Roberto's Pizza, Reassessments, Duplexes and College Choices Top February News

After an eight year break in the pizza business, Roberto and Francine Maglocchetti decided they couldn't stay away any longer. The longtime River Edge residents recently opened the River Edge Pizza Kitchen on Kinderkamack Road two weeks ago.

For the first time in several years, River Dell High School celebrated as eight student-athletes committed to either a Division 1 or Division 3 school during Wednesday mornings Signing Day ceremony. 

The eight Golden Hawks include football stars Tim Barnes (Georgetown) and Kevin Barry (Sacred Heart), Scott Kim (Siena College, golf), Anthony Sare (Loyola College, soccer), Frankie Maier (Seton Hall, soccer), Emily Wong (Montclair, lacrosse), Mary Maccabee (Tufts, volleyball) and Paige Fernandez (Middlebury, track).

An 86-year-old Glenside Court West resident in Oradell was not seriously harmed after backing his vehicle into the creek near his home. Firefighters from River Edge and Oradell were both on hand to stabilize and assist on towing the car out of the creek.

River Edge has waited just a little over four years for the 2008 approved Huffman Koos development project to begin. And now, the project is looking to finally begin once County Building officials sign off on a set of recently submitted plans.

Mayor Sandy Moscaritolo announced during Monday's council meeting that finalized plans have been submitted to the borough's building department for review and a developer's agreement is in the works.

Struggling with tax appeals and a declining housing market, Oradell's recently completed reassessment has shown that the majority of housing values in town have all fallen. According to Mayor Joseph Murray, 30% of homes should see their tax bills go down greater than $250. About 57% could see their bills go down anywhere from $249 or up $250 for a tax neutral scenario and 13% may see their tax bills go up in excess of $250.

Appraisal Systems of Glen Rock was hired in late June to perform a reassessment over the 2012 summer for $75,000. Oradell had a full revaluation performed in 2008 by Appraisal Systems and due to the contract at that time, the borough was entitled to a reduced price for the assessment.

Setting aside $475,000 , the River Edge Board of Education's "Plan A" 2013-14 budget calls for a major building project to either remove contained asbestos or replace a large area of roofing at Cherry Hill School.

The Board presented its preliminary budget recently based on the district receiving the  as in prior years. The estimated $15,638,260 budget remains at the 2% tax levy cap of $13,508,217.

While the 2012 River Edge reassessment had upset taxpayers, developers and realtors last spring, the borough is now seeing a 90-percent sale ratio with homes going at the assessed price or higher according to tax assessor Jim Anzevino.

Anzevino appeared before the Mayor and Council on Tuesday night to review the 2012 reassessments impact on last year's 90 house sales. The 90 sales did not include any foreclosure or bankruptcy sales or homes that were sold to a private family member

With a growing population of young adults with developmental disabilities, a first draft plan by United Way to construct four special needs housings on Kinderkamack Road is heading back to the drafting table.

The proposal, presented by the non-profit organization's President Tom Toronto, received tentative approval by the Mayor and Council on Tuesday night to go forward with additional revisions for a potentially larger scale project.

A female driver had to be extricated from her minivan on Tuesday afternoon after passing out behind the wheel and crashing into a Rockland Coaches bus on Kinderkamack Road. The accident, which occured around 12:20pm, stalled traffic on Kinderkamack Road from Oradell Avenue to Center Avenue as Oradell Police and Fire removed the driver through the rear of the minivan.

With council chambers packed to capacity by Park Avenue residents, the River Edge Mayor and Council introduced a proposed zoning change ordinance to allow duplexes along the eastern side of the street.

The ordinance, approved 4-2 with Councilmen Ed Mignone and Alphonse Bartelloni casting the nay votes, will now head to the Planning Board for reivew in March.

A proposal to convert the former DPW yard on Grove Street into commuter parking could prove costly to River Edge as borough engineer Robert Costa presented four options to the Mayor and Council with plenty of bells and whistles.

The options, ranged from laying down gravel to macadam to environmental pavers, along with lighting, drainage, and a stairway up to Kinderkamack Road.

From Rhode Island and Maryland to Arizona and Illinois and back to New Jersey, 17 Bergen Catholic Crusaders officially inked their NCAA Letters of Intent during a Wednesday morning ceremony.

The 17 seniors represented seven varsity teams from football, tennis, baseball, lacrosse, track and field, soccer and golf. Of the athletes, 11 have committed to a Division-1 program with two to Division-2 schools and three competing on the Division-3 level.

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