Village Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. This is the Village Council Public Workshop. The date is June 3rd, 2026. The time is 730. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall, by mail to the Ridgewood News, the record, and by submission to all persons entitled the same as provided by law of the schedule, including the date and time of this meeting. And this was also posted on the Village of Ridgewood's legal notices page at RidgewoodNJ.net. Roll call.

Council Member Mortimer. Here. Deputy Mayor Perrin. Here. Council Member Weitz is not yet here. Council Member Winograd. Here. Mayor Radjianos.

Here. Will you all please join us in a salute to our flag.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,

So we're going to take something a little out of order as we sometimes do in an effort to help the residents who are here ask questions after hearing the report of our final park design for submission to SHPO. So we're gonna do the Shedler Park presentation, and then go to public comment.

So, come join us. Mayor, if I may, I want to recognize Kevin O'Keefe, who is one of our engineers from Suburban Consulting Engineering, who has been working with us on the Shedler Park development plan. Just to sort of set the stage for tonight's presentation, Considerably done with the work at the Shedler property as it pertains to remediation. We look at these as two separate work efforts, but the remediation process is moving along. We fully anticipate that we will be complete with the remediation by the time school lets out. The berm has been fully removed at the site, and now we're working to excavate the balance of the property that was delineated by our environmental consultant, Matrix Engineering, and we expect that plus the solid waste removal, the visible solid waste removal, to be complete by the time school adjourns. So we are now moving into the next phase of this project, which is the park development. As you may recall, last August we received approval from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in a determination that was written by Assistant DEP Commissioner Elizabeth Dragon. Commissioner Dragon wrote that and put a number of conditions in that approval that the village needed to meet in order to advance the project. Tonight we have Kevin with us to present to the public as promised because we have had some public inquiry into when these plans as they evolve will be shared. This is the same plan that was approved by the Assistant Commissioner last summer. What we're going to see tonight are some of the specific aspects of that plan as they needed to be engineered and ultimately codified into a bid specification that will go out to public bid. Before we can do so, we are required to send the final engineering plans, complete engineering plans I should say, along with the bid specifications to the State Historic Preservation Office for their review before Suburban can issue the bid specifications for public bid receipt. So that's where we are. Kevin is gonna take us through a brief slideshow. The council's going to be able to ask questions, and then we'll be able to move forward with this endeavor to submit these plans to SHPO once complete. So Kevin, the floor is yours.

Great. Thank you, Keith. Hi, everybody. My name is Kevin O'Keefe with Suburban Consulting Engineers. I'm the project manager for the Zabriskie-Shedlar Property Park Improvement Project here within the village of Ridgewood. And tonight I'm here to present to you and council an update, as Keith mentioned, of our overall design status and its compliance with the NJDEP approved plans back from August of 2025.

Kevin, welcome. Thank you so much for being here. If you could sit just a little closer to the mic, we want to make sure, because it's also people at home who are watching TV, we want to make sure they can hear.

Yes, sir. Thank you.

Perfect. Thank you.

Okay. So tonight, what I would like to do for everybody is present the overall scope of improvements with this project to demonstrate its compliance with the approved NJDEP plans, and as Keith mentioned, the engineering and safety aspects that went into the design that ultimately will go before SHPO for final approval. Within this project, we, of course, will be maintaining the historic Zabriskie-Shevler House and providing direct access to such. In addition to that, we will be having a number of safety improvements that in the upcoming slides I'll be able to go into more detail of such, which will protect park goers along State Route 17. There'll be an asphalt driveway that will bring pedestrians and vehicles into the park and navigate to two parking lots. of which I'll go over once we get to see an overall visual of the park. The concrete walking paths throughout the park are navigable in a loop fashion so that all park goers can go to any active or passive recreation features throughout the site. There's multiple pockets of landscaping, some ornamental, some engineered, throughout the site. We have a multipurpose synthetic turf field, which will consist of various sports in soccer, lacrosse, softball, and baseball. The playground on the site will be inclusive, of which I'll be able to explain a little bit more of what that means going forward. And our bathroom building on site is going to be self-cleaning, which will aid the Department of Public Works team to have a clean environment for all park goers that use the facilities. And of the landscaping features on site, most notable would be the arboretum, which as we get to the more visual aspects of the presentation, I can show you a little bit more of that. So our first slide here is the overall site plan as a rendering to show from a top-down view of what the site looks like. Along West Saddle River Road, there is a driveway that navigates you to the two parking areas that I had mentioned, one of which is directly in front of the Zabriskie-Shedlar House, consisting of seven parking spaces, two of which are inclusive for ADA accessibility. If you continue along the driveway, you get to the site's general parking lot, which consists of 53 parking spaces, three of which are ADA accessible. You can see along the State Route 17 corridor a series of landscaping features, which, as we get to renderings of first-person perspectives, we'll be able to take note of the safety features included within this area. Our synthetic turf field on the north side of the property is buffered between the residential area of two rows of evergreen landscaping features. And you can also see throughout the site there are pockets of maintained vegetation and proposed vegetation in rain gardens and the arboretum. Here we have, across the street perspective, looking toward the park, right now about the southern half of the property. On our left side, we have State Route 17's entry ramp just beyond where the depiction of the park is. And toward the right side of the slide, we have the Zabriskie-Shetlar House. You'll see that majority of the existing vegetation will be maintained on the left side of the site. And as we navigate more north along West Saddle River Road, you'll see the split rail fencing along the frontage of the property, along with the proposed various landscaping features that are spread throughout the park and visible from the West Saddle River Road perspective, in addition to safety fencing that is around the synthetic turf field itself. Here we have a more three-dimensional bird's eye view of the park. If you look towards the site driveway, you'll see some landscaping features of a boulevard separating the egress and ingress of the site driveway. As you navigate along the driveway on our left side towards State Route 17, you'll see the continuation of new shade trees that are in place of where the existing berm that's being removed at this time. And this perspective also gives you a little bit better understanding of the depth of landscaping throughout the site and the various heights of maintained features and the heights of proposed features throughout the site. Here we have a perspective from within the multi-purpose synthetic turf field. If you're standing on the north end of the field looking toward the residential properties that are adjacent to our property, you'll see past the chain link fencing that's part of the safety features of the various sports, the double row of evergreens that provide substantial screening from the residents adjacent to our property. From here, you'll see within West Saddle River Road, the bumped-in off-street parking, which is 18 parking spaces outside of the site along West Saddle River Road. This roadway's existing roadway width will be maintained and will not be disturbed as part of this project. And the existing utility poles that are along West Saddle River Road will also be maintained so as to not have any disturbance to the existing neighborhood and their electrical infrastructure. As mentioned before, there is a split rail fence that goes along the frontage of the developed portion of the property. And you could see that it navigates pedestrians along the frontage to an entryway that will allow them to walk into the site past the two rain gardens and towards the multipurpose field and the playground area. As I mentioned a few times already, there are various safety improvements that we've had to consider as part of this project, given its proximity to State Route 17. On State Route 17, there's an existing steel guide rail that is along the entire side of our property. But beyond this, there's a proposed approximately four foot high berm that will be in place of the existing six foot high berm. And this safety feature will be supplemented with chain link fencing along the property line. In addition to landscaping and temper guardrail that will be within the proposed four foot berm, all to act as a series of barriers to prevent any highway vehicles from entering the property from that side. The most notable safety aspect of the project is within our proposed turf field, there's one area that is notably closer to the highway than others. And with this, we considered how to better protect pedestrians and everybody involved. We proposed a four foot high retaining wall beyond the existing steel guide rail. In addition to that, there is a four foot high chain link fence that goes on top of that. And as you'll see in the next slide of a cross section of this wall, there's an earth mound berm that is behind this retaining wall again to further demonstrate its structural integrity and protection to prevent any vehicles from entering the property at the closest point of where the park goers may be adjacent to the state highway. In addition to the Earth Mount berm, there is also landscaping and split rail fencing that is included as an additional series of barriers too. Here's the cross section that I mentioned where you could see as if you were standing within the park, definitely not within the highway, looking towards the southern end of the site, where we have our earth mound berm embedded into the four-foot-high retaining wall. There's a series of landscaping that's within this area, and finally a split rail fence that also will be serving as a barrier to prevent park goers from getting into this berm area as well. With that, this was the most notable safety feature that we felt was the most important thing to discuss with you tonight, in addition to the other features of the park. And I thank everybody for your time in allowing us to present to council and explain the scope of improvements as part of this project.

Thank you. Thank you, Kevin. We appreciate your presentation. It's very succinct and clear. We're going to open this up to council. Anybody have any questions?

I do. With regard to the split rail fence that you have along West Saddle River Road, is that reusing the split rail fence that was up near the berm before?

As a matter of fact, it is.

Okay.

Anybody else? Yeah, why don't we go to slide six, the bird's eye, because I just think that's such a wonderful view. Yes, sir. Yeah, and I just want to compliment you and the team for thinking through how to make this an all-inclusive park, meaning that, first, we have the safety features, so regardless of anything else, that we know that everyone's safe there. It's passive with the different areas of the Arboretum, the walking trail, and then the all-inclusive playground that we discussed, and then, of course, the playing field, and then we have the history of the house. So I know a lot of time I went into this, hours and hours, and it really shows, especially on this slide here. So thank you.

Yes, thank you, Councilman. And to further elaborate on the inclusivity, I knew that this would be part of the question section of our park here. The inclusivity of this park, what we wanted to do is make sure that children of all ages and all abilities have an environment that is enriching, nurturing, and enables them to have social, emotional, and cognitive chances to learn and play with each other. So this is probably one of the more prouder features we have of the park beyond, of course, the safety impacts that we had to consider as part of this project. Anybody else?

Sure. I just want to thank Kevin and Suburban, and I want to just highlight some unique elements of this park. because we are building a park that has so many amenities. The playground is an inclusive playground. We've all heard Access discuss how difficult it is to have a child or a parent who has a disability attend and play. The playground, now that we've cleared the diversion, we will be eligible for Jake's Law. If anybody in the public wants to go see some of these playgrounds, Fairlawn received a grant for about $1.8 million dollars, We are hoping now that the diversion is cleared, we will be grant worthy for Jake's Law. We're also going to work with the Christopher Reeves Foundation for a grant there. So that is a huge compliment. I want to also thank Suburban and our Parks Department because they showed access elements of this, including the swings and the slide, and that is excellent. I also want to say that at the beginning of the project, the wish list, everything that was wished for is here, from the house, to a walking path, to a replant, a playground. And then the other highlight, I will say it, because we have so many members of fields, is that, I'm gonna say it, there is a bathroom here, which is unique for Ridgewood. As many of you know, we are bathroom light in our parks, which causes a huge amount of problems for the residents with the porta-potties. The bathroom feature that's self-contained may also allow for some on-site storage, which is wonderful. So this is a multi-generational, multi-faceted park, And then most importantly, all the hardscaping allows us to honor the house. I mean, I I've said this before, since I've taken my seat, the, the, the spend on the house was $2.6 million. Um, until 2023, there was no CEO and we can't access it. And while I've been very ambitious as a council member and had meetings there, Not in an ageist way. We have several members on several of our committees who don't want to go there after dark because it's inaccessible. So the hardscaping will allow this house to breathe. It'll allow it's perfect timing for America 250 and I'm just delighted with it. I'm really pleased to present it and I'm really grateful to Suburban. I also want to highlight that Suburban worked with our internal engineering who is here. and some elements of the park design with our parks department and our police. So it's just great. And I would encourage everybody to look at each different area because it's so unique. And that playground is going to be something that people really come to Ridgewood and everybody who comes to use that playground will then be able to see the house, which will make the house, not a lonely house where no one can attend it. And it will really fulfill its place on the national historic registry.

