Home Care In Bloomingdale, NJ

BLOOMINGDALE — Highlands Council officials have released a $70,000 grant to help borough officials draft a strategy to revitalize the Main Street corridor.

Borough officials recently designated 53 properties, most on or near Main Street, as areas in need of redevelopment. The grant-funded study will examine the best ways to mesh town hall’s desire for growth and downtown revitalization with Highlands Region restrictions on new development, according to a Highlands Council statement.

Already, the goals of the Highlands master plan and borough officials seem closely aligned, said Carl Richko, the chairman of the state-appointed Highlands Council.

“Sustainable economic development and redevelopment plans like the one we are funding for Bloomingdale directly address the prevention of continued sprawl across our remaining farmlands and open spaces,” he added.

The study will begin with community engagement activities and environmental assessments in the redevelopment areas, officials said.

The areas, identified earlier this fall by town officials, are located along Main Street and at the intersection of Van Dam and Union avenues. The commercial locations are among the 30% of the borough that falls under the less severe Highlands Planning Area development restrictions.

Borough officials examined 111 properties over two years as part of a redevelopment investigation with planning consultants CME Associates, said Edward Simoni, the planning board chairman.

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The 53 properties designated for inclusion in the redevelopment area cannot be condemned. Rather, the designation permits borough officials to offer redevelopment incentives, such as payment in lieu of taxes agreements.

To start the grant-funded study, meetings with local officials, business leaders and owners, community groups and residents on the redevelopment possibilities are set to begin in early 2020. Those community engagement and assessment activities related to redevelopment will be assisted by the borough’s planning consultant, New Jersey Future, a Trenton-based nonprofit, officials said.

Other tasks related to the study include an analysis of the challenges and opportunities in the redevelopment areas and the development of a strategic plan for economic benefit.

“We applaud Bloomingdale’s vision for sustainable growth and are pleased to support its efforts to enhance the community,” said Lisa Plevin, the Highlands Council’s executive director.

David Zimmer is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

An emphasis on nighttime paving work by its biggest client — the state Department of Transportation — has quarry conglomerate Tilcon New York continuing its push to build a private access road off Union Avenue in Wanaque to its Bloomingdale facility abutting Interstate 287.

Tilcon representatives were at the Wanaque Planning Board earlier this month to file another application for site plan approval for the company’s long-running proposal to extend Susquehanna Avenue. Next to the Union Avenue Burger King, Susquehanna Avenue leads to the Elks Camp Moore property just north of the Bloomingdale quarry.

In the works for more than six years, the proposed half-mile road is designed to get the quarry’s trucks on the interstate and off local streets, said Vincent Gallo, vice-president of Tilcon.

“Most of our truck traffic, probably 90 to 95 percent, goes south - south and east – and by putting it on 287, we’re getting our trucks off the local roadways as quickly as possible,” he said.

As proposed, the project would divert all truck traffic from the quarry's current entrance on Broad Street in Pompton Lakes. That entrance would remain only for employees and emergencies, he said.

Gallo said the project would allow for a greater volume of trucks to come and go from the facility but would also allow Tilcon to spread out the traffic. Regulations in Bloomingdale and Pompton Lakes restrict shipping and transportation of quarry products to daytime hours.

If approved, the quarry access road would travel through 30- to 50-foot rock faces that need to be carved into the steep slopes to reach the quarry, Tilcon officials said. With county approval, Tilcon may also have to widen Union Avenue to four total lanes from Susquehanna Avenue to the interchange ramps for Interstate 287.

Though possible, there is no intention to expand operations at the quarry, Gallo said. However, there is a plan to divert more work to the nighttime, he said. The state Department of Transportation emphasized nighttime paving work to alleviate traffic concerns, he said.

If the road is approved, Tilcon agreed to pay the local government a usage fee of $250,000 a year for the first four years and $150,000 a year thereafter. A roughly $100,000 property tax increase based on the improvements has also been estimated by town officials.

Still, the company has struggled to gain support for the project.

Planning Board members rejected the proposal in September, citing concerns about traffic impacts on Union Avenue. The new truck traffic’s potential to create backups on the notoriously busy Ringwood Avenue and to disturb the morning commute on southbound Interstate 287 were also cited.

