Ridgewood Country Club Soil Movement Approved Over Resident Concerns About Truck Traffic

The Planning Board approved an application to dredge about 6,000 cubic yards of soil from a pond on the Ridgewood Country Club and replace it with about 3,000 cubic yards of sand. After dredging the soil, the club plans to line the pond with an impervious material to prevent it from leaking, then cover it over with the sand.

However, the board imposed several conditions on the country club after residents living near the golf course expressed qualms about the prospect of 200 trucks traveling down Midland Avenue with all that dirt in tow.

The Planning Board asked the country club to agree to work only from Monday to Friday, to hire a police officer to direct the trucks from Midland Avenue to the country club entrance.

William Matteo, an Evergreen Place resident, advocated for a plan to direct the trucks from a quarry on Route 208 to Paramus Road and then through .

"If we get the trucks going north on Paramus Road through the college a lot of the homes affected by the private road will be spared," he said, referring to the road leading to the country club from Midland Avenue.

Planning Board attorney John Ten Hoeve said the board couldn't require the country club to use that route, since Bergen Community College would have go give permission, though the board did ask Country Club representative David Repetto to speak to the the college's administration.

"We're not looking to do anything other than be a good neighbor," Repetto said.

The Planning Board also approved an application from Jo-Ann Stores, a fabric and craft chain, to move into a vacant building on 30 A & S Drive.

Jo-Ann Stores plans to make changes to the facade of the building and replace signs at the building, which was formerly occupied by CompUSA.

Construction on the Paramus Ambulatory and Surgical Center, set to open at a former restaurant at 650 From Road, will continue after the Planning Board approved the center's plans to create a new emergency exit from the mechanical and sprinkler room on-site.

The next Planning Board meeting is March 31.