Central Business District Advisory Committee

Central Business District Advisory Committee (CBDAC) Meeting Minutes March 14, 2024 8:30 – 10am In Person, Senior Lounge at Village Hall Members present : Stephen Del Percio (Chairman), Stacey Tsapatsaris (Vice chair), Deputy Mayor Pam Perron, Andy McGonnell, Police Chief Lyons, Anastasia Bamberg (CSAC), Glenn Carlough, Rebecca Tatlock-Marijan, Steve Aspero, Tom Hillmann, Phil Davis Guests present : Kathryn Schmidt (virtual), Jeanne Johnson (virtual) Meeting Minutes: The committee voted to approve the Feb.8, 2024 minutes. Updates: Council : 1. Last night the council outlined the 2024 budget proposal of $61 million, 63.3% of which will go to schools. The municipal tax rate increase is 2.74% over last year. Based on the average property value of $710k, that is a $146 per year increase. 2. The council proposed to bond $7.8MM for capital improvements to include the below initiatives: a) Sidewalk repairs b) Bridge repair at Kingsbridge Road c) Tunnel renovation d) Refurbishment of the bus station 3. Outside of this value, the Village is looking to gain access to grant funding. Working with Millennium Strategies as grant writers. 4. The public hearing on the budget is scheduled for April 10th 2024 5. New Director of Communications (Carol Bialkowski) will now take over all communications relating to Destination Ridgewood including the social media accounts/website. 6. Concerts in the Park. There is meeting taking place tomorrow (3/15) with a number of potential musicians. Noted at this stage that Parks + Recreation group are concerned with the levels of damage and believe the park needs a rest. It was felt by all of the CBDAC committee that cancelling the concerts in the park series would be a detriment to the CBD on the weekends given the level of engagement and supporting the local businesses during the weekends. Jeanne Johnson requested a letter from the CBDAC to be sent to the village manager requesting that these concerts remain in the calendar. Committee agreed that Pamela would convey our sentiments at the meeting tomorrow and then will come back to the CBDAC if we feel a letter is needed). Andrew Meyer co- 1  ordinates the bands for the Fri/Sat evenings and then are provided to Carol to inform via Destination Ridgewood channels. Sundays still remain open. Will be a discussion if additional resources needed to promote and create content for the events. Group felt this was less essential, as musicians would also promote and would have content that could be provided for social posts. Chamber of Commerce : 1. Easter in the Park is coming up shortly with an Easter egg hunt. 2. The Board has now been updated to 19 members with 317 total chamber members. The goal is to look to be at ~ 400 members by 2027. 3. Highlighted momentum and engagement level now that the chamber has set up a number of sub-committees that are meeting regularly such as Networking and Recruitment, Sponsorship committee. Lunch and Learn sessions are back and there is now a robust sponsorship ‘menu’ available for businesses highlighting sponsorship packages available. Goal is to look to double the Chamber’s income. Guild: No representative at the meeting CSAC: Anastasia sent to Keith (Village manager) yesterday the report on the pedestrian island on Franklin Avenue that was recommended several years back for reference to see what this is pending plan. Lighting subcommittee : 1. Pam needs specs for the lampposts. Chief Lyons has found a better contact at PSE&G so will provide when received to Pam. 2. Police Officer assigned to follow up with PSE&G and will provide a count on how many lampposts we have within the area. 3. PSE&G only now provide directional LED lighting. 4. Proposed to CBDAC members, if anyone sees bad lighting in the Ridgewood downtown area to take a photograph and send to Village manager together with address details for follow up. Email to go to Keith at kkazmark@ridgewoodnj.net. Tunnel subcommittee : 1. Last night Jeanie presented to the council the update on the tunnel and thanked them for the proposed funding. 2. The proposal is to shift gears on the materials used for the artwork and opt for a mosaic (Stacey to send a video to the CBDAC on the materials and process proposed) as deemed more hardwearing for the tunnel. 3. There is now a component to include clean up and structural improvements including painting the wall near the elevators. 4. Looking at a feasibility of the Hall of Fame (stars) project to be using same mosaic materials. 5. Looking for potential local vendors that would do the installation of the mosaic. 6. Connelly and Hickey due within the next few weeks regarding the structural improvements needed and state of the current tunnel. 7. There will be a fundraising committee set up as estimate ~ $400k is needed for the mosaic itself. The Village will look to Bergen County and elsewhere for 2  grants. Given the project will take approx. 2 years to be put in place, this means can apply within two grant cycles. 8. The mosaic will include a commemorative element so looking for ~ 2k families/individuals/businesses that will be interested in contributing. 9. Website planned to be up and running in the summer ’24. 10. There will also be a design committee established given the long-term nature of the mosaic, want to make sure wider stakeholder engagement and input on what is selected. 11. Jeanie to send the report to the village engineers. 12. Full deck of the proposed Tunnel renovation to be presented to the CBDAC once available Agenda Discussion Topics: 1. Ridgewood Prospectus  Went through the draft prospectus. Pam has email into John Barry to get map assets and photos needed.  Andy to update the link for available units just to Loopnet for the area as individual units are constantly updating.  Agreed contacts to include in the prospectus Village manager (Keith), Director of communications (Carol), Chamber (Glenn), Guild  Stacey to provide to Andy the ‘Welcome packet’ that Kathryn had created that will have some example calendars of events to include.  In terms of where to distribute (to be discussed further) looking at link from Destination Ridgewood, The Chamber, Village website.  Pam going to outreach to Rurik Halaby on additional high-res images.  It is a priority with Village manager to ensure faster turnarounds for new businesses entering the area. Was feedback by recent new business and generally that Ridgewood has a reputation of being difficult and challenging to enter, which needs to be resolved.  Carol is working on a checklist needed for new businesses looking to open in the CBD on what is needed to get started. Andy proposed this includes what to expect time line e.g. First 30 days, 60 days etc. so this can also be compared to other sister towns.  CBDAC members to review latest draft and provide comments before this is put in final creative design. 2. Draft Exclusionary Zoning Ordinance  CBDAC reviewed current draft and to provided comments  Concerns within the CBDAC that this draft does not seem to reflect everyone’s expectations that this would be a fully exclusionary zoning proposal as seems very much just an expanded permitted use list. Pam to convey this back to the ordinance committee. 3   Concern that this still means that newer businesses or those that do not exactly fit into the permitted use list means a separate review with the Ordinance board causing delays to new potential business owners.  Steve Aspero to check the Montclair zoning if is exclusionary.  Stacey raised that the Floor to Area ratio still remains extremely restrictive and proposes that this be expanded. Stacey to provide further request in her mark-up of the draft.  Feeling is that building above retail can be done in a considered historical way and be enhancing of the downtown traffic. Stacey to send a version of the plan of development she is working on in another town. 3. Draft Letter to Bow Tie partners All comments provided on Stephen’s draft letter from CBDAC. Good to be sent with Pamela on copy. Stacey to work on letter version from HPC 4. CBDAC 2024 priorities Did not get to this item during the meeting. Other comments: Andy enquired about the restaurant corals timing given the weather seems to be improving. Previously property owners were notified to start submitting applications but this has not been sent out as yet. Council believed applications were being submitted from January. Pam to provide clarity on the process and timing if communication is to be sent. Potential delays to those businesses that are impacted by the pavement replacements (locations where lead service lines must be replaced) the deadline is 2031 however keen that property owners do prior to pavement work being completed. All impacted property owners should have already been notified. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Next meeting will be April 11th 2024 8:30am ET virtual via zoom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Minutes respectfully submitted by Rebecca Tatlock-Marijan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4