“Our standard of living is going down with it,” said board member Jack Jordan during the September hearing. “The truck traffic is not going to help us. We’re going to get money. That’s the only plus.”

Bridget DiFalco, who lives on Haskell Avenue, said town officials are right to consider quality of life over revenue. She said the new access road could make the left turn out of Haskell Avenue nearly impossible.

“There’s going to be a big accident there,” she said.

Tilcon owns 16 properties in the area, the home of a failed housing development south of North Twin Lake, records show. It also has an easement agreement to cross the Elks Camp Moore site, records show.

David Zimmer is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

RIVERDALE — Local historian Tom Riley will be presenting his popular presentation "Nazis in Riverdale?" at the borough library on Wednesday, Oct. 3.

The retired educator, who grew up in Bloomingdale, said he first learned of the infamous German Bund camp on Federal Hill from the ghost stories in his youth.

The camp, active in the 1930s, was in Bloomingdale but was reached from behind Slater's Mill off Hamburg Turnpike in Riverdale. The bridge behind the mill was washed out in 1903.

"There really was a German camp on Federal Hill," Riley said. "So, of course, that just got my imagination going and I was just a sponge for anything to do with Federal Hill."

Camp Bergwald was raided several times by the FBI, and 19 members were put on trial in 1944. Four were convicted as spies for conspiring to transmit military information to Germany in violation of the Espionage Act in 1943.

"So you had spies right here looking down at you from Federal Hill," Riley said.

The camp was ultimately confiscated by the United States government and the land eventually bought by Tilcon Quarry, which owns more land on Federal Hill.

Riley recently had a chance to do some exploring on Federal Hill as part of the production of a new documentary available on YouTube called: "Bloomingdale — An American Small Town."

Remnants of a camp building, visible today, are included in the film, along with some archive footage of camp activities. The film producers received special permission to explore the camp site, accompanied by Tilcon security.

Riley's presentation also includes photographs. Camp Bergwald was a youth camp for boys and girls 8 to 18, Riley said. Members spoke German, and along with normal camp activities they were indoctrinated with a "heavy dose of national socialism," he said.

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Members handed out fliers and sold pamphlets and Nazi collectibles, he said. At its height there were 20 chapters across the United States, most concentrated in the Northeast.

"Make no mistake: They were just as anti-Roosevelt-administration as anybody possibly could be," Riley said. "The same spiel that Hitler was spreading across Europe at this time, this German American Vocational League are spreading right here."

The group evolved from the Friends of Hitler Movement, the Friends of New Germany and then, by 1936, the German American Bund. Riley cited a 1944 New York Times article that traced $13,000 used to purchase the land on Federal Hill back to Nazi Germany, the Vocational League and the German Labor movement.

Federal Hill, it turns out, also played a role in the Revolutionary War and was part of a beacon system. The early-warning system was used to alert Gen. George Washington of British troops' movements.

Washington even put down a mutiny on Federal Hill, and two of the three mutineers were executed. So the ghosts stories about mutineers that Riley heard as a child had some merit. So did the ones about Nazis on Federal Hill.

The site where Camp Bergwald and the beacon were located may end up being quarried, the historian said. There is no access to the old Bund Camp site, he said, and the area is fenced off. The camp is now within the active blast area of Tilcon.

Register online for the event at riverdalelibrary.org, or call the library at 973-835-5044.

Riley is also known for his presentations on the connection of Babe Ruth and minor league baseball to the area. Keep an eye on the local library calendars for his talks.

(Iselin, NJ) – Allegiance Retail Services (ARS), a dynamic member-owned supermarket co-op, is pleased to announce the opening of Bloomingdale Supermarket by Foodtown in Bloomingdale, New Jersey. The township’s name was merged with the Foodtown banner to reflect the significance of the intimate community in which it opened. Previously, the space was occupied by an IGA supermarket.

The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the 8,000 square foot store, held on January 5, 2024, was heavily attended by both local residents and elected officials who came out to support the Grand Opening.

