>Monday, July 20, 2009
Last updated: Monday July 20, 2009, 9:20 AM
BY MARY JO LAYTON
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood Planning Board is hiring a consultant to review The Valley Hospital’s proposed $750 million expansion, which drew more questions and criticism from residents at a recent public hearing.
Board Chairman David Nicholson said the board is poised to sign a contract with a specialist in medical facility planning, who will review expansion plans and testimony from several hearings and make a recommendation at a meeting to be scheduled in September.
The board is weighing Valley’s request for a change in the Master Plan’s hospital zone, which would permit the institution to drastically expand its aboveground buildings and parking deck space. The total size, including underground space, would increase to more than 1.4 million square feet, Village Planner Blais Brancheau has said.
Residents have complained that The Valley Hospital’s towering expansion will bring years of construction, clogged roadways and deflated property values to the village. About a dozen residents addressed the board Wednesday evening, mostly in opposition to the project.
The meeting marked the third public hearing in recent months, sessions which have drawn hundreds of residents, many speaking against the proposal. Valley spokeswoman Megan Fraser noted that several supporters of the project have submitted their comments in writing to the board.
The proposal will add three patient beds to the 451-bed facility and require two buildings to be torn down. Three buildings will be constructed in their place.
The hospital welcomes the review by a consultant, Fraser said. “Our plans will be affirmed by someone who has expertise in the field,” Fraser said.
“The hearing process has been important and a good way to bring the facts to light,” Fraser said.
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