Don't forget that just a hand full of Radburn residents and their attorney made this decision that will impact the entire town. They did it without asking the Radburn residents if this is what they wanted and did not even seriously consider selling the property to the town with the open space money that was specifically raised for the purchase of Daly Field when CCRF got the open space tax passed in Fair Lawn. If anyone would like the list of people in Radburn who signed this contract, some of the TWICE I would be happy to name names. They all should more than ashamed of themselves for what a mess they are responsible for.

I hate it when little cliques fight with each other.

Unfortunately, this development will profoundly impact Fair Lawn from end to end - and not in a good way. It's going to degrade the experience of living here on every level. The degree to which it does that can be mitigated somewhat by people coming out to the planning board meetings, beginning tonight.

Come to the meeting and take a good look at the proposal. 165 units in row after row of buildings, much like barracks, is not the kind of place that will attract people to stay for long. Transient populations affect school ratings, and school ratings affect property values.

Aren't there aleady many apartments on Sperber road area that are affordable? What does affordable mean anyway? there are many smaller homes and I have seen low rents for homes in Fair Lawn. How does the judge come up with this?

Isn't the original plan anyways called for single family homes? Why does the handful of residents and their lawyer have to get every penny possible? can't they sell the land for less and have single family homes per the original plan? Financial interests is not everything. What about the turning of Plaza Road into gridlock, given the problem with having Radburn train station holding up all traffic for 7-10 minutes.

They could sell the land for less for single homes still make a profit and keep the area in character not ruin everything as they are hoping to do.

What makes a housing development desirable that is next to very active railroad tracks with the trains blasting their horns at every intersection they pass, of which there are three in succession past the development site? Ever go to a HS graduation when the entire ceremony had to be put on hold as the train passed by? Add to that the sirens from the rescue squad and the noise of Rt 208. Not very desirable to anyone except hearing impaired NYC commuters.

You may get used to the trains but not those horns blasting. It often wakes me up at night. They blast them 8-10 times sometimes late at night.

yes they do. But that's what trains do.

If they build, they will come. The plans look like a slum in the making. Thanks Radburn Board of Trustees, you've really screwed up this time. I too live "near" the tracks but these folks will be living even closer. Go down to Garfield and see what they've built next to the tracks. For all I know those may be luxury units compared to what's going in here in Fair Lawn. Again, I will tell you that there was no serious consideration or negotiations between Radburn's board and the town to sell Daly Field for open space. 9 people and their lawyer have made this decision for the rest of the town to deal with and I do mean the rest of the town.

Nobody is going to buy a townhouse built on contaminated land, next to very loud railroad tracks, route 208 & the ambulance corp. These will all wind up as rentals & I hope that the BOE makes sure all the kids get sent to Radburn school & doesn't try to send them to Forrest school.

This was private property sold to a developer because it is private property and it can be sold, no surprise. A developer planned to develop it, no surprise. Which the borough took to court and lost, no surprise, because they know you can't stop private property like this from being developed. In order to appease certain residents and politicians what they are, the city attorney appealed the decision, no surprise since that is how they make money, I think 5 times, . The cherry on the sundae is, since the courts now view this as some sort of harassment to the developer with all these appeals, a judge finally steps in and a "builder's remedy" is instituted, which is exactly what you don't want to happen if you are a FL resident. A builder's remedy gives the developer a right to proceed with the development and the borough now has little influence on what happens in town. So, attorneys made a boatload of money, the council at the time got to say "it wasn't me" and the borough loses their rights in shaping the development of a large piece of land in town. However, you do get the privilege of paying every last penny of this perfect storm of stupid that in no way represents the residents of Fair Lawn's interest, again no surprise. Maybe Patch can post who to send a thank you card to?

Cutters, If it would be put to a vote, it would fail. Yes I know that it doesn't have to.
WHy have any ordinances at all ? Why not build a 30 story tower? Why not sell some of the B park and build a project there?

There are many ways to use this land that would be profitable and not ruin the area.
The blame is on the Radburn little group that decided to sell for every penny that they can get, having no regard for the majority of the Radburn home owners and the residents of Fair LAwn.

Th character of Fair Lawn would be severely changed for the worse with all this additional traffic. Regarding this judge, it sounds out of line to me. Imposing his will on what the vast majority residents do not want. Especially when we have loads of apartments in Fair Lawn which are affordable. It's a flimsy excuse to side with over developement.
In this case, it will affect the entire town adversely. We have a poor political system here. Something like this should have been put to vote of residents. That is, those affected negatively by the decision, not those profitting from it,. i.e the developer.

