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Planning board cannot make major changes to Valley Hospital expansion plan, board’s attorney says

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Planning board cannot make major changes to Valley Hospital expansion plan, board’s attorney says

TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY MARCH 11, 2014, 11:06 PM
BY  BARBARA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD — The Planning Board cannot substantially change The Valley Hospital’s plan to nearly double in size — even if it wanted to after a year of expert testimony and procedural discussions, according to the board attorney’s interpretation of law.

Although the board can make small alterations in language or items that do not affect the project’s scale, it can either approve or reject the plan but it cannot make major changes to the master plan amendment submitted by Valley, said Gail Price, the board attorney.

“The board can’t make any changes that could be considered arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable,” Price said, based on a pending court case involving the hospital and a group of residents opposed to the project. But she added that what constitutes a “substantial change is a gray area.”

“It’s not black and white,” Price said.

Even those opposed to the plan have said they support Valley’s effort to expand and renovate. They are just vehemently against the proposed size of the project, which will include a 94-foot-tall building and structures that will cover 43 percent of the 15-acre site, compared with the current 16 percent. Some have said they would be happy with a 20 percent to 25 percent expansion.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/Ridgewood_planners_attorney_says_major_changes_by_board_not_allowed_in_Valley_Hospital_expansion_plan.html#sthash.EfgxQD5I.dpuf

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Ridgewood planning board told it can’t make changes to Valley Hospital expansion plan

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Ridgewood planning board told it can’t make changes to Valley Hospital expansion plan

TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY MARCH 11, 2014, 11:09 AM
BY  BARBARA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD – For a year, residents opposed to The Valley Hospital’s plan to nearly double in size have been attending hearings, sitting through hours of testimony and questioning experts in their effort to get the village Planning Board to scale back the project. On Monday night, they learned the board will not amend the proposal.

Gail Price, the board attorney, told residents at yet another hearing that the board could accept or reject the master amendment that would allow the hospital to expand, but it couldn’t make any changes. Price said the board could reject the application and then write an entirely new amendment and start the process over.

“To say I’m mad is an understatement,” said Pete McKenna, president of a group opposed to the project, Concerned Residents of Ridgewood. “I just wasted another year of my life here only to find out the board doesn’t have the latitude to make any changes.”

Valley is seeking an amendment to the village master plan that will allow them to construct a building that will rise to 94 feet high, if rooftop mechanicals are included, in the middle of a residential neighborhood. The project also calls for construction closer to the neighboring middle school.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/ridgewood/Ridgewood_planning_board_told_it_cant_make_changes_to_Valley_Hospital_expansion_plan.html#sthash.2o15Yagg.dpuf