Do You Remember This? An Upper Saddle River Fairy Tale
Many, many years ago, when life was quite different, Upper Saddle River embarked on a quest to find what the residents wanted. For ways to improve the quality of life in a town that really was doing quite well, where people clamored to buy a house and have the address. It was the chance for small issues to be noticed, involve the residents in shaping the town for decades to come.
Committees were formed, questionnaires were compiled.
The town asked.
Residents answered.
This should not be viewed as a list of complaints or criticisms, but as recommendations from citizens who are very positive about living in Upper Saddle River and want to see it become the best possible place it can be. It is not just a “wish list” but a carefully researched and thought-out statement of ways we can make our community better.
Upper Saddle River Vision 2020
And so the document was made. Vision 2020, where the residents are heard, wishes are granted and life is wonderful.
And now with 2020 just a few mere months away the question is, did they achieve their goal?
Take a look. Read carefully. If pressed for time pay attention to a small sample:
Page 5:
Preserve Our semi-rural character
Based on comments from the survey and discussions within the subcommittees, there is wide- spread concern that the Borough is losing its unique character, and a strong desire to save what is left of our semi-rural atmosphere.
With the impending arrival of all the Toll Brothers houses, townhouses and affordable units and several hundred new residents how semi-rural is it going to be? More like a suburban sub-division with slightly larger lots. Did they achieve this goal?
Preserve open spaces
We recommend that the Borough update our inventory of open spaces and negotiate right of first refusal should owners of large parcels decide to sell.
Again, does the small piece of land ‘negotiated’ with Toll Brothers meet this criteria? Is this what residents had in mind? Now with the huge open spaces of Apple Ridge, the old Pearsons lot, Creative Gardens and its charming old house gone and masses of properties going up on them the sense of space in town has evaporated. But there is the scrubby piece of land…..the dog park?…. that remains. Doesn’t really qualify.
Strengthen shade tree ordinance and enforcement
The Shade Tree Ordinance should be strengthened to limit the number and types of trees that can be cleared, and limit the area in which trees can be cleared. Every healthy mature tree cut down should be replaced with a large hardwood tree elsewhere on the property or as agreed elsewhere in the Borough.
With the decimation of hundreds of trees at the Apple Ridge site clearly this goal is not being met, or even attempted to. And beyond Toll Brothers other developers are still marching into town, removing and replacing properties and in the process stripping the lots of trees. Old growth, heritage, landscape. They leave a buffer. It is cost effective for them. But the Upper Saddle River canopy is lost, the runoff from construction sites, and the finished sites is high and the town’s character has altered. Somehow Greenwich CT, among many others, manages to keep their trees.
Page 11:
Protect Our Environment
There is widespread concern about pure water and protecting our aquifer. Over-development in NJ/NY is causing considerable concern about the availability of clean healthy well water. Declining water purity will eventually have an adverse affect on health and on property values.
When we asked in the survey what citizens would most like to change, the (second) largest response (after no more McMansions) was no more high-density housing including the NY development on Hillside Avenue.
This makes interesting reading regarding the protection of water, the aquifer and sewage systems. Still the concerns of homeowners, little seems to have changed. Except the Pleasant Brook has been under an extended assault from the runoff from Toll Brothers and some wells are now testing higher with arsenic and lead. And there are real fears that soil at Apple Ridge aka The Preserve hasn’t had the soil sufficiently remediated so that the toxins lurking there will filter down over time and enter the aquifer. And drain into surrounding waterways. Leaching toxins into the water. A gift that will keep on giving.
And the Hillside development was there then, as is now, and is in danger of actually occurring. So many years ago residents were worried about it, but what has the administration done since then? With a burgeoning population literally exploding in Rockland County, on the town border, and a fiasco over a religious accommodation in the town where one was not needed why did the administration not see potential issues? Take actions that were proactive?
If you carefully read the document there are some areas where aims were achieved. Elmer’s retains its charm. there is a ribbon of sidewalk, the fields have had improvements. You can find them, and note some progress. However, given the recent environmental destruction caused by Toll Brothers and the tepid response from the mayor and council it jars with the lofty Vision 2020. And where is the center of town and the cultural center? (or is that the building being used to store borough paperwork?)
As voting day approaches consider carefully what the town was aiming for so many years ago, and where it is now. Yes, there has been some progress and positive improvements. However, there has been a significant environmental disaster, where the mayor and council was asleep, and the developer got away with it. And that bears repeating – the developer got away with it entirely. No damages, no fines, no sharp words, just a whimper.
The Vision 2020 was the design of a previous mayor who gave it to his understudy to make a shiny new document, with purpose and goals. To create campaign talking points. To excite the residents and create the feeling the town is moving forward, going somewhere. Except, there has been stumbles, a few too many. And now the administration is doing damage control. Having to talk up the town, bring in realtors, television, press to sell how great the town is. Except it was before, and the situation now is on their watch. They had 14 years to implement some, if not all, of the changes.
Look to see who was the co-chair of Vision 2020.
And keep that in mind when you vote.
Because it all has been a bit of a fairy tale.