So mayor through you just to, take what Councilwoman Winograd said just a little bit further. The hardscape would be the first element of this because we needed to support the House. And one of the conditions that was in Commissioner Dragon's approval last August was the need to have a commemoration relative to American 250. So when it comes to the House specifically, Carol Belkowski, our Communications Director and Director of Special Projects, working this month to furnish the house in conjunction with our historic preservation consultant. So we plan to have the house open and programming to begin around the July 4th holiday, but in order for us to do that successfully we need to have the features that folks can come there and safely park their car to access the house. So phase one would be the hardscape. It would also be the initiative to do the bump-in parking off of West Saddle River Road, which was an important element in talking to some of the neighbors in the Shedler area. They were concerned about on-street parking. Once the park is developed, using a plan, reiteration of this plan, there are many, from a few years ago, we took the bump-in parking element and we added it back into the plan So the two lanes of traffic going south and north will be uninhibited with regard to vehicular traffic because the parking will be bumped in off the street. And that too, in addition to the smaller parking lot that Kevin described, will support parking for the programming that occurs at the house by the village, by our Parks and Recreation Department, by our public library, and by the Ridgewood Historical Society. Can I ask one more question?

Sorry, I turned off my mic. On the third slide, yeah, that's it. What is that yellow square, a little off center?

Between the playground and the rain garden, then the parking lot and the turf field, yes, that's the restroom area right there.

Okay. And then there's another little box opposite it in between the two parking lots, and there's a black dotted line kind of in a square. And what does that mean?

So that area is currently an environmental consideration that we're working with DEP on permitting for.

Mm-hmm.

okay thank you yes anybody else Kevin I want to thank you and I especially want to thank Frank and Siobhan and Keith because I know that you guys worked very closely together to put together this design I by the way knew not only that that was a bathroom but that it was a self-cleaning bathroom and I know who recommended it for the plan. I'm not saying right now.

It may have been Heather.

It may have been, but I don't think so. But thank you very, very much. Do you have any questions of us?

No, I do not. Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Council, everyone, thank you so much for allowing me to present tonight. And if this is it, then I wish you all a good night.

It's been a pleasure. Safe home tonight.

Thank you, everybody.

Great. And now we will go to public comment.

Amy McCambridge, Ridgewood resident. I heard, and you're still here, sir, that this is a safe and enriching spot for our kids. It's anything but safe. It's not enriching. I just wanted to start with that. The contaminated soil is gone. And for now, the first time everyone can see what's truly at stake. It's not an empty lot, it's not a vacant field, but nearly 200 trees. a living forest, a functioning ecosystem, a home, a place where birds nest, pollinators feed, Frank, deer find cover, raccoons forage, bats hunt, and countless living creatures survive. And you guys are preparing to destroy that. Not because it's dying, not because it's dangerous, not because it's failed us, but somehow we have convinced ourselves that artificial services are more valuable than the natural systems that actually sustain life. We're talking about bears running through downtown, and that happened in Ramsey. The raccoons end up in our neighborhood, and everyone's upset. It wasn't even rabid. And then we blame them for trying to survive. Nature's not out of balance because there's too much wildlife. Nature's out of balance because there's less and less wild left. Every tree, every species on that property matters. Those trees cool our air. They absorb stormwater. They filter pollution. They store carbon. They provide habitat. They provide biodiversity. They are a part of a living network that has developed over decades. And we keep hearing about that one historic tree. A tree is not an island. Forests actually function as societies. Trees share resources through these amazing underground fungal networks. They rely on each other. They protect one another from the wind. They regulate soil moisture, create shade, and support the health of the entire forest. If you remove 200 trees and leave one standing beside an artificial turf field, you have fundamentally changed the environment that sustained that tree for generations. has nothing now but a dead zone, PFAS contaminants that will now contaminate the roots and destroy that tree in time. You cannot destroy the community and honestly claim to be protecting and it's a safe environment. We've offered to have natural field experts come in. You guys still haven't done it. Dr. Evans from Mount Sinai, you guys still haven't done it. What troubles me the most is that we're making these choices at a time when the world is sending us warning after warning. We're in a global crisis. The planet's getting hotter. Floods are becoming more severe. Droughts are more common. I mean, we have water restrictions. We don't have clean water to drink. And you guys honestly, truly think that putting a turf field up there is what's best. Like, honestly, consciously, as human beings, if you cared about the future generations, and I beg you to rethink this, this is not the way to go. This is not protecting our children.

Time is up. Thank you, Amy.

You're welcome, and it's not over. I'm gonna stop it.

Good evening, Ellie Gruber, Ridgewood resident. Something that I don't see, this isn't part of my remarks, but I think it would have been nice if you gave us the dimensions of the field. We see no dimensions of the field. Does anyone have the dimensions of the field?

We'll take your questions and answer, and if somebody wants to answer that. Well, I think that would have been important.

Okay, so at last we see your plan for the property, and it is a disaster waiting to happen. This is more than a 330-foot field, not counting the fencing around the field, dangerously close to a highway, without real protection for accidents, no real sound barrier, not to mention the ruins. of an entire neighborhood. If I were a parent of a child participating in sports, I would go and take a real long look at where this proposed field is going. Stand on the property next to Route 17 as if you were on the field. Try to say something to someone across the field. Take a picture with you, stand there. Decide if a highway rail would be enough to stop a truck. If your child is already playing on one of the two Glenn School fields, take a few minutes and go to Shedler and do the same. Take a copy of this stigmatic and put yourself at the scene. A narrow street, limited parking. Once, there was a neighborhood. A neighborhood who did their best to help this town find a field for sports. They worked hand in hand with others. They thought all was set. They sacrificed some of their property so that everyone could use the field. They thought, like we all should have, that done was done. But not the case. You came in and ripped up their neighborhood. You have said you went to neighbors, but you told them what was going to happen. There was no dialogue. The property is protected because it is listed all seven acres on the state and national historic register. But that didn't stop you. You went before the appropriate council, a two-month hearing, hoping to get permission to build the field. You were denied. Again, that didn't stop you. You quickly drew up a new plan, which we can't see the size. You hired a new consultant, and you went before another agency, where surprisingly, in 48 hours, you got the green light. So you see why residents feel betrayed. and we all should feel betrayed because it could happen to another neighborhood. This is a flawed plan to place such a large field at this location. Please, as a parent, go in person and decide whether or not this large field is a good idea. You can object or you can agree, but at least you will have seen it yourselves. And one last thing, because I know there's going to be plenty of blowback to my comments. I'm used to it. I wish and wish and wish that we could have had a real debate with real experts. Thank you.

Thank you, Ellie. Thank you, Amy.

Ann Loving, Ridgewood resident, and I would like to reiterate what Ms. McCambridge just said. Evan and Frank have been talking to each other and chuckling while people were talking, particularly while Amy was talking. Whoa, it's just sad. Okay, a couple things I want to say. First of all, an 18-wheeler, which roars up to 17, is about 13 feet 6 inches high and can weigh up to 80,000 pounds when loaded. Okay, what you're proposing is not going to stop a truck that goes awry. It's not going to stop when a driver has a medical episode. You've seen the photos that Boyd Loving takes. You've seen cars moving concrete barriers just this past week in town. This is so unsafe that it's horrifying. Then you're talking about all the hardscaping. Let's include the fact that the hardscaping is not green space. That's concrete stone, nothing gonna grow on it. No pollinators are gonna do anything on it. Raccoons, no. Deer, nothing. So all the hardscaping that you're seeming to think is so great is just more non-park surface. You're saying that everyone is going to be safe. They're not going to be safe. This picture is just horrifying how close it is to 17. I don't live in this neighborhood. I'm not going to have children who play here. I can't imagine that anybody would. The last thing I'd like to say is regarding the plastic turf. There is seemingly no way we can stop this freight train that is roaring out of control with this huge plan, but you could change your minds about the turf. Down in the Meadowlands, soccer is playing on grass. They won't play on turf. You could change your minds on that. That would be one thing that you could do, and it's not too late, and that big green rectangle, which is plastic crap, could be grass. I beg you to change your mind on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Ann.

Good evening. Nancy Brennan-Hill, Ridgewood. I have a lot of concerns about this, but tonight I'm thinking seriously about what Ellie had to say and the noise. I visited Shedler quite a while ago before most of the trees were taken down. And even at that point, I was so distressed by the noise level that I couldn't wait to get out of there and get home. I'm old, I'm a little bit deaf, but even with that, I just couldn't stand the noise. So I really wonder if the people who have kids who are going to play on this field would, if I'd like to ask them to go over there and just experience the field and the noise level. You know, I'm sad about everything else, you know, the loss of the park and the neighborhood, all of that, but right now, I think maybe it's not too late to reconsider this because if people won't go there because they're disturbed by the noise, we've spent all this money and we're in a real serious mess. I wonder if decibel levels have been measured, if there's any way to count what's going on and what the level is and compare it to what's safe or what's desirable. I don't think it's too late to do something like that and maybe, I don't know, maybe there's some way to do acoustical engineering and fix at least that part of it. Thank you.

Thank you, Nancy.

Cynthia O'Keefe, Ridgewood resident. So I've come before you many times to object to the overdevelopment of this property, which is exactly what this plan is. You know there are neighboring homes to the right of that field, and I see two rows of trees. Again, nobody's, we talk about scale, and you've told me in the past I should go to the library for technical assistance if I can't read a map. which in itself is insulting, but that's okay. I could take it. We've talked about artificial turf. You know there are private wells that those people who live in those homes, separated by those two rows of trees, those chemicals could go into their well water. You've talked about inviting those residents to join Ridgewood Water at our own expense, which is not feasible for many people, right? So we talked about chemicals, eco or not. Pam has said many times it's a fossil fuel product. The PFAS and chemicals come off of the plastic grass that is part of the extrusion process. You passed the Green Amendment, which told all residents in Ridgewood, New Jersey, that they have the inalienable right to clean air and clean water. Evan's squinting over there, but it's okay. You can Google it later. It's an important thing that you passed, right? But where does that leave us? If it's performative, you're passing something, and you have no intention, like the Mayor's Wellness Campaign, where do these residents factor in? Now, I've attended every fields committee meeting for probably the last two years, and all I ever hear is, We just need that field. Not anything about residents, not anything about the Shedler neighbors. We've been called whiners, complainers. I've heard it all. We've been bullied, by the way. Me, in fact, and many other people who've attended these meetings and who've spoken publicly. I had one guy tell me, I know who you are and I know where you live. Six foot five and I'm five one. And almost 63 years old. Charming, right? And that's all been enabled by people who are just supporting the field. You didn't care about the neighbors. Ellie was right. You basically came and told us what this project was going to be. You didn't ask us for our opinion, or if you did, I don't know if you were listening. So it really created a situation where there's really a lack of trust. The EPA has talked about lead inhalation in older turf fields, and the NJDEP science and research confirmed that synthetic turf has serious environmental impacts. You've talked nothing about the stormwater management plan, and I also don't know where the Office of Emergency Management alarm is going to go, there are neighboring homes. Are you going to put it next to somebody's house? I mean, when are we supposed to, you're the transparency council. When are we supposed to find these things out?

