Potential Development Puts Senior Housing Talks on Hold

A proposal from Glen Rock’s senior housing committee to construct downtown age-restricted apartments will be on the backburner as a private developer eyes a similar project within the borough, Mayor John van Keuren said Monday night.

During a work session of the borough council, the mayor suggested that given the significant financial obligation the public project would represent, the borough wait to see what housing needs remain should a new private development move forward.

RIC Development plans to introduce an application next year with the borough to construct a 66-unit one- and two-bedroom apartment complex restricted to tenants over the age of 62, an attorney representing the firm said last week.

The developer is eyeing privately owned land on Prospect Street for the project, nearby the Village of Ridgewood’s water treatment facility.

“I have suggested to the senior housing committee that they put a hold on the proposal they’re working on…until we have a better sense of [RIC’s] plans,” van Keuren said.

“I just don’t know what kind of impact it’s going to have on our perceived need for senior housing.”

A survey conducted by the borough has indicated that there is a need for additional senior housing in Glen Rock, and members of the senior housing committee have said that the wait list at the current complex, Glen Courts, would fill a second complex.

RIC’s proposal is larger than the senior housing committee’s. In August, the committee presented the council with a proposal for a 57-unit complex to be built above the municipal parking lot adjacent to Glen Courts.