Village Planner Suggests New Zones for Downtown Housing Projects

By Megan Merrigan

The village planning board is leaning towards creating one, or several, new zones, at the recommendation of the municipal planner, to best accommodate four potential downtown high-density, multi-family housing projects.

Blais Brancheau, the Village Planner, explained to the board Tuesday that the previously suggested zoning options were not ideal for the four projects.

The option of an overlay zone, which places a specially created zone over an existing one, and rezoning, which changes the allowed property uses of a specific zone, were discussed by the board in previous meetings.

Brancheau determined those options to be inefficient based on the vast differences between the projects’ proposals and the current standards of the zones they would exist in.

“My conclusion is that the best course of action would be a new zone, or zones,” Brancheau said. “The proposed developments exceed the maximum density in those zones by wide margins.”

Based on current Ridgewood zoning, the 114-unit Ridgewood Station project and the 52-unit Chestnut Village project would occupy a commercial zone, the 106-unit Dayton development would be placed in a retail business zone and the Enclave, a 52-unit mixed-use complex, would be positioned between two business districts.

Building height is the primary difference between the proposals and the existing standards of their respective zones, according to Brancheau.

The projects range from 50 to 65 feet, which makes them about 20 percent taller than what is currently permitted, according to Brancheau.

A planning board subcommittee to shepherd the project through the planning board's final stages – including drafting bulk regulations – was also formed Tuesday night.