Thank you, Cynthia. It's really shocking and shameful.

Patty Infantino, Sixth Betty Court. I wanted to ask about the four-foot wall. Is that around the playground over there, right off the highway? Or is it only around part of the field? Because I'm totally against this, but aside from that, do you have anything? We have no one to answer that question. Are you going to answer the question another day? The size of the field and whether or not the four-foot wall will be around the playground? No answer to that? Okay. Well, you know I'm against the turf field. We should have had... At one point, the community, years ago, had agreed to a small multi-purpose field, nothing this big, nothing that would draw, that would have taken down all the trees that have been taken down, that we need for the air, that we need for the sound. I tried to get one of you over to stand there, but you really didn't stand towards Route 17. And it's true that you could really hear everything. It's very noisy. There's a beautiful field in Hohokas, not far from Seventeen, and it's separated by woods. And it's not used that often. We should share services between our towns, and we should have shared. That's one field that we could have shared. And maybe because the students there go to school in another town, maybe they play on other fields. But that field is often, I pass it all the time, it's often vacant. I feel this is a real mistake, and I'm sorry it's gonna injure everything. And I don't think people will be, I hope that that area where there are little children that are supposed to be playing right near the highway are protected from the highway. I'm just not sure you people have thought about it. Thank you for listening.

Thank you, Patty.

Good to know. Jim Feeney, village resident. I'm here to support the park. I think the overall design incorporates a lot of the aspects that were meant to be in this park, the open space, the playground, the historic house, and the field. I think this is going to add a much needed amenity to the village of Ridgewood, and I think it's a good thing overall. I don't have three minutes of time, but I just want to say thank you to the council for pushing this through. I think it was a lot of hard work, and I know people agree and disagree on certain things, but at the end of the day, this is going to benefit the village. Thank you.

Thank you, Jim. Pete Gutierrez, Ridgewood. Peter, if you could speak up just a little bit, thank you.

Sorry, public speaking is not my strong point.

You're doing just fine so far. Thank you.

I just said my name. Pete Gutierrez, Ridgewood. I'd like to thank first the members of the council. This wasn't easy and there was a lot of dissent and with persistence and determination, you were able to get this across the finish line. I also want to take a minute to thank everyone who opposed the field and as a resident of Ridgewood, hearing opposing points of view is equally as important I think the people who did oppose the field did so in a way that broadened the marketplace of ideas and informed other citizens of Ridgewood of the potential hazards, and maybe most importantly, demonstrated to the citizens of Ridgewood how to band together and make your voices be heard. And in that regard, I think some good came from this. All that said, The solution is never ideal, and it's always a middle ground. Ultimately, however, the field was needed, and the design is as good as it gets given the limitations that we have in this town, given the space limitations. I am fully in support of this field. I do hope that civility returns both online and in this meeting, and I look forward to coming here again. Thanks. Thank you, Peter.

Good evening, Cynthia Hallaby, Ridgewood resident. My congratulations to you and to the village staff for this clear presentation of what will be a beautiful park. The project has been long coming, and I congratulate you for navigating the complicated steps to produce a plan that will provide our community with open space for both active and passive recreation, vital to the well-being of our village. This space, much like Habernacle Park, will also be a huge neighborhood enhancement. As the president of the Conservancy for Rigid Public Lands, please know that you have the full support of our board, and for the past 15 years, the Conservancy has financially enhanced our municipal park properties in a myriad of ways, and we look forward to supporting this latest development. In particular, the Conservancy will be interested in helping out with the Arboretum for Native Trees, which fits in perfectly with our mission statement. So we're looking forward to hearing more for our next steps, and we thank you for all your hard work. Thank you.

Thank you, Cynthia.

Scott Muller, Ridgewood resident. But anyway, I love this place. I love what you guys have done. This is a beautiful... You've addressed every need. You've addressed every objection. You have addressed everything. 17 years this property's been sitting over there. It was a mosquito trap. It was a dumping field. It was a drug... passageway from people coming from, go to the police reports, from New York State. Now, I gave you a little bit. Excuse me, Scott, if you could just address us. Sorry. Thank you. Civility. Anyway, you've addressed all the needs. We have a lot of neighbors over there that are supporting this field. Unfortunately, you hear a lot, but I do echo what Peter said. You know, They put up objectives constantly. You guys have met every objective. You guys have thought this out. Other than the turf, which, you know, you either like it or you don't. I've been playing on it since 1972. And now I'm 65 years old. So, you know, and it was 10 times worse back then. But I just wanna thank you guys for pushing this across the goal line because this has been such a painful piece of village history, buying that property and letting it sit unused for 17 years. We've had generations of kids just not even be able to use this and this will be perfect for them. Thank you. Thank you, Scott.

Good evening. Fretra De Silva, 521 West Saddle River Road. I live basically across the street from the park, so I am a true resident of that park. My message is for the residents and for visitors to the Shetlar home and children playing on the field. I am saddened by the design that is proposed to be the final design. It provides no buffer between the highway and the park, no buffer between the park and the homes in that West Saddle River Road area. There is, I live there every day, a clear flow of highway pollutants, a clear flow of noise from the highway, a clear view of the lights from the highway without those trees. And it's a complete change in the character of the park impacting that neighborhood. And as a person who lives right there, I just... Want to make sure that's on the record. Unfortunately, I think the biggest concern is the damage to the health and the safety of those playing on those fields and the safety of those playing and walking their dogs like me down that road. not only impacted by the highway, the turf residue, but also the cars that will come in and out. So I just wanted to express that concern and make sure that it's on the record.

Thank you, Fred. Excuse me, Kathy, I didn't realize we go 10 people from the audience, then we have a bunch of people on... Excuse me, let me finish. private access, and I think we'll have time at the end to get you in. I just want to make sure we get to the people on public access. So, Bob, you're up. Can you hear us, Bob? We cannot hear you. All right, Bob, we're going to jump ahead, and we'll come back to you. Shelly, you're up. Maybe it's us. It could be. Dylan? Is this us? Well, I think if it's two different people, it's definitely us. While we're trying to straighten that out, Kathy, why don't you come on up? And Dylan can try and straighten this out.

Okay, Kathy Ngo, resident. I was here a long time in town. I remember when the community, the sports groups, and the previous councils sat down together the proper way with everyone to come up with a plan that met everybody's needs. And then it just went out the window with this council, and it's really a shame. People are upset about it. There's no measurements on this so that we can pass the information on to other people. It looks like the edge of the playing field is right by the houses. You know, you have coaches right there or possibly parents right on people's property, basically. I brought up the safety issue before along Route 17. I grew up not too far from Route 17, so I'm very experienced with that. What you've built, I still don't think, like others have said, that a truck could be stopped by what you have there. In addition, the kids hit the balls. They have power kicks. Where is the protection for the people on the highway when the balls could possibly fly into the highway and cause an accident? Are you going to have a golf net fence that's high? Because certainly what you have planned there will not stop something like that. And God forbid the poor driver with a ball. These kids can kick. I go to the games all the time. It's just, and having the playground right by 17, I really, I mean, the parking lot, maybe that'll stop some trucks or cars that'll come off the highway. I'm not happy with it. I understand the need for fields, but this I don't think is the solution, and I feel for that neighborhood. Thank you.

Thank you, Kathy. Let's take another swing at our public access. Shelly, let's try again. Dylan, how are we doing? He's working on it. He'll let us know. Do you have phone numbers? I actually do. You know what, let's do old school with cell phones. Hold on, I'm gonna start with, hold on. Hold on. Bob? Yep. You are on speaker. And I've got you to my microphone. So we are doing public. I see you guys right now. Same thing, you hear me now for about 30 seconds in a row. So we are modifying. So go ahead.

OK. I mean, I just wanted to speak. Again, my name is Bob Lynch. I just wanted to call in.

And is Bob Ridgewood resident or not?

Yeah, Ridgewood resident. and a board member for the Ridgewood Lacrosse Association for 10, 12 years now. I just wanted to thank the council for their work here and sticking to trying to get this field and the park that the young kids need. And sometimes it does get lost in the shuffle that the overwhelming majority of the fields that our kids play on.

Excuse me, sir. If you could stop talking into your phone. Thank you so much. Go ahead, Bob, continue.

The vast majority of the fields that we have access to for the kids to play sports on lie within the floodplain. There's very little to anything we can do about that. You know, resultantly, we need reliable, usable fields that are outside the floodplain. And given the limited space, open space in the village, there won't be any perfect project. There won't be any easy project. Every project is going to face objection. But I really do thank you guys for being thoughtful and trying to meet the needs of the community as best possible with the space available. And we just really wanted to say thank you for all the hard work. That's all I have.

Great. Thank you, Bob. Looks like Paul has Shelly's number on speed dial. Oh, you don't have it. Oh, I see your name. I'm sorry. Does anybody have it? I'm sorry? I just looked, and I don't.

We could ask Shelly to call.

I got it. I don't know if we want to cut it. Yeah. Great.

We're going to do this. We're going to do as many as we can find phone numbers for. Bob, thank you so much. And Shelly, we're calling you now.

Hello? Hello, Shelly?

Yes. Shelly, Paul Vaggianos? She's got to turn off her thing. You have to turn off your computer because we're getting feedback. We're muted. We're muted.

All right.

Much better. Much better. Good.

Shelley, if you could identify yourself and Ridgewood resident or not. Yep, Shelley Rothstein, Ridgewood resident. I just, I don't know if that gentleman, Kevin, is still there, but I'm really concerned with the lack of trucks in the renderings that were presented. A number of photos were presented, and it's always cars in those pictures. But the fact that Route 17 is a major trucking route straight up to upstate New York and beyond, and is a constant semi-trucks, weighing up to 80,000 pounds on that road. We've all driven on it. Some quick Googling, it takes almost 200 feet in perfect conditions for a fully loaded semi truck to come to a stop and i'm wondering if any testing was done on that chain link fence and the four feet retaining wall that's in the photo that's supposed to protect home plate and the field because it doesn't seem that a barreling tractor trailer is going to be able to stop in time and that four foot wall will be able to stop it. So my first question is, were there any tests done to determine that that wall will indeed stop a fully loaded 80,000 pound semi truck? I do not have children that play sports in this town. And my question to the people that stood up who do is how confident do you feel to put your child at home plate? that close to Route 17 and the trucks. There was a woman that stood up and compared it to Habernacle. I do not see any comparison at all. I go to Habernacle numerous times. I have a walking group that meets there. There is no highway there. There are no trucks there. I don't know how you could possibly compare the Shedler property to Habernacle. As a parent, I am extremely concerned for the safety of the children that will play on that field. And I truly want to know if proper safety testing was done on that four foot retaining wall and chain link fence. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Shelly. And I have Mr. Hallaby's number, so I'm going to go to him next. But for those of you who are waiting, I'm going to give you my cell number. I'm going to announce it. Text me your number, and I will call you on that so that we can get everyone in. My cell number is 201- 7-5-5, 6-4-6-5, I'll repeat it, 2-0-1, 7-5-5, 6-4-6-5, and my deepest apologies for our technical difficulties, but we're gonna try and get everybody in here anyway. So, Mr. Halaby, you are on next.

Hi Paul, do you hear me?

I do. And by the way, for those of you who are calling, if anyone's calling in, don't call in, just text me so I have your number. Thank you. Go ahead. Go ahead, Mr. Halaby.