Blah blah blah .....It is a done deal, nothing will stop it. Life will go on, this will be forgotten and we will all continue as usual.

Bottom line is, and it's plain and simple; the perpetual self-nominated and elected Radburn board of trustees sold this property to a developer. At the end of the day the blame rides with them, their attorney, and former Radburn Manager, Louise Orlando. So if you want to send someone a thank you note send it to the Grange and tell them to forward it to the trustees who signed the contract. By the way the contract was just renewed less than two years ago, so Radburn had a chance to get out of the deal, they chose not to.

The Radburn Association is a double winner as well with the new association fees it can charge for the new development based on assessed property value... The only downside is that more people get to use their pool...

After last night's meeting I have a new understanding of this project. Nothing is going to be put in place infrastructure-wise or in any other way than what is the minimum required by law. The folks living along the southern end of Remington and Ryder Roads are not going to be helped with their water problems which in my opinion are only going to increase once this project is underway. What a disaster-glad this isn't my legacy.

I also did not like how the engineer answered about the noise wall question. He was asked about trains noise to the condo s so close to the tracks. he says but there are already homes there. Yes dude, they were built decades ago when the area was not as over developed as it is today. when there were less trains per day than now.

Does not leave me with confidence about the builder. he says the market will decide. so why not build a slum and let the market decide. oh right some say they are doing that anyway.

They didn't discuss the traffic disaster that is the next meeting they say.

The disinformation spouted is really amazing. At one point the engineer goes, and this walkway is where the residents will walk from the train when they come home from work. I can see it now. "Mr. Jones, where do you work? Parsippany? sorry we can't sell to you. Only those commuting by rail are allowed"

It's not a dead horse. People's homes will be devalued, by this development, traffic will become a gridlock, and you can be better than posting jokes about it. How about building this in the B park ? anyone in favor ?

I suggest speaking to an attorney about damages to homes from this project. It's happening in other parts of New Jersey where local decisions causes damage to the homes already there.

Then there is the toxic soup from Topp's, Exxon and Cole under the area that will be disturbed during construction and these homes built upon. One of our Patch Patriots was very concerned and commented on Advance Auto Parts opening: "Built atop a brownfield, I hope those employees are getting hazard pay", yet he wholeheartedly approves of this construction.

Years from now the people that buy those homes will be getting ill and will be suing Fair Lawn, while the developer is long gone with its pockets filled with money. The whole town will lose because of the greed and poor decisions of the "private" governing body of Radburn. I wish there was a away Eminent Domain could be used and keep it a park.

Lets not forget the underground acquifiers that may possibly get blocked by the construction. They will back up and cause more flooding with heavy rainfall. Who is to say that the contamination from the site doesn't back up and affect people upstream when the water floods into their basements?? People complain about flooding in regards to Memorial Pool and the money spent to maintain it. How much are you willing to put on a human life?

Why the uproar over Daly Field, but when the McBride farms were developed, no one complained?

No true outlet such as social media back then.

so Chris, are you saying that Daly Field is an issue because anonymous people can complain about it online and the McBride people were lucky Mark Zuckerberg was probably a baby when they sold? ;)

the commons developement has certainly affected the traffic situation on Fair Lawn Ave. The difference here is that:
1. there are many homes directly touching this property. They discussed last night how this will affect them adversely.
2. Plaza road is very narrow at the point of the Daly field project and this will help to create severe traffic conditions, i.e. adding 300 cars during rush hours. This affects all of Fair Lawn and specifically the side streets like Warren and others leading back to Berdan so people can get to a light to travel normally. These streets are very quiet with minimal traffic this will severly change.
3. Daly field is in fact used by more people per capita than the B park.
4. The manner in which such a major impactful decision was decided by a small gang of trustees impacting thousands of people.
5. The blantant lies we are seeing so far by this Landmark company - oh all the residents will be commuting by rail to NYC, they will all be seniors with no cars. Yes sure we are that stupid.
II. Of course posting on a blog like this has minimal impact but whatever impact it does, it is important to debate the point, because it will affect everyone, particularly the traffic on the Fair Lawn Ave/Plaza/Berdan grid.
III. If homes are affected by this development they surely can sue for compensation.

"3. Daly field is in fact used by more people per capita than the B park. "
And how does one come up with this statement? Facts only please.

