PASCACK VALLEY—Woodcliff Lake Mayor Carlos Rendo and two of his council members took to Facebook Live on Oct. 9 to inform residents that despite Montvale Mayor Michael Ghassali’s efforts to the contrary, they can count on Parkway Exit 171 to remain a left-turn-only exit.
Moreover, Rendo said, officials here do not plan to spend $20,000 of taxpayer money on Ghassali’s other recent high-visibility ask: backing his affordable-housing lawsuit against the state—though they will be rooting for Montvale’s success.
Rendo also said a $233,000 grant for updated streetscapes on Broadway should help clean the area up and attract new businesses. He also said that a traffic study was undertaken at Werimus Road and Woodcliff Avenue to possibly place a traffic signal at the intersection with county approval, which might also include a redesign of the intersection.
Another problem intersection is Highview Avenue and Broadway, said Rendo, noting local officials were looking to partner with Bergen County to address concerns there.
Rendo, like Ghassali a Republican, was joined on Facebook Live by Republican Councilman Joshua Stern (an attorney, and liaison to finance and audits, DPW, legal—personnel and ordinances—K-8 schools, and affordable housing); and Democratic Councilwoman Nicole Marsh, also an attorney, and liaison for parks and recreation, legal—personnel and ordinances—Land Use Board, and affordable housing.
The three replied to emailed questions from residents; more than 60 residents showed up on the livestream. (The session is archived on the mayor’s Facebook page.)
Although the Exit 171 and affordable lawsuit issues are unrelated, Rendo and Stern had strong words on both for Ghassali, criticizing him for not contacting Woodcliff Lake officials about his right-hand turn petition that he posted online, and blaming him for Montvale’s overdevelopment as the major cause of area traffic congestion.
They also cited overdevelopment in Park Ridge and Hillsdale.
Stern said Ghassali had no studies to prove allowing right-hand turns would ease traffic congestion at Exit 172 in Montvale or Exit 168 in the Township of Washington.
Rendo said Montvale should solve its own problems, created by its own “overdevelopment.” He suggested they revisit creating another parkway exit or speak with NJ Turnpike Authority officials.
Ghassali’s petition to allow right-hand turns at Exit 171 North had yielded more than 1,850 signatures by Oct. 14, but Rendo and Stern said the borough was not budging.
A consent order agreement Woodcliff Lake signed in March 1984 with New Jersey Highway Authority and Bergen County prohibited right-hand turns at Exit 171 North “without the written and unanimous consent” of Woodcliff Lake, the highway authority, and Bergen County. The agreement was recently posted on Montvale’s website.
Rendo revealed that prior Park Ridge mayor Terry Maguire and incumbent mayor Keith Misciagna, a Democrat, both said that they would put up a stoplight signal on Glen Road, backing up traffic if Woodcliff Lake opens up the Glen Road exit to right-hand turns.
However, Misciagna tells Pascack Press that although he opposes allowing right-hand turns from Exit 171, he did not say he would install a traffic light to back up traffic. He warned that allowing right-hand turns would likely much worsen traffic on Park Ridge roads and was a safety issue.
Misciagna said Montvale years ago said they would help fight overdevelopment, a pledge that allegedly went by the wayside, with Montvale adding hundreds of housing units and commercial buildings, including Wegmans, The Shoppes at DePiero Farm, a Pottery Barn, and a Williams-Sonoma.
Misciagna noted that previously Ghassali told him Montvale wanted to pay for a parkway entrance and exit on Summit Avenue, but that it was denied by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which manages the parkway. He said he would back that proposal, and he guessed other towns would support such a move.
Rendo also mentioned that possibility and urged Ghassali to pursue it.
Misciagna said allowing right-hand turns at Exit 171 would “negatively impact the residents of Park Ridge as well as Woodcliff Lake.” He said to allow such a change would likely cost millions of dollars to reconfigure that exit and that Woodcliff Lake has every right to keep it as is.
He also noted the dangerous conditions that prevail at Exit 168 North in Township of Washington, where left and right turns are allowed on Washington Avenue. Over the past several years, Township mayor Peter Calamari has met with NJTA and county officials to discuss the situation and a possible traffic signal there.
Ghassali alleged that allowing right-hand turns at Exit 171 could ease traffic volume at Exit 172 North in Montvale and Exit 168 North. No studies have been done on that.
Rendo said the topography of Glen Road, with homes near the road, would not allow two lanes of traffic to flow safely in both directions. He said the original purpose of the left-hand turns only was to direct traffic to nearby corporate centers, offices, retail centers, and the Hilton Hotel, and to prevent it from going through residential neighborhoods.
Stern said Ghassali’s efforts were “political grandstanding by a mayor who has higher political aspirations.” He said possibly allowing right-hand turns was last raised in 2015 and that the Turnpike Authority said it was a local issue and would not get involved. To allow such turns, a unanimous vote by the Woodcliff Lake Borough Council, plus approval from the county and the Turnpike Authority, would be needed, according to the 1984 consent order. Rendo said repeatedly that the council “unanimously” opposes such a change.
Stern said Ghassali, a former candidate for the House of Representatives for District 5, “likes to scapegoat Woodcliff Lake for his own traffic problems,” while noting that he has no traffic studies to back up his contention that right-hand turns would alleviate any traffic problems “but instead he just likes to grandstand and file online petitions without any real facts.”
Rendo stressed the importance of planning: “And unfortunately what we’re seeing here is that Montvale has overdeveloped their community and it’s a byproduct of poor planning.”
On Oct. 8, he posted, “People move to Woodcliff Lake for the beauty of it. Not for the convenience of easy access on and off a highway to save five minutes. Bottom line is our roads and park ridge roads are not built to absorb such traffic. The mayor and council response is not an emotional one but a responsible one.”
