Ridgewood Spent 2026 Repairing the Parks It Already Has. Schedler Is the One Still Waiting.

Most of Ridgewood's park work this year took place inside parks residents already use. Graydon got new sunshades and security fencing. Kings Pond got a new playground. Habernickel got its bridge repaired. Grove Park got its trails re-blazed. These projects are finished, or close enough to use this fall. The Zabriskie-Schedler property on West Saddle River Road is different. It is the only project that adds a park the Village has never had, and it is the only one with no park yet to use. Its cleanup is done, but its review, bidding and construction are all still ahead.

The reason comes down to scale. A playground or a sunshade order goes from budget line to finished project in a single season. A new park on a historic site has to clear state environmental approval, state historic preservation review and public bidding, and it is still facing organized opposition. The rest of this post follows that split: what's done, what's nearly done, and what Schedler still has to get through.

Finished and Ready for a Fall Weekend

The Village's Parks, Recreation and Conservation Board keeps a running status list. As of its June 23, 2026 agenda, several items were already marked complete:

• Kings Pond Park playground: marked complete. The state's description of the Kings Pond package lists a playground, benches and a pavilion meant for outdoor programs, picnics, gatherings and shelter in extreme weather.
• Graydon Pool sunshades and security fencing: both complete. The sunshades went in before the summer season opened.
• Rain gardens at Veterans Field, Graydon Pool and Habernickel Park: planted on Saturday, May 2, 2026, and marked complete.

The July 15 council meeting added two more. Village Manager Keith Kazmark reported that repairs to the Habernickel Park bridge were complete. The 2026 capital budget had set aside $40,000 for concrete repairs to that bridge. That was a modest repair, and Habernickel's pavilion and ADA-compliant playground were already on the Village's list of 2025 accomplishments.

Grove Park got the most hands-on attention. At a July 12 workday organized by the Parks Department, the New York–New Jersey Trail Conference and the AM Rotary Club, volunteers blazed and marked the park's main trail and several connecting spurs, including links to the Saddle River pathway and Grove Street.

None of these projects made headlines. Together they cover five parks, and you can use every one of them now.

The Three Projects That Are Close

Three more projects follow the same pattern. Each is funded, contracted or underway, and each is still a little short of finished as of mid-October.

The Kings Pond pavilion. The playground equipment and pavilion equipment were both delivered by spring, according to the Village's May 6 council minutes. The playground went up and the pavilion did not. At the August 12 meeting the Village said the pavilion was expected "next month." On September 22 the Parks Board agenda still listed "Pavilion Installation" as an open item. The Mayor's Fall 2026 newsletter, posted October 8, describes the new gazebo at Kings Pond as something that "will soon be installed." The newest public word, then, is still "soon."

The skate park. In July, Kazmark reported that resurfacing of the skate park at Graydon Park was underway, paid for by a $100,000 New Jersey Department of Community Affairs grant. The Village's 2026 budget included a $30,000 local match for that grant. The fall newsletter says new equipment for the skate park next to Graydon Pool "will be arriving by mid-October," which puts delivery around now. Parks Board agendas list the skate park under "Maple Park." The council minutes and the mayor's newsletter both place it at Graydon.

The Citizens Park ball field. This is the largest of the three. The 2026 budget combines $268,000 in Village funds with a $121,000 Bergen County Open Space award. The money covers full regrading of the ball field, new fencing, covered replacement player benches and small spectator bleachers. The fencing being replaced dates to the park's original 1960s build, according to the Village's 2025 grant proposal. The September 23 council agenda included an item to award a contract for the "Citizens Park Field Renovation" through the Educational Services Commission of NJ. The newsletter says the lower-field project "is expected to move forward shortly." Separately, bump-in parking spaces along North Monroe Street next to Citizens Park were scheduled to follow crosswalk work by paving contractor Smith-Sondy.

Each of these projects started from a specific amount of money in a specific existing park, and each is now down to delivery and installation. Schedler is at a much earlier stage.

Schedler: What's on the Plan and What Stands Before a Shovel

The Village bought the Zabriskie-Schedler property in 2009 to give Ridgewood a full-size multipurpose field that is not prone to flooding. Seventeen years later, here is how far the project has come:

1. State environmental approval: done. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection approved the park plan on August 27, 2025.
2. Soil remediation: done. NorthJersey.com reported on September 11 that a cleanup expected to take six weeks ran through most of the summer and that the $1.7 million remediation project was complete.
3. State Historic Preservation Office review: required before bidding. At the June 3 council work session, the Village explained that final engineering plans and specifications had to go to SHPO before the bid could be issued publicly. No public record we found since then reports SHPO's decision, a bid release or a contract award.
4. Groundbreaking: targeted for year-end. The fall newsletter says the Village anticipates "breaking ground by the end of the year."

That same NorthJersey.com story reports that opponents are still working to stop the sports field.

The plan itself is detailed. Kevin O'Keefe of Suburban Consulting Engineers presented the final design on June 3. It includes:

• A multipurpose synthetic-turf field on the north side, sized for soccer, lacrosse, softball and baseball, buffered from neighboring homes by two rows of evergreens
• An inclusive playground for children of all ages and abilities
• Looped concrete walking paths that reach every feature on the site
• A self-cleaning restroom building
• Rain gardens, pocket landscapes and an arboretum of native trees
• A seven-space lot beside the historic house, a 53-space general lot, and 18 bump-in spaces along West Saddle River Road designed to keep both travel lanes clear

The house is the one part of Schedler you can already use. The Village said it had spent about $2.6 million on the Zabriskie-Schedler house through 2023, and in June it set a goal of furnishing the house and starting programming around the July 4 holiday. By August 4, the minutes of the Village's Fields Working Group recorded this report from Siobhan Winograd:

"The Schedler House is now open and is an available space for meetings."

That is meeting use, not public visiting hours. The Village has said the new parking will support programming at the house by the Village, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Ridgewood Public Library and the Ridgewood Historical Society. The 2026 budget also set aside $100,000 for furnishings, signage and artifact display cases for a history and cultural center there.

Using What's Open Before the Season Turns

You can build a full fall weekend around the finished work alone.

1. Start at Grove Park. Walk the newly blazed main trail and take a spur toward the Saddle River pathway.
2. Bring younger kids to Kings Pond Park. The new playground is in place. The Village also scheduled a trail workday there for October 4 with the Trail Conference.
3. Stop by Graydon to check on the skate park once the new equipment is installed.
4. End on a Sunday at the Chamber of Commerce Farmers Market at the train station. It runs through November 1, so only a few Sundays remain this season.

Downtown has had smaller improvements of the same kind this year. The Village put a permanent crosswalk with corner bump-outs in front of Tatte Bakery & Cafe on Ridgewood Avenue. A new bus station at Van Neste Square opened in September, funded by a New Jersey Department of Transportation grant. The Village Council's public agendas and minutes are the place to watch for Schedler's next step, whether that is a SHPO decision, a bid notice or a contract award. They are posted in the Village Agenda Center.

New amenities like a turf field, an inclusive playground and a restored historic house are part of what defines a neighborhood over time. The Ivanov Group follows Ridgewood's park projects from council agenda to ribbon-cutting so homeowners understand how they shape the blocks around them. If you're wondering how the Village's investment in its parks relates to your own property, start with Get Your Instant Home Valuation.