Anyone who was actually there last night, know that the closest row of homes are about 20 yards from the tracks, and, according to the engineer for the site, no soundproofing is planned for any of those slum-like condos, although the comment that they are "working with" the railroad was made when asked about sound buffering by planting shrubs. They are also going to plant shrubs to protect the retention basin with it's nine foot sheer drop from top to bottom, plus add a few feet for climbing the fence. I love the concept of the "linear park" between the buildings. Since when is an alley a "linear park"? Apparently channeling their inner Clarence Stein by pretending that this concept is somehow keeping within the historical aspects of Radburn with a teenie weenie courtyard surrounded with a couple of shrubs and trees that can grow under those conditions. The real laugh is the use of Archery Plaza as a 'tot lot" playground next to an active train track and within feet of a hugely congested intersection. What parent would fail to be reassured of the safety of their "tot" in such a loverly parklike setting, with a gas station as the closest neighbor. May all those caring and concerned citizens who sold an entire town down the river to cover their malfesance get their just desserts.

Well said, Deleted because of harassment.

The contamination on Hayward and Daly field is mostly naphthalene from the reports I've read although I'm looking forward to learning if there isn't more a chemical stew going on than just this particular toxin. A journalist could certainly do their homework on this and see just how bad this contamination is and why anyone would want to place families on top of it knowing it's there.

In regards to Block 3610 Lot 1, the DEP has issued a no further action letter not the EPA and the compound in question is naphthalene and not PERC as previously stated. This does not mean the site is clean however. I have a copy of the report perhaps anyone else interested in commenting on this should get one too.

Yes I would like to see this report is this something you can post online or that would be some law violation?

Phil, one mans opinion on walking thru B park vs Daly Field is hardly evidence. And dog walkers pooping on public property is hardly the "best use" for Daly. And airplane flyers are probably trespassing on private property. I would like you to walk thru B park as I do twice a day everyday and see the activity...once the school kids are out after 3. Please give me a count of children playing at Daly Field on a regular basis. I think your assessment ;) is not truly indicative. I asked for facts, not opinion.

Public property Stu? He referenced Daly Field. That settles it. Eminent Domain!

oops Chris. I meant private.

I respect your opinion Phil, but disagree. Cheers.

Stuart, you disagree on the increase in traffic? Do you accept the developers claim that all the residents will use the trains to work in Manhattan, or that they are all seniors who don't drive? If there is more traffic on Plaza do you disagree that cars will then take detours on the currently quiet and suburban side streets ?
That the development will not cause damage to the adjacent homes, that it will be a burden on the existing infrastructure, that it won't cause tax increases, it won't cost the town more, thereby cutting other services? Do you think that something so impactful should have been put to a vote by the people?

I don't speculate Phil and have not seen any of the studies. And I definitely would not want the disposition of my house and private property voted upon by the good people of Fair Lawn, would you?

Instead of the good people of Fair Lawn voting on it, we got what kind of people, and only 9 of them and their lawyer, making those decisions for us.

The people who own it voted on it Ms Mooore.

While I'm not giving the Ganz era politicos a slide on this, it was Ms. Orlando, the former Radburn manager and a few choice homeowners here that made this deal with the devil. Plain and simple. The truth hurts especially when it's your friends who you played with in tot lot who screwed up your whole town.

Stuart, it is not speculation that there will be more cars piling onto Plaza road. How is that speculation. There will be people yes? People in New Jersey tend to own cars yes? The lies are told by Landmark. Monday night the engineer made mention of the 'residents returning from work on the train' I heard that. So please tell me, are they only going to sell to people who work in New York city? Or on a previous occassion they said the residents would be mostly senior citizens, as if seniors don't drive. They make up stories as they go along. You don't need to speculate on the exact number of cars but there is little difference if it's 300 cars per rush hours, 295, 305. Nor do you need to speculate on the built-in special traffic problem that is the Radburn train station, which shuts down traffic on Fair Lawn Ave. for 5-10 minutes per train in rush hour. Do you see how adding cars to Plaza is going to create addded traffic pressure? Regarding damage to homes, this is something that does in fact happen in other overdevelopements. The issue needs to be addressed if it can be.

This is what happens when you let political parties run your town, and not citizens with no ties.New managers every two to three years, no continuity in the oversight and stewardship of our town. We should elect the manager, not the council. We are one step closer to Garfield, not Glen Rock. Good luck with Dems and dose.

Do you need approval to sell your home from the rest of town Chris? And Ed and Jeanne smartly worked the Crazy Citizens Ruining Fair Lawn into a Council seat by supporting a group that cost me personally over $10,000.00 in lawsuits that never had a chance.

Thanks for the clarification.

Chris, I applaud JB and ET for using that to their advantage. KUDOS. But the bottom line is, anyone who has ever served on the council were party people with one thing in mind. GET ELECTED AND RULE WITH THEIR PARTY. You obviously hate the RA, and I unabashedly love the RA and how they handle things. So you can go to .....the Dutch and enjoy a beer with me since I like you and don't want to quarrel with you. :)

For the record both Ms. Orlando and Radburn's very handsomely paid attorney, Michael Ferro have both referred to the Landmark development as their "legacy". Their words, not mine.

