutions, other ways, other places. Um if I'm if I consult with other mayors, I'm a member of two mayor's groups. Each one has about a dozen mayors in it. I met with one on Tuesday morning at 7:30. We meet monthly and a meeting with one Saturday morning at 8:30. Both mornings which I wish I could sleep in a little bit. Um uh you could charact and by oh and by the way and then there were more than two dozen mayors. Very few if any are part of either of these groups. All of these mayors are in northern New Jersey. They're either surrounding us or not far. So, you're talking 40, 50 mayors. You could call affordable housing a mayor's support group. Nobody's got better answers. And you know what? What's you know thrown out at the mic? Um, listen, we listen to that because we're looking for a better answer. But none of these towns have come up with a better one. So, I just want you to know, it's not like we don't talk about it. It's not like we don't search for it. We're trying. As as Matt says, we do this every 10 years. I wasn't here for the last one, but Matt said, Matt's told me, it wasn't pretty either, and I think he was here for the last two. So, it's this is this is not a good time for anybody. Um, and again, you can believe us or not believe us. We don't want to do this. I'll say it again one more time. go speak to an attorney who does this work to say, is there an alternative to this? Is there another way to do? Is there a better idea? Are they doing it right? Are they doing it

wrong? Um Sandy, I know you were upset that that I initially thought that this was a good idea and that my colleagues did too. And and I think you mentioned that this might be your first meeting. You may have seen some of the other ones. Um

that's great. um at those at those meetings. I know we we we talked about as as Evan did tonight that there were other alternatives that if this did not become a um an assisted living facility, these buildings are beyond their useful life. They're for sale. They would be taken down. And I know that no one really wanted to believe that um that a um a 25 or so unit apartment building that could have been bigger by the way because of affordable housing um uh with a CVS on the first floor would be um more uh more have a bigger impact on the community. Um, but the facts don't lie, the figures don't lie. And and a CVS is near the top of the uh of the food chain of traffic and impact and and believe it or not, as we've said many many times, there there have been a many studies on this done. An affordable um uh excuse me, a an assisted living facility is near the bottom. And so that's why we didn't think this was a bad idea. So I just want you to understand, you know, not that we were just saying, "Oh, well, go build something." There were there were there were data-driven reasons why we didn't think that this was a terrible idea, but the moment that we heard that community didn't want it, we all voted no. Um uh finally um and again if Siobhan did not blow holes in whatever apparent authority I may have with with this council um and and if you know the example of Pam uh who I did donate significantly to her campaign by the way it wasn't my money it was money I raised mostly from members of the community and

and and other people who know me and who know these people um and thought that that we might do a good job and hoped and and hold hold our feet to the fire on it. By the way, um but I have had one standard. It is a two-prong approach for the people I want on this council. I want smart and reasonable. That's it. It's all I'm looking for. And when we ran, the hot button issue was shed. There was only one. That was it. Frank, will you tell our residents what you asked me and when you asked me about Shedler? Because Pam and I both asked you combined to run with us.

Yeah. And that that was like back in the summer. And then um it had to be around October. I said, "How come you never ask me about your position on my position on Shedler?" And what did I tell you? He said, "You're just looking for someone that's normal and intelligent,

right? Because I don't really care because we're never going to we're never going to agree on everything. I don't want us to agree on everything." Um, you know, Evan takes a very strong view of of financial stuff, sometimes stronger than some of us might might like. Pam takes a a stronger view on environmental matters, sometimes stronger than I might like. I don't recruit people to follow me. I'm just trying to get good people to do this because just in case you hadn't noticed, this isn't an easy gig and everybody doesn't want to do it because we're just your neighbors. I say it all the time and we come out here and sometimes we have to deliver the bad news and and if like I said, if you want to take it out on us, go ahead. That's what we're here for. Um, but you'll never hear anybody on this deis speak to anybody in those chairs. The same way that some people speak to us in that same tone of voice, even after they do it repeatedly, we are always polite. And let me tell you, this guy with no authority, if anybody ever spoke to anybody, anybody here spoke to anybody there in the same tone of voice that some people have spoken to us, I would take them to task personally and I would let them know that in my opinion, it's not acceptable. And with that, I'm going to entertain a motion for journment.

So moved. Second. All in favor? Hi. Hi. Thank you.