OBITUARIES

BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF PASCACK PRESS

HILLSDALE

A redevelopment proposal for a 250-unit, four-story luxury rental apartment complex spanning 5.4 acres — with potentially 400 new residents — was presented April 6 to residents who raised questions about traffic, flooding, public safety, schools, taxes, and the first-ever high-density multifamily development in town.

The proposal, still being developed by Claremont Development, the boroughʼs conditional redeveloper for the former Waste Management site, has yet to be formally presented to the Planning Board for review.

The April 6 session, billed as a town forum, featured an in-person presentation in Town Hall and was aired live on Zoom. Officials said the forum, and site architectural renderings, would be posted on the borough website.

As the meeting was not an officially noticed public meeting, the mayor and Borough Council members could not comment during the session, said Joseph Baumann, borough special redevelopment counsel.

Baumann provided context on the redevelopment plan approved in early 2021, and noted that many more public meetings will occur as the proposal evolves.

Baumann said the redeveloper has not yet inked a redeveloperʼs agreement with the borough.

Claremont Development said that it is negotiating with the boroughʼs redevelopment counsel and redevelopment financial advisor on the agreement as well as what community benefits the developer may provide to Hillsdale for an increase in density allowed under the redevelopment agreement.

The so-called bonus density provision in the Patterson Street Redevelopment Plan allows redevelopers to propose higher-density developments in exchange for providing a community benefit or benefits as mutually agreed upon by the developer and the town.

The redevelopment plan allows 28 dwelling units per acre but in certain cases.

However, a bonus density of up to 60 units per acre can be permitted if the redeveloper and council agree on community benefits in exchange for the increased dwelling unit density.

While negotiations continue, the forum offered residents a first glance at what is being proposed on the former Waste Management property. The town forum featured two officials from Claremont Development, Morristown, who presented a short overview of their proposal, joined by the projectʼs architect, landscape architect and civil engineer.

The two officials, Richard Sciaretta and Anthony Marchigiano, showed building renderings and explained how the new highend rental apartment building would improve the mostly industrial and commercial area with a luxury apartment complex.

The building would be designed in Second Empire style per the redevelopment plan design guidelines, and features mansard roofs throughout, bay windows, Juliette balconies, and amenities on the ground floor.

“Weʼve taken a big building and we break down the scale of the architecture and try to make this as comfortable as we can for everybody,” said architect Bob Hillier of Studio: Hillier, Princeton.

One new feature, said Sciaretta, will be a public park to be built near the corner of Piermont Avenue and Patterson Street. Hillier said the building will feature towers seen off of Patterson Street, noting the structure “is a brick complex all the way around” featuring three colors of brick and external features designed to be attractive and present a residential-style feel.

Baumann said the will include 24 affordable rental apartments, which in effect fulfills the entire affordable obligation for the approximate 12-acre redevelopment zone.

Sciaretta said the developer would have its traffic engineer, John Korac, of Stonefield Engineers, immediately begin on a traffic study.

Sciaretta said that the 250 units would include single-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, with amenities, and allocate 1.6 parking spaces per unit. Only a few three-bedroom units would be built for required affordable obligations.

Total parking would include 403 spaces in a parking deck to be built, along with 40 new spaces on nearby streets.

He said the complex would also provide spaces for electric vehicle charging stations. He said the development would manage its stormwater runoff according to state rules which mandate no net increase in runoff post-development.

Claremont officials said that construction may start by spring 2023 if plans move along and approvals are granted, and take approximately 18-20 months from start to finish.

Thereʼs more to this important and developing story. Read on at thepressgroup.net.

Stanley A

URBANIAK

Stanley A. Urbaniak, 93, passed away on April 2, 2022. Born in Bayonne, Stan moved to Park Ridge in 1967 with his beloved wife of 58 years, Emily. He was the son of Sophie Narbdalik and George Urbaniak, father of David (Erin), Kristine, Daniel (Carolyn), and Kathryn (Andrew), and grandfather of Nicholas, Sofia, Will, Elizabeth, Faith, and Noelle.

He attended St. John Kanty Prep High School in Erie, Pa. and Seton Hall University. Stan was a proud veteran of WWII, where he served in the occupation forces, and of the Korean War.