Kathy, it will be a great day when you stop maligning Louise Orlando and the Radburn Trustees. I know plenty of people who appreciate their dedication and the many selfless hours they spent every week serving our community. You are the devisive one here! It is shameful that you always have the need to play the "Blame Game" and malign fellow Radburn residents.
Stuart Pace, thank you for being a breath of fresh air!

RS: It will be a "great day" when syncophants cease to cheer for the concealment of financial accountability by an insular little cliche of self-anointed "trustees" who have a personal piggy bank at their disposal and no one to monitor their actions.

As for Ms. Orlando - having been indirectly threatened by her for the act of researching and writing the history of Radburn, that runs two ways. You can not blame any citizen for asking for accountability from those that collect fees from their neighbors and have no auditing of what they do with them except an assurance of their truthfulness ala Bernie Madoff. And when you act in unaccountable ways in a secretive fashion, you certainly can not expect the secretiveness to be taken for honest full disclosure or financial protectiveness.

All of those claiming that some of their neighbors cost them money, should be asking the other neighbors, the trustees, why, too.

CHEER CHEER CHEER RA

To "Deleted because of Harassment" - We are not talking about thieves. We are talking about Radburn residents who have spent a huge amount of their personal time doing what they felt would be in Radburn's best interest. They are not people who are stealing our money. Maybe you have been "harassed" because of your vitriolic tounge!
We see the budget disclosures. I for one do not need to know if they bought paper clips! These are all upstanding people in our community, and I do not believe for one second that they are dishonest. For the record, each and every one of them has done a huge amount of volunteer work for the entire town, not just Radburn.
It is a shame that some of the people who have contributed the most to our special community and to Fair Lawn as well, have had to deal with people like you who are always ranting and raving. Perhaps you should do research on paranoia. Enough said.

RS: Ask anyone understanding how accounting works to explain to you - it is never assumed that human beings are infallible, perfect or even 100% honest and all-knowing. That's why every business has an auditor, an accountant, or someone else to oversee the books. As for my "vitriolic tounge", please explain how asking for accountibility and oversight fits that description. Unless you mean that I refuse to roll over and permit the self-anointed to destroy the entire northwestern part of this town with a slum in the making just so they could continue to spend other people's money, have reportability to no one, + sell off some of the assets of the association without giving anyone in it even a barel opportunity to express an opinion of the sale. I can admire Radburn as the historical artifact it is, without admiring the darker parts of that history: religious profiling, blackballing- and without the need to make excuses for the fostering of anti-democratic behaviors. As someone who has been a volunteer in this town (and in others), good for you, but it does not lend extra validity to your words, any more than it does mine. I have ethics to tell the truth and to cite my sources for information, whether or not someone likes the conclusion or wants it to be more favorable to their point of view. Some of the same characters tried to sell off RA land in the 1980's, but backed off when the NY Times reported on it. Didn't like coming out in public then, either.

The Radburn Association needs a law passed to have that fixed. It could be 1 line, All deed restricted associates are subject to all laws and regulations and shall be considered condo associations.

The good news, all they can do is add 50% to your tax bill. Now if we could get the former mayor, Robert Gordon and his running mates in the assembly Wagner & Eustice to introduce that bill, we'd have a fighting chance. After all, Wagner alone has sponsored over 100 new bills!

Or we could at least reduce what they collect with a council that didn't waste soo much money.

Senator Gordon harmed us in Trenton. I learned that while there speaking before a panel. After we gave him 400 signatures he refused to help us. Told his peers in Trenton it was just a handful of disgruntled homeowners. All we need is an ammendment to PREDFDA that says all unit owers are members. The folks that wrote that bill didn't think that they need to be so specific. We know this because we spoke to them. Radburn found the loophole in the law and worked it to their advantage. Now every common interest association in the state could treat their homeowners the same way unless it's fixed. I wonder why we are the only people that are treated so poorly by our own board. Again, I know this as I went to Trenton to speak and met other homeowners, board members and politicians. The abuse in Radburn is #1.

What a disgrace, Kathy. So why didn't he ask for a residents vote on this issue, instead of speaking without knowing the real truth? Politicians probably smell votes in their favor, their bottom line. Damn the public at large. This entire law should be revoked maybe it is not too late. Or to leave a legacy to prevent other communities from suffereing from this disasterous over development that small brutal cliques and their political abettors love in New Jersey. You know we have in Fair Lawn more deveopments being added at River Road

"small brutal cliques" ?? How many "actual" sides to this story are you basing all this hostility on Phil???

