State office tells Ridgewood there are issues with sports field application
RIDGEWOOD – The state Historic Preservation Office has declared the village’s 1,200-page application to install a turf sports field north of the Zabriskie-Schedler House “not yet technically and professionally complete and sufficient.”
The four-page March 22 letter from the agency’s Program Specialist Jennifer Leynes is posted on the municipal website. It is her response to the village’s Feb. 16 application, also posted on the website, as an application with four addenda for its appendices.
When hired in April 2023, consultant Peter Primavera predicted that the application he was assigned to compile would be ready by the end of 2023. In February, Village Manager Keith Kazmark said its submission was delayed because “our professional wanted to make sure we told the whole story.”
However, Leynes’ letter indicates the agency does not yet have the “whole story” and still needs the following:
Statement of purpose. The application “lacks a unified, coherent and cogent statement of the purpose for the proposed development,” Leynes wrote. Among the unanswered questions: List of existing athletic fields, current usage, size of fields by sport and age of users, organizations using current fields, anticipated age and users of the new
“Our professional wanted to make sure we told the whole story.”
Keith Kazmark
Village manager
field, analysis of the number of games versus the number of existing fields.
Leynes noted that a reference is repeatedly made in the application to field use by one group, “RJFA,” without an explanation of what the initials stand for. It stands for Ridgewood Junior Football Association. The information is key to assessing the “public benefit” of the proposal, Leynes said.
Alternatives. The agency asked to see details of alternative designs considered for the site with explanations of why they were unacceptable, including a 2002 concept plan, the 2022 plan developed in consultation with the
agency, and an alternative to the current turf field proposal substituting a grass field. There is no mention of an oftendiscussed December 2017 smaller grass field plan, which is already included in the application (Pages 45 to 53).
Archeological. The Grubb & Associates survey “remains technically deficient” and was done “without prior knowledge” of a 2023 Hunter Research archeological monitoring report on the area. The state agency is concerned that the area below the recently added fill “remains unsampled for the presence or absence of contributing archeological deposits.”
Though nothing connected to the Revolutionary War showed up in preliminary metal testing, the remainder of the park “continues to possess high sensitivity for Revolutionary War militaryrelated artifacts” and requires further study. Metal detection may not adequately assess objects more than a foot below the surface, Leynes said.
Relevancy. Letters of support in Appendix 3 (Addendum 1, Pages 56 to 109) and Appendix 17 (Addendum 2, Pages 144 to 206) total 115 pages. But only four of those letters date from 2023 in favor of the current full-size turf field. The rest date from 2020 or 2021, speak in favor of rehabilitating the historic house, and are “not relevant to the current undertaking.” In fact, included are letters of support from Councilwomen Lorraine Reynolds and Pamela Perron, who wrote in favor of rehabilitating the house but have since expressed public opposition to the current turf field proposal.
In contrast, Addendum 3 of the application includes 310 pages of petitions against the current project. Addendum 4 starts with 118 more pages of petitions against the project, followed by 167 pages of 2023 letters opposing the current project or the manner of its testing. That is a total of 595 pages opposing the project, almost half the application.
Missing information. The letter questions why Hunter Research, Connelly & Hickey and Barton Ross AIA are mentioned in the table of contents but their resumes are not included. The agency wants a complete list of statewide and local organizations with an interest in the project, including Ridgewood’s Friends of Schedler and the Capt. Abraham Godwin Chapter New Jersey Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, serving Bergen and Passaic counties.
In the letter, Leynes requested a Department of Environmental Protection report on the property’s wetlands assessment rather than the village engineer’s statement on what was found. The agency wants the village’s project budget and funds spent to date, as promised in Appendix 18 (Addendum 2, Pages 207 to 208). However, the onepage statement now includes only links to a website on federal and state grants and, inexplicably, where to apply for assistance with low- and moderate-income housing.
“We will make the requested changes, provide additional information and submit the updates,” said Kazmark, the village manager.
Primavera, the consultant, did not respond to a request for comment.