20221208 - CBDAC Minutes

Central Business District Advisory Committee (CBDAC)

 Minutes of December 8, 2022 Meeting[1]

Members present:  CBDAC held the 12/8/22 meeting in person.  In attendance were: Jordan Kaufman, Pamela Perron, Stacey Tsapatsaris, Phil Davis, Michael Pickholz, Glenn Carlough, Tom Hillmann, Anastasia Bamberg, Trish Manzo, and Steve Aspero.

Guests present:  Paul Vagianos, Kathryn Schmidt, Anthony Damiano, Jeanne Johnson, Lori Jordan, Seth Akar.

Minutes:  Members present unanimously approved the Minutes of the November 10, 2022 CBDAC meeting. Michael Pickholz, seconded by Stacey Tsapatsaris

Downtown Business Owners’ Forum Recap: Jordan and Jeanne give an update on the Guild sponsored Business Owners Forum held 12/7/22.  Joe Getz gave a presentation on different ideas the downtown might consider on implementation; the key component he characterized was the need for the town to recognize what the consumers that visited and spent money in the town were looking for, and what the people who lived in the surrounding area sought to increase spending and foot traffic.  The primary suggestion was to survey potential shoppers and diners to further develop strategy and conviction in ideas that we might consider implementing. Other ideas shared in the meeting included:

         -Benefits of pursuing a BID/SID

         -Hiring a Communication Director

         -Consideration of parking solutions

                  -Free parking Tuesday and Wednesday

                  -Holiday free parking (Englewood was referenced as offering free parking during the holidays)

Council Update:  Pamela provided the following information:

1)   Thanks to the Chamber of Commerce for Downtown for the Holidays

2)   Thanks to the Guild

3)   The Village Council will vote on a new vendor for the dumpster in the Chestnut Street lot, which will hopefully result in more cleanliness

4)   American Legion Post 53 presented another Gold Star Memorial proposal; Council was unable to reach an agreement (stalemate)

5)   Paving on Franklin has been completed

6)   CBD tree planting has been completed

Chamber of Commerce Update:  Phil reported that Downtown for the Holidays was a great success, and the earlier start time was well received.  The challenge looking forward was how to sustain the foot traffic.  It was noted that while many providers had competing offerings, the attendance made it so that did not negatively impact revenues (we specifically discussed hot chocolate; some was provided for free, others were paid, but the impact was negligible).   Businesses would have liked the Village to give more advanced notice that Franklin Avenue was going to be repaved so that they could anticipate the disruption right before Thanksgiving.

Historic Preservation Commission:  Stacey reported that she sent out notice to the Ridgewood Commercial Property Owners that the new window display ordinance requires attractive displays in storefronts that have remained vacant for a prolonged period.  Several sites now have artwork in the windows from various sources, including from Jamboree.

Pedestrian Tunnel Update: 

1)      Pedestrian tunnel progress continues thanks to the CBDAC subcommittee. 

a.      Benjamin Moore corporate gave its approval for providing paint

b.      Met with artists

c.      Fund raiser initiative

d.      Most of the advertising will remain intact

Ridgewood Guild Update:  Tony provided the following update:

1)   Announced the Guild Magazine publishing this month

2)   Octoberfest was a huge success

3)   Business Forum at Park West Loft (discussed above)

4)   The Guild’s Holiday Dinner will be at Lisa’s

5)   The Guild expanded its Board of Directors with 2 new seats (17 to 19)

6)   New office location at 55A Ridgewood Ave., Suite #1, Ridgewood, NJ 07450.

Implementing the Master Plan:  Members discussed the Implementation Action Matrix for the recently adopted Master Plan that Pam circulated following the 10/13/22 CBDAC meeting.  Pamela led a discussion going through the elements of the Master Plan that pertained to the Downtown. 

1)   Land Use Changes: (DT-1 and DT-9) Ordinance updates; the committee agreed on the importance of reviewing current land use ordinances and how the current structure may create obstacles to attracting quality tenants.  In particular, there is concern around the inclusionary structure Ridgewood has for businesses, and how almost every other town is structured with exclusionary ordinances.

2)   Aesthetics: (DT-3) The committee agreed that focus on beautification of Ridgewood is important for attracting foot traffic and improving shopping and dining experiences in the town.  In particular, we paid note to the recently passed window display ordinance and the effort to improve the look of the tunnels.  We also discussed more green initiatives, redevelopment plans, and efforts to increase murals in the downtown.

3)   Flexible Streets and Curbsides: (DT-5) The committee addressed the controversy over the pedestrian plaza and dining corals.  We all agree that these concepts can help drive foot traffic and greater commerce in the downtown, but we need to be cognizant of the impact to businesses that might not have the same linear benefit from the effort.

4)   Communication: (DT-6 and DT-8) The committee agreed that communication in the town regarding promotions and parking was hard for consumers to understand, and that we need to focus efforts on making a more coherent way to communicate efforts in the town.

5)   Parking: (DT-7) Always an item of discussion, but we all agree that this will continue to be a challenge both short term and long term.

Respectfully submitted,

Jordan Kaufman