Page 8 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • November 30, 2011 Area Ridgewood Council declines to change zoning plan by John Koster In a 5-0 vote, the Ridgewood Village Council decided it would not introduce an ordinance to change the village’s zoning plan to expedite a $750 million expansion and renovation by Valley Hospital. Resident opponents in the audience cheered and embraced when the vote came through on Tuesday, Nov. 22. The decision is expected to be memorialized at a meeting on Nov. 29, but is now seen as binding. “I wish to thank the residents of Ridgewood, both for expansion and against expansion, and Valley itself, for cooperating to make the meetings civilized,” Ridgewood Mayor Keith Killion said in the aftermath of the decision. “I’m sure that there are steps that can be taken, but if there is a lawsuit, the Ridgewood Village Council will take that PSE&G announced last week that it will be lowering residential gas bills by an additional 4.6 percent, or nearly $8.53 per winter month, for the typical residential customer. This latest action by the utility represents the eighth decrease in a row for residential customers, for a total of more than $614, or 35 percent, in savings since January 2009. The price reduction will take effect Dec. 1. Lower market prices for gas, which are partially due to the availability of abundant and lower cost shale gas, are making it possible for PSE&G to pass these cost savings along to customers, company officials said. Under the new supply gas rates, a typical residential gas heating customer who uses 160 therms in a winter month, or 1,050 therms annually, will see a decrease in his or her annual bill of $56, or approximately 4.6 percent. This customer’s annual bill will be reduced to $1,151 from $1,207. A residential gas heating customer who uses 100 therms in a winter month, or 660 therms annually, will see a decrease in his or her annual bill of $35, or about 4.5 percent. This customer’s annual bill will be reduced to $750 from $785. “The eight decreases over three years, including the additional 4.6 percent now, will provide a much needed positive impact for our customers in these challenging times,” said Joseph A. Forline, PSE&G vice president for customer operations. The latest reduction comes as temperatures are dropping and customers try to keep their winter heating bills affordable. In addition to the price decrease, the utility offers suggestions for steps customers can take to reduce their costs even further. Check for sufficient water levels in the sight glass for hot water and steam heating systems to ensure maximum efficiency. Clean or replace the furnace filter on hot air heating systems. Lower your thermostat by just one degree, which may reduce your heating bill by up to three percent. Save even more by lowering your thermostat two degrees during the PSE&G lowers gas bills; offers tips day and five to 10 degrees at bedtime if health conditions permit. Close dampers in fireplaces you don’t use. Purchase and wrap an insulation blanket around the tank of your water heater. Wrap the outlet pipe with inexpensive flexible insulating tubing to reduce the time it takes for hot water to reach your shower. Set your hot water heater to no more than 120 degrees. Move furniture and drapes away from heating registers, radiators, and baseboard element covers. Open any register or baseboard dampers. Cover window air conditioners to reduce drafts. Install insulated or lined drapes on windows. Use weather stripping or one-sided sticky tape to seal cracks and prevent drafts in windows and doorframes. Caulk smaller gaps. Beneath doors, install draft guards available at hardware stores. Use a shrink film insulation kit on really drafty windows or make one yourself from plastic sheeting and double-faced tape. Seal wall switches and electrical outlets with small foam gaskets available at hardware stores. Remove the cover plate, insert the gasket, and screw the cover plate back in place. If you have a door leading outside from your basement, hang a full-size sheet of plastic from the door frame to keep heat from escaping. Seal windows in the basement with plastic to create a barrier against the cold. Make sure to allow enough air supply to feed your fuel-burning appliances safely. If the garage is attached to the house, be sure to keep the garage door closed. Install a programmable thermostat that can be set to automatically lower room temperatures when rooms are not in use and at bedtime if health conditions permit. Visit PSE&G’s Home Energy Toolkit at www.pseg. com/toolkit to calculate the energy efficiency of your home and to learn more. in its stride.” Valley Hospital had proposed the “renewal” project to modernize the hospital and to provide single-patient rooms. Some residents supported the expansion, but those residents who live near the hospital posted signs and packed meetings to oppose what they said was a gratuitous project that would leave the hospital with virtually the same number of beds but would disrupt traffic and negatively impact property values during the construction. The plan as ruled on by the council, would have allowed Valley Hospital to expand to more than one million square feet, and would have placed a 94-foot building 40 feet from the boundary with the Benjamin Franklin Middle School. Valley Hospital cooperates with the Ridgewood school system in offering facilities and staff members to encourage students to take a hands-on interest in medical and medical-support programs. However, residents asserted that the construction would have disrupted their streets for years. The residents criticized the plans for the hospital previously approved by the Ridgewood Planning Board as “spot zoning.” The fact that the approved plans were contrary to Ridgewood’s existing master plan, however, led to a series of hearings before the Ridgewood Village Council, which has the power to change the master plan through an ordinance that would have to be introduced, advertised, and then adopted. The council’s vote last week took the process back to square one, but showed that the council was unanimously opposed to the plans that the planning board had accepted after more than a year of hearings. Council members, who did not wish to be quoted, had predicted a negative vote some weeks before last week’s decision.