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>4-13 Status Report on Valley Hospital Project

>4-13 Status Report on Valley Hospital Project

The Planning Board of the Village of Ridgewood is winding up its series of work sessions on Valley Hospital’s proposed Renewal program, during which it has heard from experts on many technical subjects as well as representatives of Valley Hospital and members of the public.

The proposal involves the demolition of certain existing hospital buildings and the construction of new ones as well as parking decks. In the proposal, the new buildings would contain four stories, the same as the existing ones, but the story heights would be increased by two feet each.

At its March 16 meeting, Village Planner Blais Brancheau gave Board members a draft proposal to amend that portion of the Village’s master plan that deals with the Hospital Zone, known as the “H Zone”. That section has not been amended in 31 years and does not reflect the current conditions in the zone. The master plan language concerning the H Zone is also very brief, general and lacking in specific policy guidelines.

Another work session is set for April 21. If the Planning Board were to complete its discussion that evening, it would move forward with the draft master plan amendment and schedule a public hearing on it. The draft amendment, which is still a work in progress, would be made available to the public in advance of any hearing. That would not occur until May at the earliest.

At the public hearing, questions and comments would be considered from representatives of Valley Hospital, the general public and other interested parties. After considering all questions and comments, the Board would decide whether or not to adopt the draft master plan amendment or to revise it before a vote.

If an amendment to the master plan were to be adopted, a draft ordinance would be prepared by the Board and submitted to the Village Council

Such an ordinance would amend the zoning regulations for the H Zone based upon the policies in the master plan.

The Council would then consider whether or not to introduce the ordinance or to amend it first. If and when the Council were to introduce an ordinance, it would schedule a public hearing at which time Valley Hospital and members of the public wuld be given an opportunity to speak on the ordinance. Once the hearing was concluded, the Council would decide whether or not to adopt, amend or defeat the ordinance.

Were an ordinance to be adopted by the Village Council, there would be a third opportunity for the public to speak on Valley Hospital’s proposal.

This would be at any future public hearing involving a site plan application submitted by Valley Hospital to either the Planning Board or Board of Adjustment for multiple buildings that, if the plan were approved, would go up in coming years.

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