Ridgewood Parking Deck Moves Closer To Being Reality

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — The long-awaited and much-needed parking garage is one step closer to being built.

The Village Council introduced a $12 million bond ordinance Tuesday to construct a four-story, 240-space parking garage on Hudson Street near the train station. A public hearing on the ordinance is July 18.

Vehicles would enter and exit the garage on Hudson Street. Construction is expected to begin in September and the existing lot on Hudson Street will remain open until then.

The $12 million bond is in addition to the $810,000 appropriated for the project; $100,000 was appropriated in 2014, $500,000 in 2015 and $210,000 earlier this year.

Parking meter rates may increase to help fund the project. A parking consultant suggested that downtown meter rates be $1.25 to $1.50 an hour and 50 to 75 cents elsewhere. Free parking at meters could change from beginning at 6 p.m. to beginning at 8 p.m., possibly.

The 50-to-75-cent increase will go into effect Sept. 4, Mayor Ramon Heche said.

Parking in the garage is likely to be less expensive than on the street.

Deputy Mayor Susan Knudsen said she would vote to introduce the bond ordinance, but with the "understanding that the meters will be addressed at the next meeting."

The parking meter rates, hours, and kiosks, along with the valet parking ordinance, are on the agenda for the meeting Wednesday.

The garage has a long and complicated history.

Voters, by a 2-to-1 margin, approved a design of a 400-car garage on the site in a nonbinding referendum in November 2015. Voters, by the same margin, rejected an $11.5 million bond ordinance in June 2015 that would have funded the building of a 325-car garage after a grassroots campaign by residents put the matter on the public ballot.

The Planning Board last year voted to recommend the Village Council designate the Hudson Street parking lot as an "area in need of redevelopment" in order to move the project along.

The project even brought about fines against former Mayor Paul Aronsohn and ex-village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld. They appeared in a video urging residents to vote "yes" on the original referendum. The fines were the result of a complaint filed with the Local Finance Board in 2016. The board enforces the Local Government Ethics Law. Six residents also sued the village over the video.

Email daniel.hubbard@patch.com

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