Well now we have heard about the political representatives, have you read Kathby's post? a representative giving impression that it's only a 'few disgrunteled' is that what you think?
there is the rulers of Radburn, and of course the business interests. Why wouldn't they put this to a vote by the residents I wonder?

I barely take Kathys posts as gospel as I am sure you folks wouldn't take mine as gospel either. Exactly how many trustees, current or former have you met and or spoken to about this Phil.

The PREDFDA law has been in place for decades. No one in the state is not allowing it's homeowners to run for the board except for in Radburn. Do other associations have some problems? You bet. Are any of them as bad as Radburn's? Not that we heard. I'm sure somewhere in Trenton a record exists of our visit there and all the politicos that were there too. Perhaps someone would want to do an OPRA request on it??? You may not like what I say, but I don't lie.

Just re-read the Court findings in the Moore Vs Radburn case. Yup, still says nothing illegal about the way Radburn operates as a non profit. Why is that since the ruling on appropriately 4/1/2008 the plaintiff cannot accept this?

Is the school class a non profit?

Stuart, they are affecting negatively thousands of people. That is what is causing this upset for people affected by their ruling. We are not questioning the legal loopholes and manuverings that they did to come up with this developement, they may be following whatever loopholes or legalities but we are upset that we have to shoulder the burden of this, and that it just so happens that his board, largely live in the B side where they are not affected by the traffic, noise, and damages to the infrastrucure. you can call this speculation if you want but I am just being realistic, there are going to be more cars poured into a very small road between lights with a behomoth of a train station in the middle of Fair Lawn ave.

I don't disagree that there will be more cars, more kids, etc. If you are upset, you should be involved.One thing that is overlooked is that the CCRF and a couple of council people tried to push an illegal referendum upon the town which, without the efforts of 9 other Radburnites including me, would have cost the town more money.
Why isn't anyone screaming about the KEM property and the Kodal property. It would hold more weight with me if you cared about ALL the development, and not just one. I look forward to seeing your name on the ballot Phil.

and by Kodal, I mean Kodak. ZAK- editing option would be good. :)

Which ballot are you referring to Stuart? THank you for acknowledging that there will be more cars, because in the past, the developer told us that there would be mostly seniors there, or that they are all going to be commuters to the city. When it is just as likely that there will be 3-4 cars per unit (there are 3 bedroom apartments).
We do need a grass roots group in Fair Lawn to fight all of the over development.
With people working 2+ jobs, the reality of organizing this is difficult. But several people have written about it.
But there should be a committee organized about those developments and I would be in favor of reducing those because they will also degrade the quality of life in Fair Lawn with their traffic congestion additions, as will the Landmark dev. if unfortunately it does come to pass. THe unique problem is that Plaza becomes very narrow near Berdan at exactly where these cars are supposed to enter Plaza. You may know that many accidents occur when lanes merge into 1 less. As I see it, cars will be merging from Plaza/Fair Lawn Ave. and will have to slow down, as cars from Landmark enter Plaza, So you can see the gridlock conditions stretching back to FL ave. On both sides of Plaza. Many people are not satisfied with the toxic waste remedial efforts that were supposed to have been done. Many do not trust their elected officials anymore and I don't blame them.

I hear you Thomas but as I see it, we live in the most over crowded state in the US, and in a very over crowded county. There is now several over development projects happening in Fair Lawn, an already very crowded and congested town. And they want to make it worse, and there seems to be no voice or reason to say hold all these developments we are already over crowded.
None of the government officials seem to be able or willing or wanting to stop any of this, oh except for the Naugle house, one house that is all. The test can be built on and added more congestion.
IN other states or even in other towns, there is more of a sentiment to conserve what is there for the common good of the residents rather than ruin the landscape even more, add more congestion, add more taxes and expenses to local government.
I don't see any of the above committees you mentioned doing much about the over congestion that these developments will cause Fair Lawn. It's not even an issue. just let the developers build.

in an ideal world developers wouldnt just care about the profit, they would develop the best building to fit that location and community. but thats not how it works. we live in one of the most populated counties in the most populated state- what do you really expect. if you want open space and responsible development new jersey is probably not the state for you

These aren't going to be like Paterson cheap are they?

Just going by the voter rolls here, but, how does an area that is comprised of mostly tree hugging liberals get all pro development? And by tree hugging liberals I mean Democrats.

I did not move to the city, rather the city moved to me. Courtesy of Lyle Lovett

I want a low income apartment.Sign me up.