Ridgewood Master Plan Up For Public Comment, Adoption

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — Representing the culmination of nearly four years of effort, a draft of the Ridgewood Master Plan has been presented for preliminary public review and feedback, Mayor Susan Knudsen said in an update Tuesday.

If adopted, this would be the village's first comprehensive plan in 35 years.

Input gathered from residents and community stakeholders provide the foundation, Knudsen said, for the "robust, comprehensive and dynamic" Master Plan document, which sets forth the village's vision for its future, objectives, goals and values.

Objectives of the plan, the introduction said, are to guide the village's land use decisions, policies and investments in programs, capital improvements and infrastructure, and to recommend ways for the village to "reduce negative impacts and amplify benefits."

Plan elements, developed in accordance with statutory requirements, can be thought of as chapters, the introduction said, and each element takes an "in-depth look" at different topics. But there are threads that also connect the elements, and overlap and repetition where appropriate.

The elements include: land use, circulation, downtown economic development, sustainability, community facilities, recycling, utilities, historic preservation, open space and recreation, and housing.

Within those elements, the plan also affirms the following village principles, which proposals for physical, economic and social development are based upon:

1. Keeping a "small-town feel," while allowing aspects of the village to evolve, adapt or change, if necessary.

2. Striving to be proactive in community planning matters.

3. Planning for the needs of long-term residents, while understanding and addressing the needs of future residents.

4. Protecting and enhancing tree canopy.

5. Striving for better fiscal management, responsibility and accountability, while continuing to support the village's public institutions.

Other principles relate to housing affordability, seniors, downtown, transportation, parks and open spaces and residential neighborhoods.

In the Master Plan, consulting firms Heyer, Gruel & Associates, and NV5 Global, along with the village planning board's Master Plan subcommittee, made a commitment, Mayor Knudsen said, to ensure all of the elements were "considered, updated as necessary and included where relevant."

Both firms built on, and refined a vision created by the "Our Village, Our Future" vision plan that was developed, in collaboration with NV5, as the first phase of the master plan process.

In October 2020, the village planning board adopted the vision plan, which synthesized data and information to set forth an overall vision and goals for the future, as section 1 of the master plan.

In August 2021, HGA and NV5 were contracted to proceed with phase 2 of a master plan process, which uses the effort undertaken in the vision plan as a foundation and builds out full elements that go into greater detail on specific topics.

A public hearing for adoption by the planning board is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at Village Hall.

"The hope," Mayor Knudsen said, "is that everyone will have an opportunity to review this amazing document before (the hearing)."