Residents Press Passaic City Council to Remove High‑Rise Conditional Use from R‑1A Zoning

Dozens of residents urged the Passaic City Council on Sept. 16 to amend the R‑1A zoning district to remove a conditional‑use allowance for multi‑family high‑rise buildings, saying the change would protect neighborhood safety, parking and the scale of longstanding single‑ and two‑family streets.

Joshua Goldman, a resident who returned to the council after raising the issue in May, asked officials to “pass an ordinance to amend the zoning ordinance to remove the conditional use of high rises in the R‑1A District,” and cited the city’s master‑plan language recommending removal of four‑story‑plus multifamily conditional uses. Goldman said he had met with the mayor, the business administrator and the council and that the master‑plan analysis from 2013 supported the revision.

Speakers representing nearby blocks described narrow streets, nearby schools and synagogues, and heavy pedestrian flows. Razele Asa said the area “includes a private school that many children walk to and from every day”…