On Oct. 11, a few days after Rendo’s Facebook event, Ghassali posted, “It’s probably a good time for Mayor Rendo and councilman Josh Stern to start listening to their constituents and stop pounding their chests, we got that and it’s getting old. Let’s work together and get this done for everyone.”
Ghassali followed up with Pascack Press, saying both Rendo and Stern were “clueless” in regard to Montvale’s “extensive planning for traffic” at local developments. Ghassali said they did request an exit/entrance ramp on Summit Avenue, and offered to pay for it, but the Turnpike Authority turned them down.
He said for Rendo and Stern to suggest his suit would fail but would take the benefit if it succeeded showed “cowardly leadership.” He said he planned to continue communication with the Turnpike Authority and Bergen County to open up right-hand turns at Exit 171. And he asserted that approximately half of those signing the online petition appeared to be from Woodcliff Lake.
That said, Monday, Oct. 14 he posted, “We’ve achieved an incredible milestone, with over 50% of signers from Woodcliff Lake, Park Ridge, Hillsdale, Washington Township, and Westwood. Our goal was 500 signatures, collected an impressive 1850 signed petitions. This marks the beginning of our process with the Turnpike Authority and a potential litigation of the 1984 agreement, which btw was saved on a 5 1/4 floppy disk in 1984.”
He said, “Thank you for your thoughtful comments from our town and all surrounding towns; your voices are being heard, on both sides of the issue. Stay tuned for fast track updates on this progress.”
[Editor’s note: Overall, it’s a striking departure from the supportive tenor we’ve heard from local mayors, who through the Pascack Valley Mayors Association tend to band together in calls for regional solutions, such as on flooding and airplane noise pollution.]
‘No’ to joining affordables lawsuit
Both Rendo and Stern criticized the affordable housing lawsuit filed by Montvale and joined by 22 other towns, assuring borough residents that they will not contribute $20,000 as Ghassali requested. Both said they believed the lawsuit was likely to fail.
Rendo said Woodcliff Lake stood to benefit from the suit’s hypothetical success without having to spend tax money on the fight.
By way of background—see our archive at thepressgroup.net for more—Ghassali launched his effort this summer to increase support and raise funds for a legal battle aiming to equally apportion affordable housing obligations statewide. He seeks support from New Jersey’s 565 communities for a proposed lawsuit to equally distribute affordable housing obligations, including 62 currently exempt “urban aid” towns.
He emailed mayors, councilmembers, and public officials statewide, appealing for their support and a $20,000 contribution toward mounting legal fees.
We’ve reported that Alex Staropoli, a spokesperson for Fair Share Housing Center, which advocates for affordable housing in legal cases statewide, criticized Ghassali’s effort as “just making noise” rather than a proposal of “real solutions.” Staropoli, in a chorus of stakeholder pushback, said at the time, in part, “Urban aid municipalities do have affordable housing obligations under new legislation and always have under the Mount Laurel Doctrine. Their obligations are based on existing substandard housing — the present need — and often exceed those of towns like Montvale. Mayor Ghassali’s effort to undermine the Mount Laurel Doctrine is just another attempt to exclude low-income residents and people of color from his town.”
Ghassali vigorously defends his efforts, saying in part, “This isn’t about politics, it’s about fairness. Whether Republican or Democrat, we all believe that communities should have a say in how they grow.”
In a statement, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin called the lawsuit “baseless” and said the state will defend the new law in court.
Pointing fingers on ‘overdevelopment’
Here, Rendo criticized Montvale, Park Ridge, and Hillsdale for overdevelopment, while noting that the borough’s planning professionals and collaborative negotiations on affordable housing had helped them limit the number of market-rate and affordable units ultimately built in town. They attributed this to successful negotiations with developers and affordable litigation intervenors.
Rendo repeatedly mentioned the nonprofit COAH, formerly the Council on Affordable Housing, and the “pressure” put on the borough by COAH to overdevelop. However, since 2015, the NJ Supreme Court has appointed state Superior Courts to determine local affordable obligations.
In 2015, the state Supreme Court ruled COAH was “moribund” due to its failure to impose third-round obligations over a 16-year period, and ordered towns to adjudicate affordable plans in Superior Courts.
FSHC was appointed by the state to intervene in affordable court cases and to advocate for low-income individuals and families. Many public officials blame the organization as a cause of high-density, inclusionary housing, as its attorneys often negotiate many such settlements statewide.
Rendo explained why they did not and will not join Montvale’s affordable housing lawsuit. He said a bipartisan council determined the lawsuit was not winnable given the state’s history of Mount Laurel decisions and that affordable housing requirements are “enshrined in the New Jersey State Constitution and it’s going to happen.”
He alleged the legal agreements Montvale asked towns to sign to join the lawsuit do not have a cap on legal fees. Stern noted that it didn’t make sense to spend tax dollars “to make a political statement … Until there’s a new New Jersey Supreme Court we’re going to have to live with it.”
Stern said that if Montvale believed they had a strong case in alleging the affordable law was unconstitutional and that it shouldn’t be on the books, then Montvale should have filed an injunction against the law taking effect. He said injunctions get decided quickly by courts and that was likely to go against Montvale.
Rendo noted that approximately 20 acres at both the Hilton and BMW’s North America HQ are being marketed and developed, but working with the developers and borough professionals, they would meet affordable housing requirements “and develop responsibly; you just have to have faith in your governing body.” He noted KPMG in Montvale was said to have 20 acres coming available soon.
Rendo said, “With your help and support and working together we can accomplish great things in this town …We don’t make knee-jerk reactions like Montvale.”