Rurik Halaby, village resident. What a lovely design for the Shedler Park. Beautiful, extensible, useful, and a great addition to Ridgewood, and yes, the Shedler neighborhood. Kudos to the five council members, the village manager, and the many village employees and suburban engineering for your accomplishments. The Shedler property was acquired in 2009. 17 years later, thanks to the leadership, persistence, creativity, and courage of this village council, rigid residents and the Schindler neighbors will finally be able to enjoy the park. No park is perfect in all respects. All parks are compromises in some way or another. but this is an absolute winner. Thank you very much, and good luck.

Thank you, Rourke. Thank you, Rourke. And I know that Denise Lima is on, and I happen to have her number. Here we go.

Wow.

Hi, Denise. We need you to turn off your sound on your computer, please.

Yep, I'm done. Thank you.

Perfect. If you'll identify yourself and Richard Resnick.

Hi, everybody. Denise Lima, Ridgewood resident. Yes, I have a few quick things to go over and then also just talk about Schindler. So first, thank you for the focus, continued focus on Northern Parkway and East Glen Ave. New stop signs, flashing stop signs were added to Northern Parkway. You know, I think the more we can do, the better. So thank you. There's been a lot of conversation about the new desktop and how small it looks that it's being built, given the COVID or any future viruses and keeping distance. Not sure how many people are actually going to be able to be fit in there. And maybe it's too small. So we'd like some feedback about how many people that'll fit if they're waiting. A lot of conversations on e-bike. I saw the guidelines that were distributed by Keith this week. We, several residents, including myself, have been victims of two individual kids that have been swerving in front of us, swearing in front of us, speeding on the sidewalks. You know, we have several pictures swerving on the ramps to Route 17, not letting cars get out of Ridgewood onto 17. And so there's, you know, we probably just need a follow up conversation about that. I don't know whether they're high school kids, so they've been identified. And I just like to have another conversation about that. There's also a lot of conversation about the commercial landscapers and the noise pollution Ordinances that were put in limiting them from doing any business after six o'clock no holidays no weekends and the conversation is well if it's a noise pollution residents shouldn't be able to do holidays or Sundays either and nobody wants to be. you know, having dinner and a resident, you know, Christmas dinner and residents doing that. So, you know, if we can follow up him, I know you're intimately involved in that, looking about the pros and cons of adding residents to that discussion. So, Shedlar, I think everybody's talked about very common themes. I will just say that I'm not quite sure what this rendering is. It looks like a marketing rendering and not an engineering proposal. So what's missing is dimensions, stormwater, all the details that an engineer's plan, architectural plan would actually have. So I'm not sure why this is being called final, because we don't have any of that. And if you look at the renderings, I can't tell how many feet that the field is from the three houses or the playground is from Route 17. Is it one foot, two foot, 10 feet? Like you just, you can't tell any of those. So it's hard to ask detailed questions. I don't think this was ever a compromise. It's sad to see that no empathy or a little empathy was given to the residents. I know how disturbing that's going to be for them. My last point is this is the only historic house in New Jersey with a turf field right next to it. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And I got one text message. a gentleman named Pete. So I'm going to call him and see if he is a resident looking to comment or a cold caller. Or just a friend. Or a buddy of mine. All right, we got nothing. I did not hear from Susan, who was also waiting on line, or Bob L, no, no, excuse me, or Neha. So I'm gonna give you guys a moment to try and text me your numbers. Oh, here we go. Susan Ruane, here we go, I've got you, good.

Hi, can you hear me?

Hi, Susan, we're good. You go ahead.

Hi, Susan, Ridgewood resident. I just, I have been listening to everything and I do have concerns with the design, especially now. I mean, I drive up to Cheddar and it's a clear view, the highway and there's no buffer between the residents and the highway right now. And I know that'll probably continue and kids are gonna be on there. However, I do just really would like the village council to elaborate because all the field people that spoke or sports people who spoke in favor of the field said there was a compromise. And I wanna know what exactly was compromised. because I don't remember much compromising that was occurring. And I just would like the board to elaborate what was compromised. What did the residents get that was a compromise for what we've asked? Because I do see that the field people got, the sports people got whatever they wanted. I don't know how much the residents got. So I would like to have a discussion afterwards of what was actually compromised. I just thought those points were a little bit gaslighting. And I would like, you know, a discussion afterwards on what did the residents ask for that we actually got as a compromise. All right, thank you.

Thank you, Susan. And we have one more who's reached out, Jeanette LaRocco. Okay. Well, I'm going to go to Jeanette Larocco for a moment, and then we'll go to Neha.

Can you hear me, Paul?

We can, Jeanette.

Okay, great.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend because... Jeanette, you'll begin by your full name and whether you're a Ridgewood resident.

Yes, okay, Jeanette Larocto, and I've been a resident for 38 years almost.

Thank you, go ahead.

Thank you, Paul. So the reason I'm, after listening to some of this, I'm sorry I came in late, but having been a long-time proponent against it, I've come to realize that the residents are not considered. I love the sports people saying, oh, how great this is, et cetera, but how are they affected by the long-term results of doing what's being proposed? Also, the fact is that the turf field that someone talked about floods well the problem is as those fake fields are no better being repaired and very expensive every time there's a flood so the point being is those fields there's probably a cheaper and more natural way to be invigorate those fields that are on the floodplain right now, like the high school. I'm sure there are experts who can figure that out. But most important is the residents. For that gentleman, this is the most important thing, who mentions, oh yes, there are residents who love it. I'd like to see a number. I'd like to see names. Because it's easy to make a blanket statement when I've spoken to too many who are totally against this. And I don't live near Shedgar, but once I've learned about it, I support those who do. Because the fact is, it is a village, and we are supposed to work together to help each other and get a benefit. And if there's no compromise, when you make a compromise, at least you get something for both sides. Shedler's neighbors are not getting anything positive. I love the fact he thinks that they're going to want to use it. How does he know that the majority of Shedler residents are going to use that field? and want to use that field what about the wells i mean we've been working for how many years we've supposedly to repair the wells and remove the plastics that are very dangerous so why are we doing that to their wells their private wells allowing that because when it rains that will seep into the ecosystem and to the wells and then so how can we say we are for green Ridgewood when we're not behaving that way because it's totally against that whole concept and my feeling is this should not be the final because I was shocked to hear about it yesterday and if it could have been there I would have that it just was notified people were notified yesterday this is not right people need more notice because a lot of people in Ridgewood who don't know what's going on except for the sports people and the neighbors and i think that's important that everyone truly because i think there'd be more people against it than for it they truly understood what was happening in ridgewood because we have a lot of neighbors there are a lot of people with young children who may not be for it who may not be sports uh enthusiasts who don't care about my children played sports but it was never to the point and become professionals. I know there are children who are. But I think it's more the sports parents who care more than the children. I suspect a lot of children don't care. I'm sure there are children who do. I do know neighbors whose children do care. And I think they're important, too. But I think we have to balance it. This has to be fair for everyone to a certain amount, like I said. Some people at Shedler have to get some positive. Time is up. Jeanette, it's your time.

Good evening.

Excuse me, mayor. Dylan would like you to try to let's be hot in through the zoom to see if it works. Let's give it a shot because we'll need it for the second public portion.

You hear me? How do you like that? Thank you, Dylan. Dylan's very happy. Neha, go ahead.

Neha Murad here, Ridgewood resident. It's too hard for me to say much, but I just wanna say that I do concur with a lot of people who are objecting this. I live right next to Schroeder and it's gonna be a lot of destruction there. What I would like you to really consider a new thing which has not been brought up before is the structural integrity of the properties. next to Scheller. This is going to be a massive construction. And even with the soil remediation, there were a lot of vibrations to nearby homes. And this is not a minor inconvenience. So I would really like you to consider the structural integrity. Thank you.

Thank you, Neha. And with that, I'm going to close public comment. And I'm going to open this up to counsel for anyone who would like to respond.

Let me just go first, Paul, because I just wanted for the record to say that Because Councilman Weitz came into the room, I had to acclimate him to the package. He had a different version. He wasn't aware. And what I was saying to him was to explain what we were looking at so he could understand and fully hear what you were talking about with the comments. So that's why I was talking.

And I was going to start by apologizing for being late. I had a work delay. But Frank is right. He was just pointing me to the new material, which we just received when we got up here. And by the way, Cynthia, I wasn't squinting at you. The person behind you had a Stephen Colbert shirt on. I'm a fan, so I was trying to read it. But the larger issue, this sort of game of gotcha, it's kind of petty and it's not really, really helpful. With that, this has been nothing but a civil discussion the whole time through. I very much like the design. It's the same design practically we've been talking about now for two years. I think one person talked about that there was a lack of a real debate We've been debating this for 17 years. There's been more discussion on this than probably any other single issue in the village over the last 17 years. I think another speaker said something about a lack of notice. Again, two years worth of hearings, more articles in the newspaper than I can count. I don't think that notice has been an issue. I also do take some, I do find it also interesting that at the same time we talk about transparency, the mayor had half the peoples who were against this project, he had their cell phone numbers in his cell phone We've been talking to the other side, and as I've said before, do not confuse us not listening with you with us just not agreeing with you. My final point, well, actually maybe not my final point, but to those that talk a bit about wanting to get parents to go out onto the field and see if they want their kid there, again, as I've said before, I have at least one kid who's a soccer player. He will hopefully be on that field next year when it's built. So this idea that somehow, or this somehow shading that we're hypocritical on this could not be anything further than the truth. Moreover, the loudest voices in favor of this field are the people whose kids will be playing on it. So again, while we can disagree with them, I think this concept of, well, if you had kids, you wouldn't want this field to be built, I think, again, it's disingenuous and it's not correct. And I do want to thank the folks that came out and supported it. I was especially moved by one of the gentlemen who wanted to thank the opposition and remind us that even when we disagree with folks in our village, we respect them, we hear them, and we're stronger when we listen to each other rather than when we don't.

Thanks, Ev. Who else would like to respond?

I would. After 17 years, I am eager to see this park come to fruition. However, the artificial turf has concerned me from the beginning of this planning and I wish the majority would change their minds, but they don't seem to be so inclined. I am still concerned that in the future we will learn the effects of the plastic turf, the untested, unstudied infill, the effects on the environment, the heat island effect that can cause people to have heat stroke, even more so in children because they don't sweat as much as adults. I'm afraid that we're using our athletes and children as guinea pigs. And if the World Cup is banning play on artificial turf, why are we having our children play on it? Other than that, it's an OK design.

Thanks, Pam. Anybody else?

