Downtown Housing Application Gets Withdrawn

The developer behind one of four downtown housing proposals under consideration by the Ridgewood Planning Board has withdrawn its application.

Terminal Construction informed the village in a letter Dec. 17 of its decision to withdraw the proposal dubbed “Ridgewood Station,” which had been considered at the former Ken Smith Motors site.

Gail Price, counsel to the planning board, said the withdrawal of the application has no immediate ramifications for the board's consideration of a proposed master plan amendment featuring three new multifamily residential zones in and around the central business district.

The draft amendment is open to changes during the process before the planning board, according to Price. But while the proposed new zones, notable for their higher height and density limits, are located around the sites where housing proposals have been made, the amendment will not necessarily change in response to the applicant's withdrawal.

“It’s up to the board what to do with it,” Price said.

Officials, pressing ahead with public comments on the proposed master plan amendment Tuesday night, did not discuss Ridgewood Station.

The future of the property remains unclear, and a message left Monday with Terminal Construction was not returned. 

The company first proposed the 114-unit Franklin Avenue complex, with 7,250 square feet of retail space, last January. It would have been located in the proposed mixed use C-R zone, along with the nearby Chestnut Village proposal.

Planners are expected to testify before the planning board on behalf of Chestnut Village, as well as the Enclave and Dayton proposals, in the Ridgewood High School Campus Center Feb. 4.