BOE Unanimously Defends Statement on Valley

Members of the Ridgewood Board of Education this week unanimously defended a statement made by Sheila Brogan, its president, during a planning board hearing last week on the proposed Valley Hospital expansion.

The statements of support came in response to criticisms repeated Monday night by a group of parents who said the board should have taken a stance against the plan by the hospital to nearly double its current facility.

Brogan on Oct. 29 outlined health and safety concerns during the period of construction, should a master plan amendment allowing the expansion be approved by the planning board and village council, and asked the planning board to incorporate them into a developer’s agreement if the renovations proceed to a site plan review.

“In making our statement we neither took a position on the proposal nor made a prediction on the outcome of the proceedings,” Brogan said Monday night, adding, “Please be assured the school board will follow this proceeding the entire way.”

A group of parents, calling themselves Stop94 after the height of one of the proposed buildings, has said the school board should oppose the expansion based on what they perceive will be an adverse impact on students at nearby Benjamin Franklin and Travell schools long after construction finishes.

“I don’t believe for a second that [George Washington Middle School] kids will have the same experience as BF students,” said Melinda Wagner, a resident who also testified during the Oct. 29 meeting on behalf of Concerned Residents of Ridgewood, a group that has long opposed the expansion.

She emphasized possible distractions to students at the adjacent middle school she said would be present if the hospital increases its size.

“We’re just deeply disappointed that you have not taken a stand on this issue,” she added, claiming to speak for “hundreds” of other residents.

Beth Blair, pointing to similarities in the concerns raised last month with the those raised in 2009 during the planning board’s consideration of the hospital’s last proposal, questioned whether board members elected since then had been represented in crafting the statement.

The three - Jim Morgan, Vincent Loncto and Christina Krauss - said that they had.

Loncto asserted that the board’s requests presented “high hurdles for construction companies to adhere to.”

“I actually was impressed the extent to which the board had identified potential health and safety problems, and the demands made,” he said.

Krauss remarked that on a personal level, she did not support the expansion, but did not think the board should take such a position.

“I am in support of what the board has put forth in terms of safeguards should this go forth,” she said.

Michele Lenhard, who was present for Brogan’s testimony, added that the influx of letters from residents leading up to the hearing played a role in revising the 2009 statement.

“That testimony reflected many of the comments we received from the public,” she said.

The planning board is scheduled to continue hearings on the Valley expansion Nov. 26.