WESTWOOD—Mayor Ray Arroyo was unable to attend the annual Breakfast With the Mayors, hosted by the Greater Pascack Valley Chamber of Commerce, on Jan. 26, but he was prepared with updates on business and economic trends.
In 2023, one hopes, the annual breakfast will return to its traditional home at the Iron Horse Restaurant, in Westwood.
Here, edited for space, is what on Jan. 31 the mayor told Pascack Press he would have said, had he been able to attend the Zoom session, which you can see via WCTV-NJ. (See our print and web editions for staff writer Michael Olohan’s breakfast reports from the other mayors, and check out his Jan. 31 story on their deeper dive into affordable housing mandates for 2025.)
New Developments, Redevelopments, and New Land Use
Arroyo said the pandemic has caused “supply chain scarcity, material price hikes, and labor shortages from symptomatic sickness, or mere exposure/quarantine requirements. All have been playing havoc with scheduling construction work. Nevertheless the redevelopment and improvement of Westwood properties has forged onward.”
Since 2019, the Westwood Central Business District has netted more than five new businesses, he said. “We have positioned ourselves to be more desirable for business investment post pandemic than we were pre pandemic — offering new life, energy, and contemporary amenities.”
He said, “Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated redevelopment is the Five Dimes Brewery in the heart of downtown Westwood. The project is moving steadily along with its upgraded Suez water service recently tied in from the street.”
An early spring opening is anticipated.
He said a few doors down, at the corner of Westwood Avenue and Kinderkamack Road, the 5 Corners redevelopment expects to begin construction in March or April. Arroyo said this will add six residential units (one of them meeting affordable housing criteria) atop first floor commercial space, at the town’s western gateway.
“A few blocks over, the former New York Sports Club on Jefferson Avenue is ready to start façade work on its 28 new units of housing (five of them meeting affordable housing criteria), once the temperature is mild enough for masonry installation. Marketing of units is anticipated to begin May 1,” Arroyo said.
In the other direction, on the empty lot on the corner of Irvington and Broadway, said the mayor, a plan for seven residential units (one meeting affordable housing criteria) is expected to be presented at the Zoning Board of Adjustment in March.
“These developments are adding affordable units in a way that is consistent with the modest density and intensity that is vital in maintaining Westwood’s small town charm and scale,” Arroyo said.
He added, “While no use applications or construction permits have been filed with our construction code official as of yet, the sale of the former Jos A Banks building across from the Westwood Post Office has been completed. We eagerly await a new tenancy.”
Arroyo said the borough is “watching the K-Mart Plaza, the Red and Tan Bus Depot, and other transitional properties for what comes next. And whatever that is must align, holistically, with the borough’s zoning and master planning.”
He added “Preserving the health — including the economic health — safety and welfare of our people is the governing body’s focus and priority.”
Taking the big picture, Arroyo noted the Federal Reserve “is tightening lending to rein in inflation. Higher points on loans, plus increased pandemic costs, may chill new investment. These are foreseeable, not inevitable, consequences of policies beyond local governments’ control.”
He said, “However. continuing to deliver high value public services at budget-conscious price point will keep Westwood attractive and competitive as these monetary policies are adjusted.”
Outdoor dining here to stay
Arroyo, who takes quiet pride in an apt turn of phrase, said, “Outdoor dining has been our phoenix sprung from the viral ashes.”
He explained, “Our permission for businesses to expand their dining space along the sidewalks in the temperate seasons was a resounding success. It received near unanimous support from a survey that solicited opinions of Central Business District business owners across all business segments.”
Arroyo said, “Those same business owners overwhelmingly support the continuation of Celebrate Westwood’s Arts on the Avenues series, recognizing the vibrancy it infused into the street life of our downtown.”
The mayor said, “In light of this data, and additional feedback, the Planning Board is studying the governing body’s emergency zoning (and administrative) code relaxations. which enhanced outdoor dining, entertainment, curbside pickup, and other pandemic adaptations over the last two years.”
Arroyo said, “We hope to make some of these accommodations easier to secure and more reliable for merchants. Such recommendations to the governing body will include earlier and later seasonal start/end dates and further clarity on required compliance to Americans with Disabilities Act with regards to walkway clearance in the right of way.”
Increasing traffic through the Pascack Valley
The GPVCC had asked whether there’s a solution to increased traffic through our communities. “Unfortunately, given our 19th century street grid, the answer is ‘not really,’ Arroyo said.
He explained major north/south corridors — county roads such as Broadway and Kinderkermack — are limited to two lanes. Broadway is further constrained by the train tracks. Westwood Avenue — also a county road — is a busy east/west thoroughfare.
“These are the infrastructure and transportation features which make us the Hub of the Pascack Valley. They are a blessing for commerce, but come with the curse of traffic intensity and challenges for pedestrian safety,” Arroyo said.
He explained the borough has presented Bergen County with a request for several pedestrian-friendly traffic calming measures, and these await action at the Board of County Commissioners.
Arroyo also said “Rideshare will not appreciably reduce the traffic burden anytime soon. Increased gasoline prices and labor costs have pushed up fares.”
He said, “In Manhattan, roaming Uber and Lyft contractors have actually added congestion and increased pollution. The effect has been to snarl travel to a crawl. There, the 15MPH streets average 7MPH due in large part to this added volume of rideshare contractors.”
Arroyo said “NJ Transit doesn’t go to ShopRite or to Dragons soccer practice.”
He said “the post-pandemic work-from-home shift (which, Westwood’s survey of more than 700 participants from the greater Pascack Valley showed to be at least 25% permanent full time, and even greater on a some-days per week basis) will trade some portion of the now lesser commuter parking demand for the higher demand created by a larger local workforce coming into town to receive weekday services, retail, and dining and thereby raising a commensurate increase in parking demand.”
The mayor said, “Westwood has facilitated reasonable rates of re-development with an appreciation of the impact new businesses and residential units will have on parking, but ‘the Hub’ is not in a bubble. Large-scale residential developments rising in our surrounding municipalities will challenge our parking inventory.”
The bottom line: “Traffic volume is going to increase. Our focus in Westwood has been, and will continue to be, on what that means for pedestrian safety and our parking resources. Managing the parking intensity generated by permitted uses in our own Central Business District will be key to our success.”
Seniors and sustainability in Westwood
Arroyo said “This year has been tough on everyone, but in particular, our senior population. has suffered under the stress of pandemic health concerns and economic changes.”
He said Westwood continues to work to make itself a place where seniors can age in place.
“Responsible municipal budgeting has helped soften the tax bite on the average assessed home: Between tax years 2017 and 2021, our municipal property tax increase on the average home has been: $86. That’s a net total across five years, not a yearly increase.”
During that same period, he said, the value of the averaged assessed home grew by $33,100 ($410,000 to $443,100).
“The governing body’s fiscal stewardship, in combination with the senior freeze, helps our older population stay in their Westwood homes,” Arroyo said.
He noted that Westwood has a Senior Advisory Board of resident seniors and professionals who can advise the governing body on senior-friendly policy and programs.
The Borough Council in 2021 created the role of Senior Services Coordinator and hired someone well qualified to fill it: Marisa Tarateta, formerly director of the now-defunct Thomas J. Riley Senior Center at Westwood House.
Moreover, Arroyo said, Council President Beth Dell has worked with Emerson Mayor Danielle DiPaola on a shared shuttle service, and the Recreation Department has continued to expand its 55+ Forever Young program.
He lauded vital non-governmental organizations operating in this space, including Westwood for All Ages, the Westwood Senior Fellowship, and the Westwood Clergy Council.