Grassroots Group Wants Planning Board Decision Reversed: Report

A grassroots citizens group — Citizens for a Better Ridgewood — filed a lawsuit Aug. 10 seeking a reversal of the Planning Board’s June 2 decision to permit high-density multifamily housing in downtown Ridgewood, according to a published report.

The suit alleges that Planning Board members and village professionals violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act when they met privately with developers requesting the then-proposed master plan revisions, The Record reported.

The suit suggests that the board failed to provide sufficient public notice on the code changes and states that two of the board’s members — David Thurston and Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli — should have recused themselves, the report states.

The board voted in June to increase the number of permitted housing units per acre in four village zones to 35 and several developers pitched plans for multi-unit residences in the Central Business District.