Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Board instead will focus on laying groundwork for future hearings.
Valley Hospital is expected to provide on overview of its latest expansion plan on March 11 at B.F. Middle School, but no sworn testimony will be offered. According to planning board attorney Gail Price, the purpose of the Monday meeting is to lay out the ground rules, process, and the witness list while also hearing from Valley's attorney basic elements of the plan. The board will also review "paragraph by paragraph" the dismissal order of a lawsuit filed by resident opposition group "Concerned Residents of Ridgewood" (CRR), Price said. That dismissal – ruled on by Judge Alexander Carver III – asked that the planning board vote on a new Master Plan amendment by the end of June. The March 11 meeting begins at 8 p.m. Sworn testimony is …
Sunday, March 3, 2013
The first H-Zone meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Monday, March 11 at B.F.
Valley Hospital will be returning to the planning board to unveil new expansion plans on March 11. According to a report in The Ridgewood News, the first meeting has been set up for 8 p.m. at B.F. Middle School's auditorium. Per the report, public comment will not take place until April 2. In dismissing a lawsuit filed by citizen's opposition group Concerned Residents of Ridgewood (CRR), Superior Court Judge Alexander Carver called for the planning board to reach a decision by the end of June. Preliminary plans submitted by the hospital to the board this week don't appear drastically different from its quashed "Renewal" plan. The hospital seeks to increase its floor space to 910,000 square feet, with increased setbacks on some borders. "…
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Plans show the hospital's expansion aims as smaller overall but not as much as some would have expected. The hospital maintains it will address various concerns.
Valley Hospital's second take at an expansion proposal isn't as ambitious as its controversial first offering, but it does not much appear much different either. According to preliminary plans submitted to the Ridgewood Planning Board on Feb. 25, the hospital has scaled down its proposal from 1.17 million square feet to 910,000 square feet of hospital floor space, still with 454 single-patient rooms. (Ed note: A copy of the plan submitted has been attached to the right of this article.) "It's up to the planning board to decide if it's enough of a compromise, enough of a reduction," said Pete McKenna, head of opposition group Concerned Residents of Ridgewood (CRR). "But it doesn't seem immaterially different to me. It's still about 70-80 …
Monday, February 18, 2013
Valley Hospital will present its new proposed expansion project to the planning board in March.
In fall of 2011, the Ridgewood Village Council unanimously voted down Valley Hospital's $750 million expansion "Renewal" project. If approved, construction on the first phase would have persisted for about seven years. Buildings would have been demolished, and others erected on the 15-acre space, which included all single-occupancy rooms and a 195,000 square foot parking garage. But council members expresed concern over intensity of use, traffic impacts, overall growth, and infrastructure damage to surrounding homes and the village's water system. A last ditch attempt from Valley CEO Audrey Meyers to "compromise" on substantive issues before the vote fell on deaf ears. Valley has returned. In a brief statement to Patch Monday, hospital …
Friday, February 15, 2013
Planning board expected to begin hearings on a new master plan amendment request in March after a lawsuit was settled between the board, hospital and an opposition group.
Valley Hospital is expected to return to the Ridgewood Planning Board with a new expansion proposal in March after the settlement of a lawsuit a neighborhood opposition group filed against the board and hospital. In an order of dismissal dated Feb. 14, Superior Court Judge Alexander Carver III called for two planning board hearings per month – with testimony and public comments – on a new expansion proposal beginning on March 11, 2013. The three parties – the Ridgewood Planning Board, Valley Hospital and Concerned Residents of Ridgewood (CRR) – agreed to set a target for a vote on a new zoning amendment to the Master Plan before the planning board reorganizes in July. (A PDF copy of Carver's order, obtained by Patch at Bergen County …
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Mayor Paul Aronsohn says he's had informal talks with Valley Hospital's CEO as well as opposition group Concerned Residents of Ridgewood, but knows of no formal expansion plans.
Little has changed with Valley Hospital's expansion efforts since the previous village council in 2011 unanimously voted down its controversial 'Renewal' proposal that called for a doubling of the hospital's facilities. Mayor Paul Aronsohn, questioned by residents over the last two weeks, said he's had informal talks with Valley Hospital CEO Audrey Meyers in recent months but said a range of topics were discussed. He told resident Roger Wiegand Wednesday night that he was not aware of any future expansion plans. The mayor said he had also met with representatives of Concerned Residents of Ridgewood (CRR), the group that has formally opposed the hospital's $750 million growth plans. CRR begrudgingly endorsed Aronsohn in the May election …
Monday, March 12, 2012
Valley Hospital expected to lose $10-24 million annually to Pascack Valley, a non-profit, profit venture slated to re-open in 2013
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
HUMC disputes there are too many open beds in the county, says the overflow of patients at HUMC, residents of the Pascack Valley and an aging Boomer population make for viable business
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
[Editor's note: The following article was penned by Beth Fitzgerald of NJSpotlight.com] Hackensack University Medical Center got a green light Tuesday from a state regulatory panel to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood. Now the matter goes to State Health Commissioner Mary E. O'Dowd, who is expected to rule by year end—but her decision isn't expected to settle things. Englewood Hospital and Medical Center and Ridgewood's Valley Hospital are fighting the Pascack Valley reopening on the grounds that it will siphon off patients and weaken them financially. The two hospitals have said they will go to court if, as they expect, O'Dowd follows the recommendation of the state Health Planning Board and approves HUMC's plan to open a 128-bed…
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Village passes resolution affirming last week's statements that the hospital "Renewal" is not right for Ridgewood
Despite another last dash plea from Valley CEO Audrey Meyers, the Ridgewood Village Council effectively killed the planning board's contentious "H-Zone" ordinance that would have allowed the hospital to double in size in an effort to "modernize". In a unanimous vote, the council passed a resolution that stated a wide variety of planning and zoning reasons – including expert testimony heard over the past two months – as to why Valley Hospital should not be granted the "Renewal" expansion. The language of the resolution echoed the council's comments last week – per the resolution, it's an "over-aggressive expansion" proposal that could negatively impact homeowners, strain the village's infrastructure, potentially harm school children nearby …
The project still needs to be approved by the state Health Comissioner
The State Health Planning Board voted 5-1 Tuesday to recommend the Health Commissioner approve Hackensack University Medical Center's plan to revive the former Pascack Valley Hospital—which is currently in use as an ER facility—as a new 128-bed full-service hospital. “It is nicer to be here saying 'yes' to opening a hospital than 'yes' to closing a hospital,” Board Chairperson Judy Donlen said, referring to the 2007 closing of the Pascack Valley Hospital. Still, the board's vote does not mean the hospital has been approved. State Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd will need to approve the project before it can continue. The board made their vote after listening to public comment from representatives from the Department of Health, HUMC, Valley…
Maroon Mom
11:35 am on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
i haven't followed this all along i just remember all those terrible things that the council had as objections. foundations settling. neighbors not being allowed to have in-ground pools. if valley was able to make big compromises that resolved those things i would be willing to take another look at the plan. who wouldn't? more ›