Mayor: 'I Want to Set the Record Straight on Schedler'

Saddled with two of the more difficult committees, Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh reported to the council on Wednesday night that the Fields Committee again brought up a discussion to utilize the for fields, which they've said would help clear the glut of activity on Ridgewood's overtaxed playing surfaces. Mayor Keith Killion took the opportunity to "set the record straight" on the status of Schedler – simply put, it isn't Schedler Field he said.

"It's been about a year-and-a-half now and it seems the story has gone 180 degrees [that] we promised them baseball fields, parks to plant flowers. I don't know where all this goes to," Killion said of the initial purchase and discussions back in 2009 and early 2010. "I said we are going to buy it and put it away. Please don't come back to us in a year and ask us for baseball fields."

Added Councilman Aronsohn with a smile, in jest, to the laughter of the crowd, "It's been a year and a month."

Walsh stated that one member had commented that the council wants to turn Schedler, a property it purchased with bonds totalling $2 million with the inclusion of a recent grant, into a passive park. But nothing has changed, she said of the off Route 17 purchased for $2.7 million in bonds.

"I indicated we haven't discussed the Schedler property and we have not decided what we were going to encourage to be done at Schedler," Walsh said in her committee report.

Killion brought with him the 29-page meeting minute discussion of Schedler from years ago, which he said he planned to read next week on May 11, when the council will be voting on the .

"The gist of the meeting on Schedler was 'we will buy it now and we will put it away for the future until the economy is better,'" Killion said.

He further stated that the council asked back then for a "joint venture" with sports and parks members to raise the money but that hasn't materialized.

"We certainly understand the problem but in this economy with people who are without jobs, gas going up, taxes going up, infrastructure has to be replaced, contracts, roads with potholes, healthcare . . . I don't think the council bonding between $3 million and $8 million...and paying that debt service to have more fields is a good use of taxpayer money."

The mayor said while some may disagree with him, he believes that taxpayers would rather see infrastructure improved and some village services restored before reaching Schedler.

Killion said that all of the comments from the past council –he, Aronsohn, fmr. Mayor David Pfund, Pat Mancuso and Annie Zusy–"were all consistent."

The most recent with a full 90-foot baseball field, which many have said is consistent with the goals of the 2006 Master Plan, which too recognized the village is deficient in active and passive recreation.

In contrast, the council has said planning guides are just guides and aren't necessarily to be followed to the letter.