Central Business District Advisory Committee

Central Business District Advisory Committee (CBDAC) Meeting Minutes April 11, 2024; 8:30am – 10am via Zoom Members present: Stephen Del Percio (Chairman), Stacey Tsapatsaris (Vice chair), Deputy Mayor Pam Perron, Glenn Carlough, Steve Aspero, Tom Hillmann, Phil Davis Guests present: John Barree, John Saraceno, Kathryn Schmidt, Jeanne Johnson, Michael Pickholz, Jordan Kaufman. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John Barree – Planner, Village of Ridgewood Blade Signs: Introduced a revision of the Blade Sign Ordinance to Council last night. Blade signs will be heard at the May 8th Council meeting. The major changes are increase in size (2’x2’ was not realistic; proposed 32”x32”); and no need to go through Spec approval. Zoning: Move away from restrictive list of uses. Our current zoning defaults to “No” and is particularly restrictive with creative uses. The revised ordinance would offer a middle of the road approach with broad categories of uses. The Zoning Officer has latitude to permit other similar uses. Broader in what is allowed. Creative things are happening. Eg. Currently ok to bowling alley, but not a billiards. John Barree stated that there is a current trend to define these uses. Question was asked about Industrial Fulfillment Centers – storage/shipping. Specified as prohibitive in ordinance? Arts District – focused on specific types of uses in an inclusive way – but not overly restrictive. Most towns are moving away from the restrictive uses. Westwood is similar to Ridgewood. Montclair, Princeton, South Orange have broader categories. Stacey T mentioned Medi Spa – not specified in the revised ordinance at this time. Should be added. Want to be more liberal, but not too liberal. Steven Del Percio cautioned we do not want Ridgewood to become Houston. Don’t want whatever, wherever. Kathryn Schmidt commented that the “Planner” should have the ability to weigh in on grey area but at the same time take a step to be more easily included. The Zoning officer interprets the ordinance and is provided the authorization by municipal government to determine what is permitted. John Barree concluded that he would provide the more recent version of the zoning ordinance since the last version disseminated. If a use is rejected – i.e. Zoning Board says no … The applicant can: 1- Appeal to the Zoning Board. If the applicant is denied the appeal, further moved out the process (State Statute) 2- Applicant can seek a variance with zoning board. Approval of March 14th meeting minutes. Steve moved to accept. Stacey seconds. All were in favor. Council Update from Councilwoman Pam Perron Last night at Council meeting: 1- Dining Corrals passed last night. In favor, 4:1 vote to allow dining corals as early as May 1st – Oct 31st --- and largely dependent on the paving. 2- Discussed using AI for minutes – ok for general meetings but VOR will not use. 3- Musicians at Van Neste will play June, July, August – Saturday evenings only. Parks Dept was concerned of overuse of the park. $3,000 for overtime added to the budget for cleanup before, during, and after event. 4- Affordable Housing – Will have meeting with planner Beth McManness to get a better understanding of Ridgewood’s potential burden. It is currently a moving target and very controversial. Overlay at Valley Hospital. If redeveloped, it could either be open space or affordable housing. Valley Hospital is shutting down its “operations” on Sunday and moving patients over to the new facility in Paramus. Gold Star Family Monument Steve Aspero reported that a contract was signed with a national sculptor. The mock-up was done in clay with remembrance on September 28th. Lynne Brady (Architect) and Tess Guiliani (Designer) created the design and rendering. Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce - Glenn Carlough reported: - Successful Easter in the Park o Tables set up by members – the most participated ever. o Made $3,000-$4,000 which gets reinvested into these events. o Creating Committees has been helpful with progress amidst monthly meetings. Four Committees are: Events; Social Media; Sponsorship; and Networking and Membership. These committees meet once a month in addition to the monthly Board meeting.  o Behind the scenes work on Chamber By-Laws and the election process. o Sponsorship committee: Board members will be in a position to sell sponsorships (sponsorship material) o Currently up to 345 members. Goal: 400 members by 2027 o Friends of Chamber – limited membership  Remain on the mailing list.  Events exclusive to Friends, i.e. Summer Party at NOMA rooftop; Tree lighting special events. o Tom Hillmann added that within the months of Jan through Mar 2024 they witnessed a 20% increase in networking. Scott Lief has done a great job bringing it back with Lunch & Learns; Women in Networking; and Young Professional Networking. o APRIL 2024 – VACANCY REPORT  15 stores vacant  9 newly opened  7 coming soon (including RCC relocation and Pearl replacement) - CSAC Update o Anastasia Bamberg got plans from 2019 re: Franklin Avenue. Steven DelPercio will forward to the committee. Stephen, please provide Anastasia’s verbiage you were reading regarding “Bergen County is reluctant ……” o Stanchions in the Road ahead of crosswalk  Glenn C. mentioned using stanchions to alert drivers that a crosswalk is imminent. It helps in decreasing speed & increasing driver awareness. Example of such is on Glen Avenue.  What to do with jaywalkers? - Street Lighting o Kathryn will look into lighting retrofits. - Pedestrian Tunnel o Meeting later today at 10:15am. Action items:  Need to write a letter to SHPO.  Need to build a fundraising team.  April 18th is the deadline for the Grant that is being written by Vanessa at Millenium Other comments: CBDAC 2024 priorities - Did not get to review in this meeting.  - Top 3 Priorities for each committee for CBDAC – need to focus on this for next meeting(s) Blade Sign Ordinance - Glenn will conduct a side-by-side comparison between the present and proposed. - Include a provision for 2nd floors – Park West Loft and future Steel Wheel Councilwoman Perron concluded with the need to focus on planting more trees; celebrating Earth Day; utilizing lessons learned from “Paved Paradise”; and picking up on the bike path in Ridgewood. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Next meeting will be May 9th 2024 8:30am ET virtual via zoom ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Minutes respectfully submitted by Stacey Tsapatsaris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~