He worked in the sales division of Ford Motor Co. for 42 years, retiring in 1996 to enjoy his passion for life.

Also known as Stan the Man and Stash, Stan was a man who treasured his faith, family, and friends. He was a man of integrity and kindness who lived by the golden rule. Stan served as Eucharistic minister at Our Lady of Mercy Church and as president of the Park Ridge Athletic Association.

Among his favorite pastimes was coaching little league and watching professional sports.

He enjoyed following every step of his grandchildrenʼs school and sporting events. If Stan was late, it was assumed that he had found a ballgame along the way. He was also an avid stamp and coin collector and enjoyed traveling and cruising.

whether family, friends or strangers, Stan conversed with them and enjoyed their company.

Stan is predeceased by his parents, his sister Veronica, and his brothers, Joseph and Walter. He is survived by his wife, Emily, his brother, Frank, sisters MaryAnne and Theresa, sixteen nieces and nephews, and 26 great-nieces and nephews.

Stanʼs life and faith were celebrated on Friday, April 8. Visitation was at Becker Funeral Home. Funeral Mass at Our Lady of Mercy Church, followed by burial at Ascension Cemetery. Donations in Stanʼs memory may be made to the ALS Association at als.org.

Irene FRASER

Irene Fraser, 94, of the Township of Washington passed away on April 1, 2022.

Born on Nov. 5, 1927 and raised in South Philadelphia, Pa., she was the daughter of Vincenzo DiTomasso and Asunta Pesce DiTomasso. After graduating from high school, she worked as a secretary for the American Can Company, where she met her husband, Walter Winfield Fraser. They married in 1949, and raised two children in their home in Township of Washington, where she lived the remainder of her life.

Irene will forever be remembered as a great lover of animals, art, and music. She is survived by her son Walter J. Fraser (Bryan Rumble), her sister Betty DiTomasso Moore (George), her grandchildren, Scott (Tricia), Meredith (Chris), Glenn, Daniel (Rachel), and Michael (Katie). She is also survived by her great-grandchildren Nora and Walter. She is predeceased by her daughter, Deborah Fraser Tiene, and her many beloved pets, including Percy, Baron, Dundee, Bianca and Sweetie.

Visitation was Thursday, April 7 at Becker Funeral Home, 219 Kinderkamack Road, Westwood. Funeral services were Friday, April 8 at the funeral home, with burial immediately following the service at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington.

Memorials or donations may be made to the ASPCA.

Kelly Ann FOLEY

Kelly Ann Foley, 46, of Park Ridge passed away peacefully on the morning of March 26, 2022, surrounded by her loving family. Born on April 7, 1975, Kelly is the beloved daughter of John Thomas Foley and Gail Ann McFarland Foley of Park Ridge. Dear sister of Kimberly Heelan (Paul Heelan) and Kaitlin Foley. Proud aunt of Brenna, Addilyn, and Caedan Heelan. Proud niece of James Foley and Matthew McFarland.

In 1985, Kelly was a poster child for the Park Ridge Elks, as well as a poster child for the New Jersey Womenʼs Club State Project called “Spina Bifida, On the Wings of Love.”"

She graduated from Park Ridge High School in 1993 and she was an advocate for handicap accessibility in the school system.

She also was an avid Barry Manilow Fan and is now dancing to his songs in heaven.

A Memorial visitation was held at Becker Funeral Home, Westwood. Memorial Mass was at Our Lady Mother of the Church, Woodcliff Lake.

Reyes

RAMIREZ-

GUTIERREZ

Reyes Ramirez-Gutierrez, 43, of Hillsdale passed away on Sunday, April 3, 2022. Reyes was born Aug. 19, 1978.

A visitation for Reyes was held Friday, April 8 at Becker Funeral Home, Westwood. A visitation was held Friday, April 8. A funeral Mass was held Saturday, April 9 at St. Andrew R.C. Church, Westwood.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at Becker-FuneralHome.com.

