Ridgewood gives OK to build new recreation space
RIDGEWOOD — The Village Council voted 3-2 to adopt an artificial turf sports field plan for its historic Zabriskie-Schedler house property on West Saddle River Road at its regular meeting on Wednesday.
The new proposal calls for an adultsize 75-by-110-yard soccer field overlaid with a 120-by-64-yard lacrosse field and a youth-size 40-by-60-foot baseball diamond.
Walking paths, a playground, bathrooms, and 27 off-street parking spaces are included on the 7-acre site.
The Village Council also approved a $35,610 archeological survey of the site to determine whether the land contains artifacts from the Revolutionary War. And it approved an extension to consultant Peter Primavera to shepherd the project through the State Historic Preservation Office.
The vote was preceded by 40 minutes of public testimony during which 14 people spoke, most against the design unveiled at the council’s work session last Wednesday because it calls for artificial turf, which they viewed as a soil and well contaminant.
Mayor Paul Vagianos and council members Siobhan Winograd and Evan Weitz voted in favor of the project.
“It’s a fair compromise,” Weitz said. “Both sides have good points about the type of field. The problem is our green fields are not usable half the time and not cared for the other half of the time.”
As indicated at previous meetings, Deputy Mayor Pamela Perron and Councilwoman Lorraine Reynolds voted against the plan. They continued to voice their concerns about environmental contamination of the soil and groundwater in an area of the village where residents are serviced by private wells. Reynolds additionally objected to the 186 trees proposed for removal, and the adult-size field dimensions.
“It’s just too big,” Reynolds said. “It should be a park for residents with meandering paths, open grass, a big playground and lots of trees.”
The village bought the property in 2009 for $2.7 million, offset by a $1.57 million open space grant that requires the property to be used for active recreation. In 2015, the Village Council passed a resolution approving the recommendation by its Open Space Committee for the development of the property, including an adult-size multipurpose field overlaid with an adult-size baseball diamond.
But in 2017, the council rescinded the 2015 resolution and appointed an ad hoc committee to “re-analyze the proposed plan.”
That study resulted in a recommendation for a youth-size multipurpose field and no ball diamond overlay.
The current council has entertained a number of designs since January with varying configurations of overlapping sports fields, parking, restrooms, walking paths and playgrounds.
So far, $4 million of the $7 million appropriated for restoring the Schedler property has been spent: $3 million on the property, $623,276 on the field and $330,771 on the house.