Ramsey council adopts Island Road rezoning to allow age‑restricted inclusionary multifamily development

The Ramsey mayor and council on April 9 adopted Ordinance 04‑2025 to establish a new R‑5C Island Road multifamily residential zone covering block 4201, lots 5 and 6, a change officials say is intended to create an opportunity for age‑restricted inclusionary housing to help the borough meet its state housing obligations.

Joseph Burgess of Burgess Associates, the borough planner, told the meeting that state calculations place Ramsey’s need for affordable housing in the current (fourth) round at roughly 503 units. He said the town will seek a vacant‑land adjustment to reduce the number it must build locally and that the Island Road zoning is meant to be a measured site for that effort: “the site is roughly 8 to 12 acres in size…at most you could get 70 dwelling units,” Burgess said, and the ordinance limits density to 8.2 units per acre and requires at least 40% of the site remain as green space.

Council members said the ordinance does not approve any specific development plan. Any builder would still have to file a site plan with the planning board; Burgess and borough staff said stormwater, floodplain, traffic and environmental impacts would be evaluated in that process and reviewed by the borough engineer.

Residents from Davidson and Indian Valley urged caution. Several described chronic street and yard flooding during heavy rains and asked how additional development would affect existing problems. “You can’t fix the flooding that we have now,” said Fred Demiano of 245 Davidson Avenue, summarizing a common neighborhood concern. Briana Badalamenti of 29 Indian Valley said past storms have left yards so deep in water that lightweight objects floated away, and multiple speakers urged the borough to inspect and address existing drainage before any construction.

Burgess responded that state and municipal site‑plan rules require new projects to analyze existing runoff and reduce the post‑development rate of flow, saying planners and engineers “are obligated to reduce that amount by a certain percentage,” and that detailed engineering plans would be scrutinized by the planning board and its engineering consultant if and when an application is filed. Borough staff also noted that residents within 200 feet of any future application will receive statutory mailed notice and can testify at planning‑board hearings.

Residents also raised traffic, light pollution and noise from nearby freight trains. Council members said the ordinance includes buffer and landscaping requirements, and calls for down‑shielded lighting to limit spillover and mitigate light pollution; traffic studies would be part of any site‑plan review.

The ordinance sets age and affordable‑housing parameters: market units would be limited to households with at least one resident aged 55 or older, restricted affordable units would require at least one resident aged 62 or older, and the ordinance references minimum affordable set‑asides (20% for for‑sale units, 15% for rentals) contained in the proposal read into the record by Councilwoman Cusk. Council members voted by roll call to adopt the ordinance; all members present voted in favor.