Robert C BEGGS

Robert Carnahan Beggs, 84, died peacefully, surrounded by his family in his River Vale home, on April 3, 2022. Robert was born on Sept. 11, 1937 in Englewood. He was the son of Fordyce Waters Beggs Sr. and Dorothy Pierce Crabbe. Robert graduated from Northwood School for Boys in Lake Placid, N.Y. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and served four years activeduty and twoyears in the reserves.

After serving his country Robert attended New Jersey Institute of Technology for engineering. He was a commercial industrial builder for Iris Construction Co. for 35 years.

Robert married Jonath (Jonni) Elaine Oprandy on Aug. 26, 1961. They had two daughters, Jana-Lee and Tiffany.

An avid skier, he was on ski patrol at Lake Placid during his high school years. He also enjoyed tennis, golf, gardening, reading, playing games and model ship building.

His favorite pastime was playing with his grandkids and spending time with family. Robert is survived by his wife Jonni of 60 years, daughters Jana-Lee (Edward) Bair and Tiffany (Steven) Roth, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers a donation may be made to Valley Hospital Hospice, Paramus, NJ. valleyhealth.com/locations/valleyhospice.

Jean

PALLADINO

Jean Palladino, 91, of Westwood passed away on Thursday, March 31, 2022. Jean was born Jan. 5, 1931.

Avisitation for Jean will was held Tuesday, April 5 at Becker Funeral Home, Westwood, NJ 07675. Funeral Mass was April 6 at St. Andrew R.C. Church, Westwood. A committal service was held Wednesday, April 6 at Holy Name Cemetery, 823 West Side Ave., Jersey City. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at BeckerFuneralHome.com.

FROM PAGE 3

On its website, the district notes, “Pascack Valley Regional Board of Education meetings will be posted here within 48 hours and will be retained for one year. Live streaming of meetings and the past year of recordings as well as other district videos are available on the Pascack Valley Regional High School District Board of Education YouTube Channel.”

And while only three councils offered livestreams of meetings and/or public TV broadcasts, others such as Park Ridge and Montvale offer delayed viewing of council meetings.

However, other towns such as River Vale and Westwood offer no community TV or electronic broadcasts of their council meetings.

Three Towns That Livestream Meetings

The three towns that “livestream” council meetings — putting them on Zoom, YouTube, or both online and via community TV — take different approaches.

Emerson has been broadcasting its council meetings live on YouTube for several years; its online video archive goes back to August 2019.

Recently, the council approved an effort to move toward hybrid meetings. where residents can call in remotely and participate.

For nearly eight years before becoming mayor, Danielle DiPaola had pushed for council meetings to be broadcast without success. Within six months of her election, working with two other council members, borough meetings were broadcast online via YouTube and then the next day on public access TV.

DiPaola said that “bringing our government into the living rooms of residents is one of my greatest accomplishments.” She said, “In order to run an open and honest government there is no other vehicle than to have the public watching you while it happens.”

In Hillsdale, residents can watch council meetings live on Optimum or Verizon FIOS, and can participate via Zoom. All contact information is on the borough website.

Prior meetings can be watched by clicking the View tab on the 2022 Meeting Agendas and Minutes List.

In November 2021 the council approved $29,000 to purchase new audio and video equipment for the council to conduct hybrid meetings.

In addition to enhancing twoway communication between members and public, meetings will be livestreamed on Zoom, broadcast on the public access channel, and archived for later viewing on YouTube.

In a recent effort to increase borough transparency, Mayor John Ruocco appealed to three legislators representing the 39th Legislative District to press to revise the 50-year-old state Open Public Meetings Act.

Ruocco wants OPMA to require all documents listed for discussion or vote on the online agenda to be available by a link so that the public can access them before a meeting.

Currently such documents are usually considered “drafts” and under state records law are not available to the public.

In the Township of Washington, they offer both “live” versions of its council meetings and school board meetings, the only town to offer both meetings broadcast live. The township shares the Westwood Regional [K-12] School District with its neighbor, Westwood, which broadcasts its meetings live.

Township council meetings are broadcast live and archived for future viewing. Also, school board meetings are streamed live. Go to the WWRSD website, click on Menu, then Agenda/Minutes, and then “Recorded Public Meetings” to select among numerous recent YouTube meeting broadcasts available.