Yeah, I have a couple things. So I'm going to go in reverse order to some of the housekeeping questions. The bus station is currently 10 by 12. It will have multiple benches, and everybody from internal planning felt it was ample size. We did do the footprint for a future bathroom, and yes, I'm talking about bathrooms again. If you'd like to see the full concept, you can come in, and we have a blueprint, but we feel very comfortable with the size of 10 by 12 based upon the number of buses and the passengers there. I also wanted to thank Richard Beautification and the Conservancy for making it more beautiful and planting around it. And we're very excited for our new bus station. With some of the direct questions going, again, in no particular order, there were multiple concessions from the sports groups. In this current rendition on the field, there are no lights, there are no bleachers, there's no concessions. Football will not play here. There are no field goals. And the diamond was downsized from, I think in 2014, it was 90 foot diamond to only, to a softball diamond. So those were some of the concessions that were made from the sports groups. And I'm speaking to that simply because I am the fields rep. There was also the concession, and I'm going to lean into this. I'm building a park. I'm not building a field. When I took my seat, In 2023, I felt that I needed to serve on parks, fields, and trees together because in order to make sure that this lingering project, and by lingering, I mean in 2009, I was a first-time home buyer in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Subprime had financially decimated us. My husband and I were worried. I had a three-year-old and a five-year-old, and all of Ridgewood felt that way. And Shedler was sort of like a wedding where the sports groups in the community all wanted to save the land, knowing everything about it. It was, there was unification, there was no disagreement. In fact, at that time, the house wasn't even part of it. So when we purchased that property, I very much felt that my then three-year-old and five-year-old would play on that park. To give a reference to the community, we bought Habernickle in 2004, and my son was playing on it by the time he was in first grade. This has lingered for too long. It hasn't been good for our community. To Peter's point, the conversation has been very upsetting. I also feel that I have to say this just for the record. In 2009, there was a wish list from the neighborhood. The neighborhood's primary goal was to integrate itself back into Ridgewood. That was the primary sentiment of the neighborhood. It wanted to be integrated. It wanted people to come there. when I was in sixth grade, the Glenn School had closed and there was still bad blood about the closure of that school. And they felt that developing a park with all the elements that we had here would make that neighborhood integrate and be less forgotten on the other side of Route 17. I'm a generous listener for these decades of time. We put every element that I've ever heard, path, trees, playground, bathroom, all kidding aside, that's like amazing. So many other residents live with porta potties and all of that. So we have been listening for a full generation and all of those elements are here. I would be remiss in not reminding the public and many of the residents that the residents advocated for the house and the prior council spent $2.6 million. Let me say that again, $2.6 million on a house that is now vacant. It's a historic house and yes, there are multiple historic houses next to turf fields. It's in our original SHPO application. The great hall at shadow lawn at Monmouth university is closer than this field will be. We have this house in February. Heather will remember this. I was very, very into field trips. I wanted to go into the house. I was shocked to see that the house that had been advocated for had no love. And we have been desperately, desperately as a council trying to reintroduce this house. We've had no assistance. The original rally cry for the house was probably as intense as this field. This park needs to move forward for so many reasons, but we're not going to forget about the house. We have a fiduciary duty to open the house so citizens can see it. We have a social responsibility because it is 1,000% inaccessible to our disabled population and our elderly population. So I really, I just want to highlight that. I also want to correct the record about the trees. Sadly, the prior council removed a ton of trees, tons. parks, recs, the ad hoc committee earmarked trees that were to be preserved, literally with paint, and I'm aware of this, and they were all removed. The tree removal that has occurred on our watch has been a direct result of remediation, which is directly related to public safety. When you look at Shedler now, and you look at the deforestation that has gone on, that is solely due to the safety and the remediation. There's not many trees left there, and I know Online, there's an aerial from probably when I was 17, deeply forested. It's largely gone. The remediation has done that in. There's so few trees left standing there after this. And lastly, the turf has been in the plan since 2017. Everyone calls it out. I ran on the 2017 plan, and the only change that I made, the only element of this park design since that time was the size of the field. And I believe Evan did the same. And the only reason why is because of persistent and frequent flooding. I want to encourage the neighbors to look at these elements. There's a lot here. There's a lot of investment. Let me say again, at Jake's Law Playground in the state of New Jersey is $1.8 million. We are very, as a council, excited to put that there. We are very excited for the walking path, the arboretum, the replant, and the house. So I fully support this. I recognize all the elements. And it's almost like you have to unpack now a multi-generational story to make the point. This needs to move forward. If people want to say we've deforested it for the park development, that's factually untrue. If you want to be a part of helping us replant, we have interns here tonight who are going to help us with seeking donations for trees. We would welcome it. And lastly, we need a lot of help with the house. We need people who have a side interest, who want to use it. It will be open, and we really want to embrace this house because the time has come to return it to the village who paid so greatly for it. And the last question, I believe, is if anybody had any technical stormwater drainage, all of that will be on file in engineering. And the last question that was asked is, of course, we're going to have a lightning alarm. By law, we have to. If anybody lives next to a school, I don't know where it will be placed that will come with electric, but I'm really proud of this plan. I'm really proud of our council. I've, I know that we've all generously listened and I'm talking a lot. What I'm least proud of is that when we disagree, we change the actual facts and that's been generally upsetting. And what I'm a little bit, I just want to be transparent and honest. None of these other elements, that were asked for in 2009. And every year since, we're even discussed. I mean, the house, $2.6 million, guys, per square foot. You're all gonna laugh. It's the most expensive square renovation in Ridgewood. Think about what you renovated your own homes. And it's like, once we got the house, it's not even discussed. So if anybody wants to take the time to discuss the other elements, I'm building a park. I welcome the community to join me in building this. We would welcome any input. We would also welcome any donations. Because the more that we get, the more that this park can come online faster. And that's it.

Thanks so much, Siobhan.

Mayor, if I may.

I'm sorry, councilman. So prior to being on the council, I was on the Parks and Rec board for five plus years. I am currently the liaison to Open Space. And first and foremost, I believe that for all of our community, that we owe it to every resident to complete this park. It's existed for too long. And one of the things that I found that was, concerning tonight is only thing that people continue to talk about is the field and this is a park and the as Kevin spoke today that a lot of Time and effort has gone into first and foremost making sure that it's safe that that berm is four feet tall that that the Concern about where home plate is the closest that they're building a wall. That's gonna have dirt behind it. So independent of field this this is going to be safe per engineering and spec. Second, that arboretum is going to be built, we heard from the Conservancy. Conservancy also is who built the butterfly garden behind the stable, which dare I say is probably one of the most beautiful places in our village. So I'm proud that they're going to take that on. We heard about rain gardens are going to happen, that in the front part that none of those trees are going to be taken apart. There's going to be a walking trail. This is a multi-use access park. On top of that, we have a historic house that we figured out how to use and prior to be on the council and beyond the council i heard all these conversations what do we put there what and and what i really am excited about is that it's actually going to be a cultural center which i think will bring people to it and they can experience the cultural and history of bergen county and so Take what you want in the field. This is a park, and I am so thrilled that we're finally bringing it to closure. Thank you. Thanks, Frank. Keith.

Through you, Mayor, to ask the question that I think was asked at the top of public comment. The dimensions of the field are 300 by 200 feet. That equates to 100 yards by 66 yards, approximately. I do not have the longevity of the 17 years of debate that has gone on here in the Village of Bridgewood over the future of the Shedler property since it was purchased back in 2009. But I can tell you that much of what has been said in this room, much of what has been shared through email and other correspondence, and much of what has been said in person-to-person conversations from the folks who do share concerns with regard to this project, I have heard you. And when we have our meetings with suburban engineering on this project, there are many times that we talk about at length what the concerns are of the residents who object to this project. Now, not long after I arrived here, just about three years ago, the council made a policy decision as to the direction of this design and what the engineers were charged with as far as making a formal presentation to the Historic Sites Council, which was ultimately decided by the Assistant Commissioner at the DEP. But I just want to reiterate a few things that have come out from the concerns that have been expressed by the residents to where we are tonight with the plan that was presented by Kevin. So first and foremost, and I agree with this wholeheartedly, Siobhan Frank who sit in on some of these meetings will tell you that I have been a fierce advocate for coming up with the absolute best design to make sure that we have every safety feature that we could possibly have in place in order to replace the berm, which was mandated by the DEP to be removed. And I have consistently said to Kevin and the team at Suburban that we needed to have a redundancy to ensure that the proximity to Route 17, which is a real thing, that we have safety measures in place that parents who sign their kids up to play sports in the village of Ridgewood, or parents who choose to bring their children to that inclusive playground, that they have a level of confidence in the safety measures that this village has put into place when this park is developed. And that is why the cross section was shown to you tonight. It is why we are going to replace a berm with a berm that's only two feet smaller than the berm that was just removed. It's also going to have a redundancy with regard to guardrails. The existing guardrail will remain from the DOT. We will have an internal cinder guard rail that matches the historic aesthetics of the park.

There you go.

Thank you, Frank. But we'll also protect people from inside. The retaining wall is four feet high. The previous berm was six feet high. There will be a fence and significant landscaping that will grow over time to make sure that that Area is protected, not only with man-made resources that are safety features, but also with landscaping that will grow into stronger safety features as years go on. The other thing that I think is really important is that even where the retaining wall is going to exist, which is closer, as Patty mentioned, which is closer to the ball field than the playground, there will be half a berm And you can see this on the slide that Frank put up on the screen. There will be half a berm on the interior of the park. And on the other side of that berm will be another guardrail on the inside of the property. With that, during the course of design, we heard from the residents during the Historic Sites Council hearings that they were not comfortable with the placement of the restrooms near the properties on the north end of the property. That has been changed as the evolution of this plan came to be. In addition, there were serious concerns about West Saddle River Road and blocking lanes of traffic because folks were concerned about parking on the road as it currently exists. That's why the bump-in design was included, brought back from a prior rendition of this plan And that's why the bump in parking is there. So you have two clear lanes of traffic traveling north and south on that roadway. The other thing that was a concern, and I want to remind everyone here, that during the course of the first Historic Sites Council meeting in July of last year, it was the members of the Historic Sites Council that recommended that the field be adjusted on the plan to be further away from the historic house. And if you go back and you listen to the recording of that, you will remember that it was the state officials who recommended modifying the plan to where the field is currently placed. So we took that recommendation between the July meeting and the August meeting. We worked with Suburban to come up with where the field is currently placed. That being said, we also understood, and we're very sensitive to the fact, that that field is close to those residential properties. And that's why we enhanced the buffer zone between the field and the residents by adding those two rows of evergreens between the field area, the play area, and the properties that are north of that. So I just wanted to put into context for everyone here that while I understand this is contentious, there's decades worth of history here, And I respect that. But there have been a lot of good, positive concerns that are real, that have been brought to the attention of the administration. And as I just outlined, many of those concerns were brought back to suburban and incorporated in this plan. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Keith.

One more thing, because Mrs. Ngo, you're in my notes. There is netting. There is safety netting. criteria from SHPO is it'll be removable so you know it'll go up and down and we can provide you some of that um we don't know which sports will provide which netting lacrosse has different nets but there will be safety netting to protect the balls from the streets and and for aesthetic purposes that will be seasonal that was discussed too at the uh at the HSC meeting good

And I'm gonna have the last word on this. And my last word is that I am incredibly grateful to everyone who spoke tonight because this was an incredibly respectful, disciplined discussion. I know that, as has been said many times, this is a very contentious issue. Everyone has incredibly strong feelings. If we can conduct ourselves like this, This is what makes me proud here in Ridgewood. And I will try to quote Peter Gutierrez that when he said, the comments from both sides, and in his case was the other side, the people who opposed this, were important to everything that's being done here, as has been said by both Siobhan and Keith. All those comments were taken into account Some were agreed with by this council, some were not agreed with, but they were always listened to. And so with that, I'm going to close this portion of the meeting, and we will go to our manager's report.

Keith. Thank you, Mayor. Sad to report that over the weekend, we had a difficult accident at the intersection of Bel Air and West End Avenue. which involved a three-year-old child. I know there has been a lot of concern in the community about that intersection, especially in light of this most recent accident. So at this time, as part of my manager's report, I'd like to invite Chief Lyons up to the podium or to one of the front tables to just address this situation so that the public is aware of the actions that the administration and the police department are taking regarding this situation.

