>Geotechnical expert testifies at Valley Hospital hearing
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2011
BY KELLY EBBELS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Gives project ‘yellow light’
A geotechnical expert testified before Village Council on Monday night that any construction below The Valley Hospital would involve pumping voluminous amounts of groundwater, trucking out tons of soil and removing bedrock from the land below the facility, which he cautioned would be complicated and potentially stressful on the neighboring community.
Laurence Keller, of Whitestone Associates, told the council at the latest special public meeting on The Valley Hospital expansion proposal that he would give the project a “yellow light,” not a green light or a red light, based on concerns raised in his studies.
The hospital’s plan for “Renewal” proposes to build two stories below ground under its North Building to accommodate procedure rooms, a kitchen and other services. Once Phase I of construction is complete, about 317,000 square feet, or one-third of the hospital campus size proposed in that first phase, would be underground.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/132762613_Geotechnical_expert_testifies.html