Ridgewood Considers Downtown Vehicle Limitations, Pedestrian Mall

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — The village council has begun planning for what a reopened, but at least slightly restricted downtown Ridgewood could look like.

The council, along with all village department heads, Chamber of Commerce, the Ridgewood Guild, commercial landlords, retailers and restaurateurs are working on a plan to reopen the downtown, according to a post on the village website. However, these decision makers expect the reopened downtown to look "very different" than the one that closed in March.

"With the understanding that the downtown that will reopen will be very different from the one that closed in March, we have to embrace some outside-the-box ideas that probably could have never been considered previously," the post read.

One of the early ideas is to close a "significant" portion of the downtown to vehicles, creating an outdoor pedestrian mall on Saturdays and Sundays.

"It is the best way to ensure proper social distancing while allowing businesses to make up for the lost indoor square footage," read the post.

While this policy is in place, some street parking would still be available, and residents would still be allowed to park in the Walnut Street Lot, Bus Station Lot, Cottage Place Lot and the soon to open Hudson Street Parking Garage.