Welcome, Chief. Good evening. How is everyone? We are good. So I just wanted to start by saying that we've increased patrols there. I've also assigned a traffic officer to monitor that location. This is just a temporary thing that we're doing because what we're actually doing is we're beginning the process of conducting a formal traffic study for that location, which will check speeds, check direction of travel, which way everybody goes, everything like that. But in the interim, what we've done is we've put our temporary speed sign, one of them, up there to try to slow traffic down in that area. That doesn't stay the entire time. Just so everybody knows, if they don't see it, it has to be recharged. So we'll put it out, we'll take it back, we'll put it out, things like that. But it's going to take at least two weeks to do a traffic study because there has to be different times. It has to have different variables, different days, different hours, things like that. but once that traffic study is done, we're going to work with the engineering department. We'll review those results and we'll determine what reasonable longterm traffic safety improvements may be appropriate. This could, and this is all possible. I'm not saying that it will happen, but it could include additional stop signs, radar speed, feedback signs, or other traffic calming measures. Um, we completely understand the residents concerns. I'm a father myself. I have children in the town. Watching video like that is heart-wrenching. It's very hard to do. But we want to take a measured, data-driven approach while we're increasing police presence and trying to keep everything calm in that area. Our primary objective is to make the area as safe as possible for the residents, the pedestrians, the children, and all the motorists that travel through that neighborhood. I did really quickly just pull up accident data. There are not that many accidents on that road. does not mean that they are not serious ones but in the last five years there have been eight total accidents only three with injuries so that's that intersection itself i'm not talking about the entire road obviously the road would have more but just to put that in some perspective and again this is not to minimize impact or anything like that just to put into perspective we have about 3,860 total MVAs in that time of five years, and eight of them, only three with injuries, happened at that intersection. So while there is some concerns, and we can definitely probably find something to mitigate that, it is not one of the highest accident-prone intersections. But any time we have incidents like this, we move to make whatever possible safety improvements we can.

Does anybody have any questions? Thank you, Chief. Questions? Council? Well, I would like to just say that I'm also the liaison to the Citizen Safety Committee, and actually the chair of the Citizen Safety Committee is joining this meeting as well, because when we got word of this accident, we reached out to Keith and to the department and to engineering. And the thing that I want to say that As a liaison to CSAC, I've been impressed with the amount of research and, as you even said tonight, the data that goes into deciding what needs to happen. You said you're a traffic officer, but I think it's important to note how much training that traffic officer gets, specifically on what's the safest thing. I mean, I think unfortunately when something happens, we think let's put everything there, but it needs to be decided based on data and facts of what's the best option. That's also like for engineering, there's the book that I always forget the acronym for. MUTCD. Thank you. I need to tattoo it on my arm because I forget it, but that's a giant book that engineering uses to tell them what's needed. So I just want the public to know that CSAC is 100% on this and we're working with our expert trained staff to figure out what the best solution is for this intersection and the rest of Ridgewood to keep it safe. Thank you, Frank. Anybody else?

I'll just echo what Frank said. I just think our community is so privileged and lucky to have qualified people, trained people to investigate the situation and help come up with a resolution. So thank you.

I think it's worth noting that, as he mentioned, the MUCTD, it's very complex. There are certain things that we'd love to be able to do, like add a stop sign here or change speed limits. Those are very heavily regulated, and they actually require a lot of oversight. And in that manual, you have to go through engineering, and there has to be certain wants and warrants to allow you to do certain things. So that's why we need to do a detailed study of the traffic patterns and everything to see what might be feasibly able to do in the future to make intersections safer. I apologize, I've been up since 4 a.m. because we had a missing person. I'm all good. Anybody else?

Chief, I just want to thank you and your traffic division for responding to this so promptly on Monday when we were sharing that information from some of the neighbors near that intersection. And I also want to thank the chair of CSAC, who's with us tonight, and Councilman Mortimer. This has been added to their agenda for discussion, so they'll be able to collaborate with both your department and the engineering division on how we can improve that intersection.

And once again, if anybody has any concerns, they're always free to reach out to us. We're always trying to improve every intersection and every street that we can.

Thank you, Chief, and thank you, James, for being here tonight. We really appreciate it.

Thank you both. And to Jeannie, too.

And to Jean. And to Jean and Jane. Both of you. So, let's move on.

Mayor, next on my report, we had a bit of a rough weekend here in the village. We actually had two raccoon attacks. One attacked a miner and his father as they were walking near Maple Park. On Saturday evening, there was a subsequent attack a few hours later in a private residence in a backyard of an adult male. Both of those individuals are undergoing rabies protocol at this point in conjunction with their hospital visit and with the guidance of the Ridgewood Health Department. We found out today that there was another attack on a dog also over the weekend, and the health department has been working through that issue with the dog owner. I want to stress to folks that I can't, actually I can't stress enough the importance that if anyone observes a raccoon or other type of wildlife, especially if they're nocturnal, acting strangely in your yard, in your neighborhood, call the police department. You are not bothering our central dispatch. You are not bothering the police department because what the police department is going to turn around and do is contact animal control. Tyco, who is our animal control officers, they have multiple municipalities that surround Ridgewood. So they are in this neighborhood, in this area all the time. We need animal control to be able to react, to try to find and locate that animal. I could tell you that they were out most of the weekend. And as hours passed and we got into Monday, they were then looking for the deceased raccoon because traditionally within 72 hours of an animal exhibiting signs of rabies, they traditionally expire. But our animal control is just as devoted to finding the animal dead as they are to finding it alive because we want to get conclusive answers for those who were attacked or those who were affected by this. So to all the residents of Ridgewood, if you see animal, If you see any animals acting funny, signs of rabies out during the daytime when they're nocturnal, please contact the Ridgewood Police Department so they can notify both Animal Control and the Health Department moving forward. I also want to just say and thank the Recreation Department. Our director, Nancy Bigos, is here. Tremendous opening day weekend at Graydon Pool. I had the opportunity to join the senior breakfast on Sunday morning. Great turnout, great weather. There was certainly a great vibe at the pool for opening weekend, and we encourage everybody to take advantage of the amenity we have here in Ridgewood that is Graydon Pool. Just a few reminders. Two-day-per-week irrigation is in effect. Odd-numbered addresses for irrigation are Tuesday and Saturday, and even-numbered addresses for irrigation are Wednesday and Sunday. Our senior bus has expanded their hours from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. please call my office to make a reservation if you need the senior bus services. We are also going to ShopRite in Wyckoff each Wednesday, which is also part of the expanded service program. The Guild is sponsoring music in the night, various locations on Friday nights downtown through Labor Day. As I mentioned, Graydon Pool is now open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. through August 30th, then will be closed during that first week of school, and we will reopen for Labor Day weekend on September 5th, 6th, and 7th. The summer concert series at Cashaw Shell starts tomorrow night. Concerts are scheduled for each Tuesday and Thursday in the months of June, July, and August. We invite everyone to come out and enjoy the music at the Shell. Music in the Park will be taking place on Saturday evenings starting this Saturday, June 6th from 7.30 to 9.30 at Van Ness Square. We invite everyone to come celebrate Ridgewood Pride Day at Van Ness Square this Saturday, June 6th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The flag raising ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. The Holy Festival will be held on Sunday, June 14th at the parking lot adjacent to McMurphy's Bar from 11 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. The Department of Recreation, in conjunction with the Open Space Committee, will be hosting a park event on Saturday, June 6th, at the Children's Sensory Garden walk behind the stable. We encourage everyone to attend. The walk and workshop begin at 10 a.m., rain or shine. Very excited to announce that the World Cup is coming to Ridgewood, sort of. There will be two great events that are being supported and sponsored by our various soccer organizations here in the village. The watch party for teens and adults will take place on Friday, June 12th at Van Ness Square from 8 p.m. to 11.30 p.m. Kickoff will be at 9 p.m. with the U.S. versus Paraguay. And the second event, Fan Fest for the Entire Family, will take place on Friday, June 19th at Veterans Field from 1.30 to 5.30. Kickoff at 3 p.m. with the U.S.A. versus Australia. There will be food trucks and activities for the kids and large screens to watch both games. Village offices will be closed on Friday, June 19th, in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. And the recycling center will be closed. There will be no curbside bulk pickup refuse that week. And lastly, our upcoming village council meetings. June 10th is a public meeting. June 24th is a work session. July 8th is a work session. July 15th is a public meeting. All begin at 7.30 p.m. And that concludes my report, Mayor.

Thanks, Keith. Let's go to Council Reports. Frank. Yeah, I just was going to, Keith stole my thunder again, that I wanted to bring up. Sure, let me go first. I wanted to bring up the Children's Park Walk on Saturday, and that's at the Butterfly Garden. And as I said, if you haven't been there, it's beautiful. Bring your kids. They enjoy it. And I thank the Conservancy again for all the work that they do there. That, and then I also wanted to wish my son a happy birthday tomorrow. 23, and that concludes. Very nice.

Frank? Siobhan?

Sure. So we had a fields committee meeting yesterday morning, and several things were discussed. First of all, if you can believe it, we're discussing fall schedules. which is kind of exciting. We also had a long discussion that the tennis courts are being upgraded by the Board of Ed this year. As you know, we have a shared agreement with them. We do it, then they do it. I wanted to let people know to keep on the lookout if you have a membership. This may interrupt a little bit level of play. We don't have the dates, but we are looking forward to getting them from the Board of Ed. I want to thank RASA because they... I know several members were here earlier, but RASA talked for a long time about the World Cup party, which Keith highlighted. We encourage everybody to attend one of these events, but as many of you know, RASA stands for Ridgewood Adult Soccer Association, and this council approved them as a recognized member, and since joining the fields committee, they have promoted, obviously, something that's interesting to soccer, but it's community gathering, and they were talking about how this is a vision of the future, for people who are seniors, meaning senior citizens, not seniors who are in high school, to meet, gather, and enjoy and watch our country celebrate things like hockey. And they feel that these watch parties for the World Cup will be obviously to celebrate the World Cup and soccer, but the sidebar interest will be a love of the community and gathering. So I want to thank them for that vision and sharing it with our committee. I want to let everybody know that fields will suspend for the summer. We will possibly meet in August, but there will be no July meeting, which is so exciting because it's one of the earliest meetings. Also, a highlight on the schedule, this Friday, Access is meeting at 1 o'clock instead of our traditional 2 o'clock time, and we pulled it up early because we are partnering with both Evans Committee and Mayor Paul to discuss some plans for... a private viewing area similar to the Silent Christmas Tree launch that we have. Details are emerging, and stay tuned for them. And lastly, Shade Tree will not be meeting on Tuesday, and we have pushed it out to the 24th, which is the last Tuesday of June. And we are no longer sapling-like. We are sapling medium-heavy. There's still room, if you live in the Ridge School District, to adopt a sapling. We always like to do our intercompetitive with this. We'd like to get more than we did last year in Ridgewood. We are currently less. And while the social media says cutoff is July 1st, June 1st, we're going to still see if people have interest and try to get there. So if you live in the Ridge District and you are up for adopting the sapling, we would welcome it. That's it.

Thanks, Yvonne. Evan. As none of my committees have met in the last week, I mentioned the report. And there you go. Pam.

Okay.

