Letter: Planning Board meetings on Valley are on a ‘slippery slope’
Friday June 7, 2013, 11:25 AM
The Ridgewood News
Planning Board meetings on Valley are on a ‘slippery slope’
To the editor:
I am a 26-year Ridgewood resident and a regular attendee at Planning Board meetings addressing Valley Hospital’s persistent and increasingly aggressive expansion plans. I have lost track of the many concessions that have been made to Valley Hospital over the past 26 years.
This current proposal is the most grandiose of all. If Valley’s plans are approved, the hospital’s above-ground facilities will more than double in size to almost one million square feet. Phase One construction alone will last for six years. Ridgewood will gain a skyline with the tallest structure climbing 94 feet into the sky with parts of that building only 40 feet from the property line of Ben Franklin Middle School. Children currently in elementary school will face potential construction-related noise, traffic and air quality issues as they attend Ben Franklin. Children not yet born will face the same issues as they attend Travell School.
I started this letter while attending Planning Board meetings exploring traffic, construction, environmental and other issues. I wonder why we are getting into so many details without addressing the basic question of whether this project makes sense for the village – and yes the question is whether it makes sense for the village, not whether it makes sense for Valley Hospital.
I ask if it is relevant at this point in the proceedings if truckloads rumbling through the village’s streets can be reduced to 8,000? Is it relevant if Bergen County will widen Linwood and Van Dien avenues to address traffic worries? Is it relevant if a proposed traffic crossing island is truly safe for our children? Is it relevant if excavation and related water table disruption present undue risk to residential homes and to Ben Franklin? If the construction project is approved, these details will undoubtedly be vetted as specific building site plans are filed.
I am dismayed by the slippery slope of Planning Board meetings that are debating these details. These discussions imply, in my opinion, that the goal is to try to determine a tolerable scope for the project.
The writer makes excellent points. Valley’s attorneys are calling the shots at the PB meeting.
James, thank you for publishing the Live Link here… it allowed for one courteous response, by this Mayor of Robert St.
Final decisions are made by the Village Council.
Interesting letter…. at least the Ridgewood News published it.
Very good points indeed. Valley has only succeeded only in getting its own paid “experts” to testify that their expansion won’t do any harm. Valley has however failed miserably at making any case that it will actually be good for Ridgewood.
It will not benefit Ridgewood…period!
Finally, someone who can cut through all the crap and address the real issue: The expansion of Valley is not for the benefit of Ridgewood. It is for the benefit of Valley. The Village does not need a huge medical center. And, the Village certainly does not need all the proposed housing developments being proposed in the center of town. Valley and the developers should take hike! These projects need to be put to a vote so the homeowners and taxpayer can decide what happens to the community.