The Township offers its council meetings “live” via Optimum Ch. 77, FIOS Ch. 24 and on WCTVʼs YouTube livestream. Residents interested can click on a “Township Council Meetings” link on the Townshipʼs Agendas/Minutes dropdown menu to access the live meeting.

For those wishing to participate remotely, accessing the Zoom platform link permits remote participation. As of 1/3/2022, all Township Council meetings returned to the Zoom platform.

Park Ridge Meetings Not ʻLiveʼ

Park Ridge broadcasts its council meetings the week after the in-person meeting, though PKRG-TV cameras are rolling during the meetings. PKRG-TV Director Howard Fredrics said while they did do some live cable broadcasts on special occasions, that takes more resources, set-up time and staff, which is generally not available.

“PKRG-TV is not currently regularly broadcasting ʻlive,ʼ either through our cable stations or through our YouTube channel, and we have no current plans to do so. Rather, we record meetings, and normally broadcast them on cable stations, Optimum Ch. 77 and Verizon Ch. 22 starting during the week following the meeting. We do not, as a matter of longstanding policy, upload recorded Mayor and Council meetings to our YouTube channel,” Fredrics told Pascack Press.

Also, no Park Ridge school board meetings are available online. “The Park Ridge Schools does not currently make its meetings available online or on TV. Additionally, the Board does not record its meetings,” emailed Robert Wright, district business administrator and secretary.

Montvale

While Montvaleʼs TV says it offers a “livestream” online, Pascack Press could not find any council meetings being broadcast “live” via the website. The borough administrator told us that no livestreams are done.

However, she said that council regular meetings (second Tuesday every month) should be posted online for viewing the day after the council meeting. Workshop meetings, however, are not posted, she said.

However, a recent March 29, 2022 council meeting was not yet available online by April 5.

Woodcliff Lake Council meetings are not usually broadcast online but during the pandemic, meetings were streamed on the Zoom platform. As recently as Jan. 24, 2022, the council put a meeting on Zoom, probably due to a Covid-19 spike occurring then.

All told, about 10 previous council sessions broadcast on YouTube are archived under Meeting Videos on Woodcliff Lake websiteʼs Government drop-down menu. However, not all the Zoom meetings have been archived for viewing.

Recently, however, meetings are not being broadcast online or archived by the borough. Meetings have returned to in-person only, said Business Administrator Tom Padilla.

The Woodcliff Lake School District, which includes Dorchester Elementary School and Woodcliff Middle School, also does not broadcast or offer livestreamed meetings.

Generally, most councils and school boards offer audio recordings of meetings, which must be requested via a public records, or Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request. However, Pascack Press has found out that all audio CD recording formats may not be user-friendly, and some require downloading software to run audio compact disks.

Residents should check with municipal administrators, clerks, and school board secretaries for further information about electronic or audio records available if a meeting video recording is not currently available to the public.

Whether councils or school boards ultimately decide to broadcast and archive meetings often appears related to the public pushing for such publicly accessible video recordings, as well as council and school public officialsʼdesire for more transparency in government operations.

While most officials prefer face-to-face interaction with residents, some towns who do not broadcast or livestream meetings — such as River Vale Township _ have come under fire for lack of public participation in major town-wide decisions, most recently the approval of a $13.3 million Public Safety Complex.

Also given the Covid-19 pandemicʼs disease variants and on-again, off-again face mask and social distancing requirements, letting meetings remain remote and available via Zoom and online broadcasting seems to be one more option available to enhance public participation.

Moreover, online meeting options allow those who feel uncertain or fearful of in-person meetings an opportunity to listen and participate remotely.

Whatʼs more, online meetings — including archived sessions — allow media outlets to cover multiple meetings with reduced staff since in-person attendance is not necessary to cover what are generally multiple-hour public meetings for most towns and school boards.

Upcoming: What Pascack Valley towns offer online broadcasts or livestreams of Planning and Zoning Board meetings.

Pascack Hills High School student representative Hilary Siegel (second from left) closes with a joke at the PVRHSD regular board meeting at Pascack Hills High School on March 28. (Screenshot from PVRHSD website)

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