Reader says , The truth behind Valley’s fantasy is the massive structure is simply already too big to expand any further
I am glad the Bergen article used the correct measure — the Hospital is going to severely expand, not reduce. Valley tried to get through the night talking about “reductions” in its expansion plans. The truth behind Valley’s fantasy is the massive structure is simply already too big to expand any further, and certainly not on the obese scale presented at last night’s meeting.
From what Valley said last night: The buildings and parking garage will be expanded with a 90% increase in density to what is there now, nearly double the current size. Maximum height will go up to almost 100 feet, further dwarfing surrounding properties. The plan still calls for the same number of parking spaces (2000) so it seems school children and other pedestrians will still face the same amount of increased traffic, despite the claim that certain operations will be conducted elsewhere. There will still be massive excavations impacting our underground water streams, requiring the destruction of bedrock and requiring hundreds of thousands of trips through town by dump trucks carrying off debris. Linwood avenue will be expanded in order to allow for the increased traffic and construction vehicles. (Does this mean the taking of private property from Linwood homeowners?) Today’s technology, we are told, requires larger, single occupancy rooms, yet we are not assured tomorrow’s technology and profit seeking won’t mean large singles are turned into double or triples (and maybe that’s the real reason for the increased number of parking spots.) The loading zone for trucks, with their noise, exhaust, etc., are all being moved down next to BF middle school and the playing fields.
All in all, Valley made it clear that to remain on par with other regional hospitals serving the NorthEast, it needed to expand even if the expansion did not otherwise fit within its space or the neighborhood. Once again, we are being asked to sacrifice our the Village so Valley can remain economically profitable with other major hospitals.
The Mayor asked a very interesting question: last time a prime justification for doubling the Hospital’s size was that overnight hospital beds were needed because of the shrinking number of hospitals. Why then, the Mayor asked, does Valley need the same number of beds as identified in the last expansion plans when Pascack Valley has re-opened down the road. Valley’s answer this time was that it wanted what it wanted. A particularly galling response when one considers Valley uses its financial might (relying on Ridgewood resident donations and funding of Valley’s tax-free status) to fund litigation opposing entities like Pascack Valley from administering to the sick.
I thought one of the most interesting points was not articulated well enough and Valley skirted away from it. Their opening presentation noted that other options, such as moving the entire baby birthing and care operations to another location, was not “feasible.” Valley later explained it was too costly, but it absolutely refused to provide any support for this saying the issue was “private.” In other words, Valley is asking the Village to change its way of public life, while saying the reasons are “private.” Hopefully the Planning Board will see through Valley’s thinly veiled reasons for wanting to expand. I would like to see the Board return to that at the next meeting, and if Valley won’t justify or explain this as one of the reasons for expanding, then the Board should refuse to consider the unavailability of other locations as a reason for expansion.
All in all, a good night for Ridgewood residents who respectfully presented question after question to Valley’s hired guns who sounded absolutely charming, but by the end of the night revealed that, as with the past plan, “these are the things that Valley wants” and that, in and of itself, is the reason the Village should cave and give it to them.
Excellent analysis and great points. Some of my favorite moments were:
1) when the architect was forced to acknowledge that their repeated reference to the 70′ height of the North Building would actually be 94′ with rooftop mechanicals (the gasp from the audience was palpable), and
2)when a resident asked the planner if he felt that a 50,000 sq ft total reduction of visible bulk was a compromise, and he said “no, but…”, and
3)when a resident asked if there could be an addition column added to their presentation slides to compare the current hospital dimensions to the 2010 MPA allowances and 2013 application request, but was turned down as irrelevant.
Please come to the next meeting on April 16th at George Washington Middle School at 7:30pm. Let’s see how the Geo-technical expert explains that by not de-watering a 1000′ radius around the hospital and potentially cracking home foundations, that this is their idea of compromise. Now they will only be de-watering at a rate of 280,000 gallons per day vs 500,000. Whew! I’m so relieved!
I wonder why you didn’t do your research before you bought the house on Steilen.
What does that have to do with anything? First, someone may have bought many years ago when Valley was not trying to expand to the size it now wants. Second, just because you live near a hospital does not mean that you consent to any change the hospital wants. Third, whether or not a homeowner “researched” is not the issue. The issue is whether we want such a huge hospital in a residential neighborhood in our village.
Yeah, screw the little people who live in the valley below the mighty citizens living on the Ridge of Ridgewood.
The truth is that very few people who actually live in this town will benefit if this goes through as planned. It is amazing to see/hear what people don’t get….
#2 I agree with the post and live far away from the hospital. Thank goodness idiots like you continue to make the argument because it makes the case against the hospital even stronger. Now run along, I think that’s Audry calling you now.
Valley said there was a glut of beds and facilities when Pascack Valley was trying to re-open. Now Valley speaks out of the other side of its mouth, and says it needs to expand to be competitive.
I see – they want to add to the glut of beds and facilities. Typical Valley logic
#6 if you want to see an idiot, look in the mirror. The reality is, buying a home within the shadow of a pre-existing structure was a poor choice. Perhaps you could move next to RT 17 and whine about the traffic, and tell the state to ‘move it to the parkway’. Or move next to NJ Transit trains and tell them to ‘move it to the set of tracks in westwood’.
You and your loudmouth brethren are going to lose this one.
We are going to win this argument because people like you who have no sense of logic are on the otherside. By your way of thinking, if you buy a house near an existing structure that was zoned such that a 100 foot building could not be built, you must submit to whatever the owner of the existing structure wants to do with the property in the future including those things that would require a change to the rules from when you purchased your home.
Your examples are equally inapposite. People who moved next to the Hospital are not asking that the current Hospital be moved. They are objecting to the attempt to expand it.
#9 — Read my post again with your glasses on. I don’t live anywhere near the hospital. But I am not so pigheaded as to think damage to one part of the Village is not damage to the Village as a whole. If the massive construction goes through, we all lose.
tHAT STILL DOESN’T RESPOND TO THE “GLUT OF BEDS AND FACILITIES” ARGUMENT
#12 Nice to see someone gets it. I know a lot more do also.
Valley wants what valley wants. They didn’t decrease the size of the building, the number of rooms or the number of parking spaces. How can this be considered a compromise? This 6 year plus building project does not belong in this town no matter what you west siders think.