At a recent meeting of Northvale’s mayor and council, it was announced that plans were in the process of being drawn up to construct eight to 10 low cost, high density, senior apartments on a lot on 176 Paris Ave.

Apparently, this property was sold to the county and these are their wishes along with the town’s. Our governor, who, of course doesn’t live in Bergen County, state that it is his intent to add 160,000 of these units to the state and it seems that some of our local and county leaders are getting into line. Although some of this type of house is needed, I believe that Northvale has already done its share. High-density housing is being built (88 units) on the north side of Paris Avenue. To enable this housing to be constructed, Northvale increased the lot’s permissible building density by at least 75 percent and undoubtedly agreed to variances making it possible. The original permissible density was eight units per acre yet Northvale let the developer construct 14 units per acre. In effect, we’re building a city within a small town of 1.3 square miles, a portion of which is made up of commercial and light industrial establishments. The original building ordinances were established to protect all the citizens of this town. Whatever happened to the "all the citizens" portion? When is enough, enough? I’ve mentioned square mileage because it relates to the following facts. Northvale with a total size of 1.3 square miles is the second smallest town in the Northern Valley but it has the second highest population density in people per square mile. Exclude the space taken by commercial and light industrial buildings and that people per square mile figure gets considerably higher.

After hearing about the plans for 176 Paris Ave., I visited the site. The one thing that struck me immediately was two very large and beautiful trees. While driving past this site for 37 years, especially during the growing season, I always admired these gifts of nature for their beauty, the great amount of share they provide to the neighborhood, the amount of air they filer as well as sucking up huge amounts of water during heavy rains, which is extremely important in that area. Being concerned about their well being, I contacted an arborist and asked about the specifics concerning these trees. After the arborist visited the proposed site he informed me that the tree closet to Paris Avenue is a European birch. He couldn’t tell me the exact species because there weren’t any leaves on the tree and the second on the west side is a white oak. Although the white oak is native to this area, while the European birch is not, both are approximately 100 years old and in excellent shape. This is when I began to worry. If eight to 10 housing units are anticipated for that lot, what happens to those trees? I discussed this concern with our mayor and he agreed to relay my concerns to the county but let’s face facts; will the county rather have two trees or more apartments? Are environmental concerns of one person enough to alter plan? In a way, those gifts or nature belong to all of Northvale for the advantages they provide. They aid all us in keeping our home values where they should be as well as enhancing the esthetics of our town. Can reducing the total units keep the chain saws away from that property? What do these trees mean to the county?

I’m a senior citizen who has lived in Northvale for more that 35 years and remind myself that I left the city for what I thought was the suburbs. Some say that Northvale has progressed. Discovering three lots containing toxic materials, each one being a ratable, is not what I call progress. Will others be found? I’ve never heard of toxic material being found on single family lots. Drive on Livingston Street during the lunch hour or right after work day and ask yourself, is this progress? Some of the reasons many of us moved here was to find more living space while escaping from noise, neon, pollution, traffic and high population density. We wanted to see more greenery and less concrete and macadam. Little did we know that the reason why we wanted to mover were permitted to follow us. Elected town leaders on both sides of the political aisle have said "no-over development." Let’s see if they mean what they say. Perhaps they can finally agree on something.

Don Sampietro
Northvale