Okay. I am excited to report that the executive director for the Ridgewood Business Alliance started work on June 1st. He is setting up his office at 75 North Maple, Suite 103. He's already going door to door to meet the various landlords, tenants, merchants. He has a wealth of experience running business improvement districts in Staten Island, and more recently in Milburn, Short Hills. He has a degree in urban planning, and I really look forward to what he has in store for Ridgewood. The senior breakfast at Graydon was a lot of fun. They had a great band. Every year they have a great band, because Deanna Shablick sets it up. And by noon, that crowd was dancing. Also, I wanted to compliment the staff and And Siobhan, for setting up the motor vehicle mobile unit, there was a constant stream of people. So this really did serve a purpose and was very helpful to Ridgewood residents, including me and my husband, because we had to change our registration on our cars. Let's see. Do not feed wildlife. The little animals are all so cute and everything, but it's not good for them and it's not good for us if you feed them. They are supposed to forage. Don't feed wildlife. And if you have a bird feeder, make sure it is over 10 feet from the ground. Excuse me, eight. Six. It's eight, isn't it?

The bottom is above six.

Yeah, the bottom of the feeder has to be above six feet from the ground. And if you see bird feed getting scattered on the ground, that is very attractive to rodents.

And deer.

And deer. Let's see, July 12th, the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference in conjunction with the Open Space Committee and the Parks Department will be running a park work day at the Grove Park. And I'll be there for sure. It begins at 10 a.m. and finishes at 2, so plan on bringing lunch. And they do require sign-ups, so there are flyers downstairs in the lobby where you can use the QR code or the link and register for that if you would like to volunteer. There's a lot to be learned in terms of trailblazing and maintaining our parks. Green Ridgewood will meet this Thursday at 7.30 p.m. in the Senior Lounge. And that's all I have.

Thanks, Pam. And I'm just going to talk about upcoming events. Holi on Sunday, it is a participation sport. It is a spectator sport. If you go and see this, you're not going to be sorry. It is just way too much fun. It is a Hindu festival. that is open to everyone. It's right by McMurphy's. I'm going to be there. I'm going to be multicolored within 10 minutes of being there because that's what happens. So I really recommend it. You're going to have a good time. Also, next Thursday, a week from tomorrow, June 11th, is going to be a preview of the new Senior Center on the first floor of Village Hall. We are so excited. So many people have gotten behind this. So many people have made donations to this. It's going to be a big deal and there's going to be a lot of people there to see the preview of what the architects have put together. that the committee has approved. So I really recommend it. It's going to be Thursday, June 11th at 5 p.m. There will be wine and hors d'oeuvres there. So come on down. It's going to be a lot of fun. And that's all I have. And let's go to our regular agenda.

Keith. Mayor, tonight under Ridgewood Water, we have the declaration of surplus property. As you can see in the Draft of the resolution, we have one Ford F450 4x4 dump, a Ford F250 4x4 supervisor truck, an international reading 2024 utility service truck, international work 2008 star service truck, and a meter test bench. All will be attempted to put out on GovDeals to see if we can raise some revenue as we discard the materials.

Everybody good? Let's go.

The next item is the extension of the train station concession vendor, which is Boxcar. As you may remember, back in June of 2024, Boxcar was awarded a three-year contract to provide concession services at the train station, with two options to renew for an additional year for each option. The first year, the contract expired on June 9th, 2025, and the second year, the contract will expire on June 9th of 2026. The third year of the contract will run from June 10th of 26 through June 9th of 27. The payment of $600 per month with utilities included in the monthly rent will be continued for the extension of the contract for the next year.

Everybody good? This is my fellow commuterist. Thank you, Keith. This is a great deal.

Thank Heather, because I still say Boxcar was all her idea. It's fantastic.

I just want to say thank you to Heather, too, because... That place was not only vacant and not generating that revenue to offset the taxpayer dollars, but it wasn't affording anybody a service. And I'll just say this, because when Evan and I were campaigning on the train platform, I had a hot coffee and I ran into a friend and she's like, where'd you get that coffee? And that was only when I realized that how bad to be commuting during post-COVID era and not even be able to get a coffee. So thank you to Heather for making that happen and Matt for the lease. Super exciting for our commuters.

Yeah, great. The next item on the agenda is a memorandum from Dylan Hanson, which is the recommendation for the extension of the SDL license renewal. This renewal will be for Spatial Data Logic, the software that is used in various departments throughout the village. This year's renewal also includes a migration to SDL's cloud service, which will actually be a cost-saving effort.

And again, I just want to say thank you to Dylan and thank you to our building department to be open-minded about implementing this type of technology. It will the residents will really begin to see improvements with it. It's so great. Thank you, Dylan.

The next item is an acceptance of a donation for the mid-block crosswalk on East Ridgewood Avenue. As you remember, there was some discussion last year about instituting a temporary crosswalk in order to establish whether or not it provided a safe route across East Ridgewood Avenue towards the relatively new Tate Bakery. The police department and the engineering department worked collaboratively to set up that temporary crosswalk, and they are both recommending that it become permanent. Tate has offered to contribute $7,500 towards the cost of the permanent mid-block crosswalk at that location, and we need council resolution to formally acknowledge the acceptance of that donation.

That's an easy vote, yes.

Yeah, and I just want to say that that was a dangerous crossing area before because you had competing driveways on either side, and I want to thank Tate because they came in as public-spirited citizens of the community and said they wanted to contribute.

On that as well, we are up for a pre-construction meeting with Smith Sunday, who is our road resurfacing contractor for 2026. This will be the first item on Smith Sunday's project list here in the village as soon as they mobilize.

Keith, you stole my thunder again. I was going to thank engineering for putting that first on the list of the projects for this summer.

And because it's a workshop, I thought Paul was gonna announce his favorite tate dish because he does love it. It's true.

Okay, the next item on the agenda is an ordinance authorizing a special emergency appropriation. This has to do with the Bergen County Board of Taxation ordering the reassessment here. We had looked at this last week. I believe there is an adjustment that is outlined in Bob's email, which now incorporates the tax maps and the expenses that went along with that, which is a required aspect of a reassessment. So we would like to adjust the proposed ordinance to be introduced next week to include those additional costs for the tax map updates. Everybody good?

Yeah, and I just want to say, too, to the mayor, that your spring newsletter that talked about the reassessment, that was very well said. So thank you for doing that, Mayor. Thank you.

Yeah, and the assessor came to our house, was in and out in no time, arrived when they were supposed to, and we were very pleased.

Good. So traditionally under policy, in talking to Heather, the village of Ridgewood does not necessarily do advocacy on any type of legislation or take an official position on legislation historically. However, after a lot of discussion with our senior staff here at the village, These next two topics directly affect our operations, especially our budget here in the village. So the first is a copy of a resolution. We actually have the one from the Township of Washington as an example. But this is a resolution urging state leaders to implement fair and equitable reforms to mitigate the unsustainable increases in the state health benefit premiums for public sector employees. As you all know, this is something that had a huge effect on our budget this year, had we not migrated 178 employees over to the high-deductible plan that the state offers and provided them with a difference card to cover their co-pays and deductibles, we would have seen an increase in our budget of over $3 million. We were essentially able to cut that in half because our unions worked closely with us. As a matter of fact, in some cases, the unions advocated for this, and we were successful. but now they're already forecasting an increase in excess of 20% for calendar year 2027. That's unbelievable. Did you just say that? I did.

I was just having a decent time.

And listen, any news article that you pick up on a municipal budget, on a school budget, on the county budget for 2026, it all relates back to health benefits, whether it's through the state health benefit plan, which are the most exorbitant increases, or whether it's through a private plan, through Aetna, or AmeriHealth or something of that nature, everybody's affected by this healthcare piece, and we, I believe, recommend to the council that we be on the record as imploring the legislature and our elected officials to do something about it as we get towards 27.

Is everyone doing the same thing? Is that why we're showing this?

Yeah, I mean, what happens is these resolutions are traditionally drafted by the League of Municipalities, and then they ask the municipalities to support them, but when we send this out, it'll go to the governor's office, but it will also go to our legislative team. So depending on which municipality is approving it, they're sending it to their district. I mean, I support it.

I was just wondering if we can make it even stronger. That's exactly what I was thinking. Yeah, is there any more advocacy we can do on behalf of this? So we don't even dress alike, but we... Yeah, there's...

I mean, I'd hate to give the both of you a red pen down at that end of the day.

I got the red shirt. You got the blue tonight. But I can't think of a single issue in my three and a half years on this council that has gotten me more upset than this. The incompetence of both parties in Trenton and basically pushing a tax increase down to the municipalities while not taking responsibility for it is absolutely inexcusable. Inexcusable. The fact that they want to pile on another 20% next year on top of the 36% last year, I think it was 20% about two years before that, it is inexcusable. And this is one of those issues that folks who are not into municipal politics do not get, and I promise I will settle that in a moment, but people don't get because it's very complicated. but this is the type of thing that affects your tax bill. It means we can't do the things we want to do, and it's because Trenton can't figure out how to run a decent healthcare plan. Healthcare across the board is going up, but nobody in the private sector is seeing these type of double digit increases going year after year after year. Again, it's inexcusable. Anybody else?

I think Evan's voting yes. Let's do it.

In all seriousness, if there is additional advocacy, if they want people to show up in person, let me know.

My only question is, this will be changed before the vote?

No, Heather's office will update it to reflect Ridgewood. We use this as an example for the format that we would like to follow for next week.

Okay, and if we have any changes, we should be forward next week.

If you do have recommended changes, by all means, forward them to both of us and we can incorporate it in the resolutions.

We'll chat. The Washington Township threw me for a bit in the back of it.

This is just a sample.

Can we ask maybe the school board to also help us with this? The school board moved out of state health benefits. In terms of potentially so they're not on this plan? No.

They were and they migrated over to a private plan. The next... issue again directly affecting our budget is a resolution calling for the restoration of the energy tax receipts and increased municipal aid to provide real property tax release. That was the original intent. The state budget has diverted funding from the energy taxes to fund state programs rather than being spent on local programs and services that were used to offset property taxes. The money has been spent in successive legislatures and administrations as they see fit on state programming. So we want to try to bring those dollars back to offsetting the impact we have on municipal property taxpayers.

Yep.

Okay. Um, the next item is the renewal of liquor license. So I'll defer this one to Heather.

So every June, um, we renew liquor licenses are good through June, June 30th of each year. Um, and, uh, the liquor licensees must do three things. They must go on to a portal for New Jersey, Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control and renew their license. They must renew the license with the village. And then also they must have tax clearance certificate issued by the New Jersey Division of Taxation. So next week, all of the licensees who have done all three things will be renewed for the term July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027.

What happens if they don't?

If they don't renew? Then, well, as long as they've done all three, then they will. Actually, this year, for the first year, every single licensee had tax clearance immediately. There are times when we have to wait and they have to deal with, the licensees themselves have to deal with the Division of Taxation to clear up whatever issues they have. This year, they all cleared, they've all paid, so this year, every single one will be renewed. We have 17 licenses.

and all of them are hopefully going to be out of pocket, which is great, which is a first.

Eventually, yes.

Eventually, which is a big goal. I've been driving the clerk's office crazy on this, so thank you, Heather. That's pretty big for downtown commerce, and so we welcome them, and we're very excited to see them taking them out of their pocket and putting them on Main Street. Cheers to Heather. Cheers.

