Although Ridgewood currently has over 1,300 landmarked buildings, the Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association (RPOCA) want to see even more of the neighborhood’s homes preserved.
There are four historic districts across Ridgewood, including the Stockholm Street Historic District (36 buildings), Ridgewood North Historic District (96 buildings), the Ridgewood South Historic District (207 buildings), and the newest Ridgewood Central Historic District which landmarked 990 homes in November of 2016.
Now, fearing overdevelopment and zoning laws which allow additions to be made on houses as of right, RPOCA is urging the commissioner of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), Meenakshi Srinivasan, to hastily move on the two districts in the Federal and State Register of Historical Places that have already been requested for consideration for landmarking.
“I urge the Landmarks Preservation Commission to move with all due speed to consider the districts already proposed and then to move on to the remainder yet to be proposed,” said RPOCA member Margaret O’Kane in a letter to Srinivasan. “It is urgent that these landmark districts receive the protection of City landmarks designation as we are witnessing an explosion of building that is out of context and character for the neighborhood, including in districts that have only Federal and State landmark designation.”
The areas requested for landmark status stretch approximately from Cornelia Street to Stockholm Street, between St. Nicholas and Seneca avenues.
During the Sept. 7 RPOCA meeting, the civic organization handed out historic district maps along with the letter O’Kane sent back in August, and a blank letter where property owners can insert their name and address and send to Srinivasan signaling their support of the push for the city to designate the rest of Ridgewood’s federal- and state-recognized historical districts.