Bloomingdale Supermarket by Foodtown is the second grocery store to be opened by ARS members and store co-owners Adam and Erica Shapiro. The first store the Shapiro’s opened was a Green Way Market banner in Maplewood, NJ. As a member of the ARS co-op, Bloomingdale Supermarket by Foodtown will offer natural and organic choices, value-based lines, garden fresh fruits and vegetables, specialty meats and cheeses, fresh baked goods, grab-and-go meals, fresh flowers and more.

Bloomingdale Supermarket by Foodtown, as all Foodtowns, are known for their close connection to the communities they serve by being Locally Owned, Family Operated stores that offer high quality products and perishables at affordable prices, delivering on the banner’s promise, Quality Meals Begin Here. The grocery stores also offer a full line of Allegiance Retail Services’ Green Way private label brand of natural and organic foods and products, and Rancher’s Legend beef.

“Prior to becoming an owner and operator of his own supermarkets, Adam Shapiro worked in the industry for many years, overseeing operations for some of our member stores,” said Joseph Fantozzi, Chief Operating Officer and President of Allegiance Retail Services and Foodtown. “It is heartening to see what the Shapiro’s have accomplished in a short time, and their commitment to offering diverse and quality lines in their supermarkets.”

Currently, Allegiance Retail Services supports more than 125 member-owned supermarkets with promising future growth, indicating a positive trajectory for the co-op and its members in the grocery retail sector.

About Allegiance Retail Services LLC

Allegiance Retail Services, LLC supports independent supermarkets (e.g., Foodtown, Freshtown, D’Agostino, Gristedes, Morton Williams, Pathmark, LaBella Marketplace, Brooklyn Harvest, Market Fresh, Big Deal Food Market, Green Way Markets, Brigidos Fresh Market, Olive Tree Marketplace, Bloomingdale Supermarket by Foodtown, and Shop n Bag), for retail success by providing them with marketing, advertising, technological and merchandising support, as well as a full line of private label products, including Foodtown, Green Way and Rancher’s Legend. For more information, please visit www.allegianceretailservices.com

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NorthJersey.com

BLOOMINGDALE — It took most area residents by surprise when Bodega Munchies opened its doors as a convenience store, smoke shop and deli at the site of the former Kings Corner this week.

"All were shocked or perhaps pleasantly surprised we went into this place," said owner Barak Joseph.

The location has had its difficulties, said Bloomingdale Councilman Joseph Graziano. The last time it was occupied was perhaps four or five years ago. "I think it lasted about a year," he said.

At issue is the store's location at a particularly busy corner where the easternmost portion of Butler's Main Street dead ends into Hamburg Turnpike. Even though there are a number of parking spaces in the small parking lot, getting out of the lot can be problematic.

Trying to back out onto Hamburg Turnpike where there is a nettlesome curve right where Main Street intersects it, can be difficult. So much so that over the years, the retail site has largely remained vacant.

Graziano said when he frequents stores in that area, he often finds parking along the street.

Still, he thinks overall the property is a good one.

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Mayor John D'Amato and Graziano said there's a good amount of foot traffic in that area and the downtown has attracted new stores and restaurants, including Kchicke'n roll, a Korean barbecue restaurant and Magpie Bakery.

Joseph said he and his partners were aware of the challenges, but as they began to renovate the site, they received encouragement from area residents and other business owners.

"We listened to what they told us," Joseph said. "We built our menu on what they said they wanted."

A case in point was the decision to add a Taylor ham egg and cheese sandwich to the menu. Joseph, who emigrated from Israel just over two years ago, said he had no idea what that was.

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"Good thing he didn't call it pork roll," quipped D'Amato. "We wish him the best."

D'Amato remembers when he was a boy the store was known as La Salle's. Over the years the property has seen a number of businesses, but most recently it has been largely vacant.

Joseph and his partners said they can succeed by providing top-notch service, a friendly atmosphere and hard work. The store, which currently is open from 6 a.m. to midnight, sells, CBD products, household products and has a grill.

"I am young and can put in the hours," Joseph said.

For those not wanting to deal with the parking challenges, Joseph said the business will work with Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash to deliver food, which will be available until almost midnight.

"Last night I was making someone a sandwich after 10 p.m.," Joseph said.

Still, he said, it is a work in progress. The coffee machines will be installed on Wednesday and the menu will soon be marketed to Butler High School students.