March 31,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Council Candidate Jeff Voigt shared his thoughts on the “Whispering Woods hearing” last night . According to Jeff , “It was disappointing not many people showed up to the Whispering Woods hearing. This is a huge issue for our Village – with the hospital and its environs effectively doubling in size. My guess is that many people think this is a fait accompli and that Valley will get what they want. It is not. I also think many of the Villagers are likely tired of having to address one huge issue after another in our Village – parking, high density and now this. This is very draining. It was however, nice to see those Villagers who have spent a significant amount of time on this at the meeting – most importantly Pete McKenna for the Concerned Citizens of Ridgewood and Megan Fraser from Valley Hospital.”
Jeff continued , “If I was a betting man, my guess is that the planning board more than likely will vote in favor of the mediated agreement. It will then become a draft ordinance which the Village council votes on. Again there will be more hearings on this at the Council level. If this draft ordinance is heard/evaluated by the current council, Albert Pucciarelli (one of the council members) has recused himself – leaving only 4 council members to vote. Conceivably, this could result in a 2-2 vote. My understanding is that a 2-2 tie means the ordinance would not pass. We are therefore back to where we started with Valley possibly continuing with its lawsuit. Another possible scenario is that the evaluation of the draft ordinance does not occur until the new council comes in, in July. My guess is that if the NJ Supreme Court judge who mediated this, understands the 2-2 conundrum, she will request it goes before the new council – so that a majority would result. My thought/suggestion is that we need an educated community on this issue to help provide insights/inputs to the existing and 3 new council members. Therefore it would be great if more of the Villagers could attend to present their comments and understand this. Personally I am going to be at every one of these hearings in order to talk with others, listen and understand the issues, and ultimately figure out how best to move forward for the Village.”
the Ridgewood also asked Jeff about Councilwomen Gwen Hauck perceived conflict of interest with Valley Hospital Jeff said , “My guess is the Gwen’s conflict of interest (even though I think there is one) ultimately will not matter in this.” Jeff then emphasized, ” I may have mentioned this to you previously, as it relates to my tenure with the Zoning board, if there is even a “whiff” of a conflict of interest, the board member will recuse themselves. A perfect example of this is when our Chairman, Joel Torielli, recused himself a couple of years ago from one applicant hearing because his children and the applicant’s had several play dates – even though he did not know the applicant. Additionally even if we live within a certain radius of an applicant and; we do not know them, we recuse ourselves (I have done this). It just seems to me that the Council should be setting the example on how best to govern – and not have a “lesser” board showing the Council how to do so.”
