20220113 - CBDAC Minutes

CBDAC Minutes – January 13th 2022

Attendees: Stacey Tsapatsaris, Michael Pickholz, Anastasia Bamberg, Steve Del Percio, Phil Davis, Chief Luthcke, Pamela Perron, Jordan Kaufman, Steve Aspero, and Trish Manzo 

Guests were Mahmoud Hamza, Tom Hillmann, Kathryn Schmidt, Joan Groome, Jeanne Johnson, Paul Vagianos,

Speakers for our meeting:  John Barree of Heyer Gruel & Associates and Rachana Sheth of NV5.

1. Approval of the November minutes (no meeting was held in December).
2. Special guest speakers John and Rachana introduction

Intro from John on his background as a Pro Planner for Heyer Gruel & Assoc. and Rachana with her work with NV5

1. Highlighted focus for the Master Plan on items like land use, traffic, and infrastructure

3. Process for the Master Plan and how it relates to the CBD:
   1. Started in 2018, and John came in after it had gone through initial stages
   2. So get a “lay of the land,” the team has relied on poll questions and social media from the residents to get insights where they have gotten a few hundred responses.
   3. Using resident polling they can get a better idea for land use, zoning, and where there are barriers and opportunities.
4. Rachana reviews some of the issues identified
   1. Took a look at traffic, roadways, identified issues, understand the objectives
   2. Input from residents on an “inviting downtown, safe walkways”
   3. Working on identifying solutions that are in line with what the residents want and what might conflict
5. Questions from the group: 
   1. What kind of impact should we expect?
      1. Don’t expect dramatic change
      2. “Zoning does not lend itself to flexibility”
   2. How does retail survive in the “order online” world?
      1. Stores need to be creative
      2. They need to face headwinds and think about where their advantage lies
   3. Is there a balance between what people want and what people need?
      1. “Our job as Pro’s is to integrate suggestions with what actually work
   4. What are your thoughts on the pedestrian plaza?
      1. We saw examples in many places
      2. Many of the places that experimented with it during the pandemic are going from temporary to permanent (keeping it for the foreseeable future)
   5. Have you considered the impact of office space in the town?
      1. Employees are in favor of flexible work
      2. See that as a trend going forward necessary to attract talent
      3. Ridgewood may be a good spot for that
   6. Would more multi-family homes have an impact?
      1. “Yes” (not much additional color)
   7. How should we think about lack of resident consumerism in the downtown (estimated at 25%)?  Is that a negative or a positive (attracting from other towns)?
      1. Some discourse around how this should be perceived
      2. Mention of difficulty in working with the town for inspections and issues like that contributing to difficulty in attracting tenants
6. John and Rachana were open to continuing discourse and hearing the thoughts of the committee through letter and email.  Next planning meeting is February  15^--th
7. Recap of December: seemed unanimous that people felt the tree lighting new format was a huge positive, was safer (spread people out more), and was more enjoyable for families with the trucks and lights and activities.
   1. downtown for the holidays had a great format
   2. traffic was impacted by omicron; as cases spiked, during people took to town
8. Updates from committees ( we ran out of time, so only covered a bit)
   1. Chamber of Commerce: continued talk of downtown for the holidays, focus on staying positive and thinking outside the box, and continued issues being voiced about parking kiosks by constituents.
   2. Guild: decorations mentioned, more snowflakes for the holidays (more festive decorations), and issues with electrical in lamp posts.  Some of the lamp posts have dead electrical, and this impacts musicians.  Looking forward to tree wells.

Submitted by Jordan Kaufman