Washington Township Isn't Opening Anything New This Fall. It's Closing Four Old Ones.

Drive Pascack Road on any weekday afternoon this September and you'll pass the same landmarks you've passed for years: the Fresh Grocer lot filling up around five, the awning at David's Bagels, the turn for Memorial Field where a Little League practice is usually wrapping up. But if you've driven past 450 Pascack Road lately, you've probably noticed something missing. The house and barn that sat there for as long as most residents can remember are gone. The lot is bare dirt.

Recent Press Group coverage describes four long-running projects in Washington Township: the 450 Pascack Road property, changes at Washington Avenue and Van Emburgh Avenue, the new Department of Public Works facility, and work along Musquapsink Brook. The projects are at different stages, and recent council and administrator discussions have covered their status and next steps.

What used to be a house and a barn

The township bought the 450 Pascack Road property in 2025 for $750,000. This summer, a contractor demolished the deteriorated house and barn that had sat on it. The demolition estimates differed substantially: the first estimate was $42,000. The quote that came back was north of $78,000, nearly double.

The plan for the 3.2-acre strip, which sits between Ridgewood Boulevard East, Memorial Field, and Washington Elementary School, is a passive recreation area with a wood-chip walking path about six feet wide. Council members have been debating the finer points for weeks: whether an eight-car lot should be expanded to somewhere between 10 and 20 spaces, whether to add a native pollinator garden or a rain garden, whether a fence is needed to separate the property from the school next door, an idea Councilor Steven Cascio raised for safety reasons. One council member wants path lighting priced out. Another wants the new lot connected to the existing Memorial Field lot so cars can enter through one driveway and exit through another, though the cost estimate for that idea is three years old and needs updating before anyone can act on it.

None of this is finalized. The proposal would turn the vacant property into green space connected to a park residents already use.

The corner every driver here already knows

If you've ever hesitated at Washington Avenue and Van Emburgh Avenue, you're not imagining the problem. County figures put daily traffic there at roughly 20,000 vehicles, about 12,000 on Van Emburgh and 8,000 on Washington Avenue, which is more volume than most local intersections in this part of Bergen County carry. Over six years, the county recorded 82 crashes at that corner, more than one in four involving an injury. Spread across six years, that works out to roughly one crash every month.

Most of those crashes involved westbound traffic on Washington Avenue and vehicles heading north on Van Emburgh, which is exactly the movement Bergen County is now targeting. The county has moved stop lines to improve sightlines, installed additional warning signs, and asked the township to clear vegetation that's been blocking drivers' view of oncoming traffic. The township is handling the initial trimming; homeowners will be responsible for keeping it clear after that.

The Press Group quoted Councilor Michael Ullman saying that drivers heading north on Van Emburgh still have to

"creep into the intersection to see approaching traffic."

That's the honest state of things right now: better than it was, not yet solved.

Where the money's going, at a glance

The Press Group reported that the new Department of Public Works facility behind Town Hall is the most expensive item on this list at $4.9 million. Construction was delayed while DPW vehicles were cleared from the site, which required the township to sign an 18-month lease with Bethany Community Center for use of a 1.25-acre rear lot at $5,800 a month. Council also approved roughly $60,000 for a new driveway gate, fencing, and privacy screening around the Woodfield Road site. The Press Group reported that the administrator described the progress as

"extremely slow," while adding that "there have been extenuating circumstances that have led to some delays and we are working on receiving a recovery schedule from the general contractor."

If the delays end up costing the township money, officials have said they're prepared to pursue liquidated damages against the contractor.

The Musquapsink Brook work is quieter still, but it connects to a longer story. A 2023 drone study found severely eroded sanitary manholes along the brook, which led to emergency streambank work starting in 2024. This summer's restoration behind the high school, delayed once already by storms that damaged trees, is expected to run two to three months. Separately, the township recently approved a $44,500 change order to address a newly discovered erosion site on Washington Avenue where sediment washes into the brook during storms. The Press Group reported the administrator's explanation:

"Correct this now and it will save a lot of money down the line."

The township hopes to recoup up to 75 percent of that remediation cost through a state hazardous-site program. Whether that reimbursement comes through is still open.

Township engineers also flagged new inclusive playground equipment coming to both Clark Field and Memorial Field, and a separate paving project on Bergen Avenue and Salem Road with contractor Frank Macchione Inc. rolled through the township earlier this year. These are separate projects, but together they represent several long-running municipal and recreation efforts underway.

The corridor that keeps running underneath all of it

Whatever construction is happening at the edges of town, the daily rhythm of Pascack Road hasn't paused for it. Washington Town Center, anchored by a supermarket, a pharmacy, and the post office, still functions as the commercial center of the township and remains its single largest taxpayer, an odd distinction it holds alongside the fact that the not-for-profit Washington Township Recreation Club is the second-largest taxpayer through a quirk in how the town's tax code is structured.

Up and down Pascack Road, the businesses residents already know keep doing what they do: Bacari Grill and Dog House Saloon & Grill for a casual night out, Superior Sushi in the space that used to be Lily Bistro, Wing Lee Kitchen, family-owned since 1991, Binh Duong IV for Vietnamese food, The Fresh Grocer for the weekly run, Original Pizza, Noteworthy Academy of Music, and Bethany Community Center, which took over the former Bergen County YJCC building in a 2017 sale worth $9 million. None of that changes because a lot got demolished three-quarters of a mile away.

It helps that the township sits slightly higher than much of the surrounding Pascack Valley, which keeps it a bit cooler and less prone to flooding than neighboring areas along the Hackensack watershed. That's not why any of these four projects are happening. But it's part of why a torn-up lot, a fixed intersection, and a slow-moving DPW building read as routine maintenance here rather than crisis management.

What this actually adds up to

Together these four projects describe a town working on several long-running efforts at different stages. If you live here, that's worth knowing the next time you're stuck at Van Emburgh and Washington, or wondering what's planned for the vacant lot on Pascack Road. Timelines vary, and work is underway.

If you're weighing what any of this means for a home you own here, or you're curious what a property near one of these projects is actually worth right now, Keren Abraham has spent more than two decades reading exactly this kind of local detail. Reach out for a free home valuation and a conversation grounded in what's actually happening in this town, not just what the listing photos show.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.