The next item is the results of the Whitetail Deer Survey in Northwest Bergen County. As I think most of the council members know, I am a member of the Northwest Bergen County Shared Services Consortium, and that is a group of administrators and municipal managers in this section of the county. Collectively, after a lot of discussion about deer management and different opportunities to control the deer population that are taken in different municipalities, we all participated and received back this white-tailed deer survey. The survey was to document the local abundance and densities of white-tailed deer in the 12 municipalities in this section of Bergen County. That study was conducted from December 22nd, 2025 through April 3rd of 2026. A total of 4,463 deer were observed in a 76-mile survey area, resulting in an average deer density of 59 deer per mile. This report is just being shared with you tonight for your information. I have a meeting on Thursday with the Consortium for Shared Services. We're going to discuss this, and we're going to discuss strategies as to path forward, but Overall, the data suggests that the intensification of deer management is needed throughout Bergen County to improve the ecosystem integrity for the future. So we're going to discuss that more on Thursday, and if there are any substantial recommendations, we'll bring that back to the council.

I was just going to ask, what's the outcome? So you explained that, so thank you. I mean, yes, we have the documents. There's a lot of deer, so it's not just, oh, there's another one. But I do think that it's great that they're looking at measures on how to do something

And this is one of those issues, and I know one of our neighboring municipalities has conducted a call. I don't necessarily think that's a good recommendation for Ridgewood. However, this is a regional issue, right? This is not something, it's not like changing the speed limit on a road, right? This is a regional issue because deer don't know municipal boundary lines. So if we're going to do something, we're going to have to consider what we do together in tandem with one another or at least with our bordering municipalities if we're going to take substantial steps to try to address this.

You know, I don't, I mean, if you think about, too, just the Lyme disease that deer carry as well as how many accidents they cause. Sure. It's just, it's, they are a pest.

Yep. And I thought this study was so well done and so illuminating, and this gives us quantification so that we'll have some metrics going forward. And it points out that 10 deer per square mile is what the ecology can sustain. Ridgewood is at 49 to 50 square miles. deer per square mile. So that shows you how much they are devastating our residences, our parks, our forests. You'll note that the understory around here just doesn't exist anymore. So I hope we can find a path forward. I know that fish and wildlife makes it a very narrow path. You can't poison them. You can't castrate them. And they are having more and more fawns because they are eating so much. So it needs a solution, or at least a try.

And just to be clear, this study was conducted by Raritan Valley Community College, the Center for Environmental Studies out in Branchburg, and they've done a number of these studies around the state already.

Mm-hmm.

Okay. Uh, the next, the next and last item on the agenda, um, is an ordinance being proposed by chief judge at the fire department, um, for an update to the ordinance that would standardize elevator fire service keys. Um, right now we have 140 operating elevators in the village of Ridgewood and those elevators currently use various fire service keys, which creates a significant challenge for our fire department during an emergency rescue. So this ordinance would require elevators to have one standard key, so there's no question about which key needs to be used in a response.

So I'm going to vote for this, but any reason why we can't do it quicker than 18 months? I'm sorry? 18 months seems like a long time.

So I think he spoke to the attorney that the fire department works with on these matters, and they do believe that there needs to be a reasonable implementation period. However, in talking to the chief, he does believe that most people will comply sooner than that.

So again, I'll vote for it regardless, but if there is any consideration to make it closer to 12 months or something less, I'd be supportive of that as well.

Yeah, I'll have that conversation with John. I mean, obviously, this is such a good idea. I'm kind of surprised. Yeah, same thing. We haven't done this a while ago. So in any event, I think we're all good.

That concludes my portion of the agenda, Mayor.

Thank you, Keith. And let's go back to public comment.

Thank you for giving the measurements of the field. I'm just wondering in your rendering, why are there no other measurements? How close to the homes is the side of the field going to be? You said this is a final copy. Are you submitting this and it has no measurements on it? I don't understand. It looks like it's conceptual. I know you can't answer me. If it is a final thing, It should have measurements, like a, no, yes, no? Does anyone know?

Keith is writing down questions so that he can answer.

Okay, my question is, two questions. Why are there no measurements on the renderings you showed us? Number two, how close is the side of the field to the homes along that area? Those are my two questions, thank you.

Thank you, Ellie. Anyone else? See, respectful, courteous, I love that. Thank you.

Lillian Blood, Ridgewood resident, not talking about Pickleball. I'm saying just two minor things. The activity next week on Thursday is the 10th, not the 11th. And I believe...

It is the 11th. What? It is the 11th.

Next Thursday is the 11th?

Next Thursday is the 11th. And the only reason I'm absolutely certain is because Nancy just said it.

And the other thing is that it's not a senior center, it's a community center. So that's important.

It's important.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lillian. Michael.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Michael Leno, Ridgewood resident. I saw something that it was the remediation of Shetler was $1.7 million. And if I remember correctly, there was another previous million dollars, if I'm correct. I'm just curious if any final numbers are in yet for the remediation. But the more important question is, how are we going to double check, triple check, quadruple check to make sure that the soil that's being brought in is clean? I know we were told that the last time around, and now we're spending several million dollars this time around. Number two is, I wish that the young gentleman, Kevin, could have hung around for a while because there were a lot of questions that came up. and there were some that didn't come up. For example, are there going to be lights on this field? No. No? Okay. And I know Mrs. Wintergrad mentioned there's going to be some safety up and down fences around. I was at a soccer game this weekend, and one was 10- and 11-year-old kids, and the other one was 12-year-old boys, and they can really hit the soccer balls. One kid hit a soccer ball from midfield directly into the goal, And the other ones kick them all the way into the woods. So there's quite a bit of power in the way that they can kick the ball. So are there going to be fences around the entire field, including where the houses are? And I know you said that there was going to be some lightning detectors. Is there going to be any kind of overhang? So if there is lightning or something like that, will there be a safe place? for kids to go in the event of a lightning storm. Thank you. Thank you, Michael.

Hi, good evening. Jennifer Devlin Burke, 400 Lincoln Avenue, Ridgewood. I was a little late to the meeting because I was attending my daughter's choir concert over at Westside, which is always a beautiful night. But listening to Siobhan speak earlier about how long this is taking, 17 years, it struck me that my daughter is 17 years old and I moved to Ridgewood in 2008 and she was born in 2009. And I'm sitting in the choir concert tonight and the theme was about love and community and it was just wonderful. And then coming in here and thinking, wow, 17 years, she's my youngest of three. It's taken since 2009, since when I gave birth to her, for this to actually come to this field and the Shedler property to come to this point. That's almost two decades. It's crazy. It's inconceivable. I might be retiring, moving out of Ridgewood in the next five years, and I just hope that this community space comes to fruition. I think about having raised three children through COVID. I think about the isolation. I think about the siloing that we had to go through. I think about the floods, the numerous floods that have happened since I've been a resident since 2008 in this town. My three children are so active in this town. I have now two children in college. They were all very active with lacrosse and soccer and flag, every sport you can imagine. My weekends were spent on these fields in Ridgewood. My son going into ninth grade, we had tremendous amount of floods. that year, we were also coming out of COVID. I can't tell you the number of times between like 2000 to 2020 to 2022 where the fields had to be closed because we had tremendous flooding. There's so many times where they had their practices canceled. They had their games canceled. These children need space. They need community space. And as a community, as a neighborhood, this should be something that we embrace. And I'm totally respectful of the neighbors, and I understand. that there are concerns and I want to thank the council because I think that the plan you've put forward has been very gracious to the community. But I would love to see at this point a community space that we can all use, all residents in our town. And I'm just thinking if I were coming to Ridgewood now park was built, this beautiful park and playground and fields, I would love to live in that neighborhood. I remember when I moved in, I live on Lincoln Avenue. It is a very busy street, and it's a very noisy street, and it always stressed me out when I had young kids. But if I lived in that neighborhood, knowing there was a park that I could go and play with my children there, that would make me very happy. So I want to thank the members of that community, because you're giving our children a gift. So thank you.

Thank you so much. Anybody else? Seeing no one, I'm going to close public comment and entertain a resolution to go into closing. Excuse me. I do it every time. I get tired. Sorry. I apologize. If I may? Yes. Thank you. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

To Ms. Gruber, so when we said final plan, this is, What you saw tonight was obviously an abbreviated version of the engineering plans. The rendering is what has been put out for public edification. Engineering plans are dozens and dozens and dozens of pages long, especially on a park similar to this. In addition to that, the specifications, which is the actual bid document, is going to be the size of a telephone book. If we remember what a telephone book is. My kids don't know what a telephone book is. But that's going to be the size of those documents. So with respect, we're not going to put that level of detail into a public presentation. After the feedback from tonight, Suburban will go back. They will refine anything that came from tonight's public presentation. and then they will begin to finalize these documents which need to be sent to the State Historic Preservation Office. Those documents, once they're submitted to SHPO, will become a matter of public record. So they will be able to be reviewed, they will include dimensions, they may even be complicated to read because they're going to be official engineering plans that are designed for the purposes of being followed during the construction phase of the project. So that's where we are on that. With regards to Mr. No, So, Mr. No, we had originally adopted a bond ordinance, the council adopted, that was for the purposes of testing, which was the matrix work effort, and then remediation. When we received the bids back, the second round of bids for the remediation project, We then opened up that dialogue with the Bergen County Joint Insurance Fund, and they are funding us $1.6 million on top of the million dollars that was initially appropriated. However, I want to stress that the initial million dollars was not exclusively spent on the remediation because all of Matrix pre-testing was taken from those funds as well. I do not have final numbers. in preliminary discussions with North Star, which is the remediation contractor, led to believe that we may have some breakage on this project, so it may not cost as much as the bid was awarded at, but I'm not willing to commit to that yet until we know exactly what we find and what needs to be removed as we close out this project by the end of the month. Oh, and the other thing I wanted to mention, with regard to fill leaves village property and with regard to any future fill that comes on to village property everything will be tested and has been tested since the situation with the berm came forward and is also reviewed by a licensed LSRP a licensed licensed site remediation professional. You've been to many meetings. You've seen Chris Piterisi. He is the Matrix LSRP. Everything that comes onsite or goes offsite, every document is reviewed by him to make sure that it is able to be brought off property to where it needs to go and on property to ensure we have clean fill for any aspect of the project.

Just additionally, we are testing as the remediation is going. We're backdrafting them. So Matrix is literally following North Star, and the remaining soil is being tested. So if 10 feet of the berm was removed today, tomorrow they would go and test as they're following along, and that's coming back very well. And I did want to say, make sure you tell your soccer players to come to our World Cup watch party. And I've seen them in our neighborhood. They're very impressive. The nose daughter lives in my neighborhood. So all kidding aside, anybody who can kick a goal from midfield should come to this watch party and do it again for us.

Anybody else? Good. And with that, we will entertain a resolution to go into closed session.

Be it resolved by the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood that the Village Council meet in closed session on June 3, 2026 at 7.30 p.m. or soon thereafter as a matter on the agenda can be reached in the said closed session. Be held in the caucus room on the fourth floor of the Ridgewood Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey. Be it further resolved... If the matter to be discussed in closed session is limited to legal matters to include Ridgewood Business Alliance, this matter is allowable under NJSA 10, column 4-12 at SEC, and be further resolved that the minutes of this meeting shall be made available to the general public when such matters have been deemed completed by resolution of the Village Council. May I have a motion?

So moved. Second.

Okay, all in favor?

Aye.

Thank you.