20231214 - CBDAC Minutes

Central Business District Advisory Committee  (CBDAC)

Meeting Minutes

Thursday, December 14, 2023 (in person)

8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Village Hall Senior Lounge

-      Attendees: Deputy Mayor Pam Perron, Trish Manzo, Stacey Tsapatsaris, Glenn Carlough, Tom Hillmann, Stephen Del Percio, Andrew McGonnell, Anastasia Bamberg, Chief of Police Forrest Lyons

-      Guests: Kathryn Schmidt, Joan Groome, Gary Kolesaire, Village Manager Keith Kazmark.

-      Meeting minutes from 11/9/23 Zoom meeting conditionally approved – need to add list of attendees to final draft.

-      Updates:

o   Village Council

§  Reappointed Trish Manzo as Guild liaison and Steve Aspero and Anastasia Bamberg as resident CBDAC members for 2-year terms through 12/31/25. Chief Lyons and Village Engineer Chris Rutishauser re-appointed for 1 year.

§  Passed ordinance allowing microbreweries and breweries in B-1, B-2, and C zones.

§  Passed ordinance banning non-human-powered vehicles in Village parks unless used by person with disability.

§  No bids received for coffee bar at train station so Council will be going out to bid again with lower asking rent.

o   Chamber of Commerce

§  Over 2000 people turned out for Downtown for the Holidays despite the rain (which was a common theme for Chamber events in 2023, unfortunately). Thanks to VoR employees for making it a success. Ornaments throughout CBD look great.

o   Ridgewood Guild

§  More color needed next year to jazz up decorations – Trish suggests red ribbons on the kissing balls. Decorations under the clock came from $2,000 in funding raised by Guild.

§  Complaints from residents that parking enforcement officer is circling to play “gotcha” once meter expires. There should be a 5- or 10-minute grace period. Huge deterrent to getting people to shop in town.

-      CSAC

o   Ongoing discussion with PSEG about lighting in CBD, which has sent VoR Engineering a list of those that are broken.

o   Gary/Chamber believe that much of the lighting is “too cold,” which is a deterrent to pedestrians and getting people to linger in the CBD.

o   This is because most of the PSEG-owned lights are low-watt LEDs. Other lights need covers to “push” the lighting down onto the street. Overall this creates a sloppy and inconsistent image at night in the CBD.

o   Tom Hillmann, Glenn Carlough, and Kathryn Schmidt will form a lighting subcommittee to take a look at the lighting in the CBD and provide recommendations to CBDAC and PSEG on next steps. Glenn or Pamela will reach out to our contact in Summit to discuss their lighting program.

o   CBDAC believes lighting is “critical” to success of CBD – tied to pedestrian safety and overall aesthetic downtown, including the blade sign ordinance (which we will discuss in detail next month). Long-term, the Committee would like to investigate installation/retrofitting of gas lamps throughout the CBD.

o   Finally, safety improvements along the Franklin Avenue corridor are in limbo after the County paved the road last fall. CSAC is soliciting input on all problem intersections in VoR (including in the CBD); email Anastasia with any recommendations for CSAC’s review.

-      Blade Sign Ordinance – Status

o   Glenn Carlough should have a draft ordinance ready for CBDAC’s review in January. Per Stacey, he will also present it to the Historic Preservation Commission first for their input.

o   Goal is “charm” blade sign must be consistent with main business signage. Flexibility will be built into the ordinance but mechanism for hanging (i.e. the hardware) should be the same throughout CBD. We may also “strongly suggest” a particular vendor.

-      Pedestrian Plaza

o   CBDAC will provide Council with recommendation for 2024 Pedestrian Plaza season at conclusion of “lessons learned” white paper.

o   Question is whether the Plaza was unique to the pandemic era and the Village is now past it.

o   Other initiatives from Destination Ridgewood get big crowds downtown, including the ethnic heritage performances. Reconsider something like “Passport to the Plaza” because it actually gets people into the stores. Consensus that Destination Ridgewood should continue during the summer of 2024.

o   CBDAC acknowledges that people want to sit outside earlier in the summer season in dining corrals. But restaurants need to be certain the corrals will continue from year-to-year in order to invest in aesthetics.

-      Vacant Storefronts

o   Number of new businesses are coming to CBD in former Racefaster, Tabboleh, MT Bank, Fastachi, and Town & Country retail spaces.

o   Note that per Stacey the vintage Town & Country Apothecary sign is NOT the original (as suggested by a resident) so unclear what will happen to it when new retailer (high-end clothing store) takes the space.

o   Big problem with why retail spaces remain vacant so long in CBD is amount of time required to get a certificate of occupancy. Village Manager Keith K. is aware & working on it; VoR has a reputation for being very slow in this context & it hurts our ability to attract quality retailers.

o   CBDAC member Andy McGonnel will update & further develop details on list of vacant storefronts prepared by Guild in March of 2020.

o   Goal would be to turn this list into a “pitch book” for CBD similar to a mall prospectus that Guild and Chamber could use when wooing potential tenants, providing details on things like square footage, parking, etc.  Pam will discuss this further with Bill Gilsenan, who may have something similar prepared already.

-      Special Improvement District Initiative

o   Council has appointed the SID Steering Committee. First meeting will be on January 16, 2024.

o   Phase 1 will take 4 to 6 months. After, the Steering Committee will provide a recommendation to the entire CBD business community on what could work (in terms of SID footprint, costs, etc.).

o   Thereafter, should the CBD want to proceed, an ordinance would be presented to the Council sometime in early 2025.

-      Other Items

o   Parking Subcommittee will kick off on January 4. (Stacey, Glenn, and Bill.)

o   CBDAC will come up with a list of 2024 priorities to focus on as a group

o   Next meeting will be on January 11, 2024 via Zoom.   

Respectfully submitted  Steven Del Percio