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Wyckoff, New Jersey
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Public Safety
Murphy joined the department as a dispatcher, was hired as a patrolman in 1996, and has now served nearly ten years as chief — already longer than the national average tenure for the job — a 30-year arc the Township Committee marked on July 21.
Public Safety
S1421 would require municipalities to formally budget for emergency medical services, potentially forcing the replacement of volunteer ambulance corps with paid staff.
A state bill requiring municipalities to budget for EMS could effectively end volunteer ambulance corps like Wyckoff's, where volunteers provide all emergency medical services at no cost to taxpayers.
Community
Three neighbors appeared in support as the board unanimously approved a second-story addition on a substandard corner lot — a project driven by the need to create an accessible first-floor bedroom suite for the homeowners' parents.
The owners of a substandard corner lot on Princeton Avenue won unanimous approval to add a second story, with the project designed to create first-floor accessible accommodations for the homeowners' aging parents and three neighbors appearing to support the application.
State & Local
New Jersey's affordable housing law cycles every ten years, and Wyckoff has been navigating its requirements since the 1980s. Here is the full picture of what the fourth round means for residents.
Wyckoff's affordable housing obligation cycles every ten years under a state Supreme Court mandate. The fourth round's overlay zones target commercial corridors and two financially strained church properties — and the fifth round begins in 2035.
Community
After four months of hearings that reshaped the project, the Planning Board unanimously approved a new retail building at the Cedar Hill Shopping Center — with conditions.
The Wyckoff Planning Board unanimously approved a new retail building at the Cedar Hill Shopping Center after a four-month review, with conditions addressing landscaping, driveway safety, and snow removal.
State & Local
The legal tool at the heart of New Jersey's affordable housing debate can override local zoning entirely. Here's how it works and what's at stake for Wyckoff.
Builder's remedy lets developers override local zoning in towns that haven't met their affordable housing obligations. Wyckoff is racing to meet a March 15th deadline to protect itself from this threat.
State & Local
An undersized lot on Auburn Street presented a clear hardship, the board found, as the owners received unanimous approval to add a second floor and covered front porch to a ranch-style home.
The owners of a Dutch Colonial ranch home on Auburn Street won unanimous approval to add a second story, with the board citing a clear hardship from the property's undersized lot.
Community
Three signature events and a full calendar of programming will mark Wyckoff's 100 years as an incorporated township.
Three signature public events — a formal gala in March, a Main Street street fair and fireworks in June, and a historic cemetery tour in October — anchor Wyckoff's year-long centennial celebration.
Infrastructure
Ridgewood Water says seven of the 12 treatment plants required under a 2023 state consent order are now online, and a new well on Goffle Road is pumping — but the utility's last PFAS facility, which appears to be a delayed Wyckoff plant near Cedar Hill, won't open until early 2027.
Ridgewood Water's weekly update reports a new Wyckoff well, the Marr Well on Goffle Road, is online and capable of producing more than 500,000 gallons a day. The utility also says seven of 12 planned PFAS treatment facilities are operating under a 2023 consent order with the state, with four more due by the end of 2026 and the last delayed to early 2027 by an archaeological study — a delay that matches what Wyckoff's own Environmental Commission was told in 2024 about a plant near Cedar Hill.
Community The Fine Print
A homeowner built a fence and lost, 9-0, at a board most residents wouldn't guess handles fences — then sued. A mile away, another homeowner asked first and got a unanimous yes. Here's the local rule behind both stories, and the map of Wyckoff's two land-use boards you need before you build anything.
The first in The Fine Print, an occasional series on the surprising parts of Wyckoff's local government: the Wyckoff-specific quirk that sends fences to the Planning Board instead of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, illustrated by a denied fence now in litigation and a second homeowner who worked with the board and got a unanimous yes.
Wyckoff, New Jersey
A regular roundup of town government, schools, and the stories that shape our community — free, no spam.
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District Recoups $612,650 Reselling Laptops
Business Administrator Matt Bouldin said the district has taken in $612,650 so far reselling its three-year-old laptop fleet, offsetting a…