April 25, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 3 Midland Park The Midland Park Volunteer Ambulance Corps will be getting a new home, thanks to the generosity of Ridgewood philanthropist David Bolger and a favorable decision from the Midland Park Planning Board last week. The board approved subdividing out the vintage barn from the Marlow Park property at 445 Godwin Avenue so that it can be converted into the new ambulance corps headquarters. The barn and the one-and-a-half-acre site on which it is located will be purchased by the Bolger Foundation, totally refurbished and turned over to the volunteer corps with the proviso that it will revert to the borough should the ambulance corps cease to be an active organization. The first floor will house ambulance garages, office and meeting space, a kitchenette and bathroom facilities with decontamination showers for the use of the corps. The second floor will become a community center to be administered by the corps, with new bathrooms, office space and a commercial kitchen. Two new stair towers will be constructed, one inside the building and an open one at the back of the building to provide two exits from the second floor. An elevator will be installed for barrier-free access. “We are thrilled. We’ve seen the plans, and we are very Planners OK barn’s conversion for ambulance corps use happy with them,” said the corps president, Dr. Alan Kooreman. “I don’t know when the project will start, but at some point we will have a committee to work with the architect, planners and contractors to ensure that all our needs are met. We have a pretty good idea after all the revisions that have been made to our headquarters (on Pierce Avenue), and having seen other corps buildings, of what works and what doesn’t, and how we would like it to be set up. The new facility will give us the space to hopefully do things in an optimum manner from the start,” he added. The project is getting going not a minute too soon for the corps. “Our current situation is less than ideal,” said Dr. Kooreman. “Everything is still a mess from the last renovation that was done. We ran out of money to really complete the project. As a result we do not have adequate shelving, closet and storage space for our equipment and supplies. We are trying to make do the best we can until we move into our new headquarters.” Prior to Bolger’s decision to provide the new quarters, the corps had begun renovation of the Pierce Avenue building to accommodate the greater height of the rigs. The barn conversion plan is saving the structure from demo- lition, since its owners have tried unsuccessfully in the past to sell the property for development. The barn does not qualify (continued on page 6) Voters approve 2012-13 school budget With only 12 percent of registered voters casting ballots last week, the Midland Park Board of Education’s proposed school budget for 2012-13 was approved, and three incumbent trustees were returned to the board, along with a newcomer seeking to fill an unexpired term. The $17,497,925 school tax levy received 369 “yes” votes to 213 negative tallies. In all 588 of the borough’s 4,743 registered voters cast ballots, a substantially lower number than normal for a school election in town. Last year, 15 percent turned out at the polls; 28 percent voted in 2010, and 20 percent cast ballots in 2009. The three incumbent trustees seeking re-election – Robert Schiffer, William Sullivan and Timothy Thomas received 404, 405 and 400 votes, respectively. Peter Triolo, running for the two-year unexpired term of long-time board member Ray Moraski, polled 367 votes. Midland Park was one of three districts in the northwest Bergen area that chose to keep the vote on the budget and the school election in April. Legislation adopted in January had given school districts the option of dropping the vote on the budget if it came in under the cap and moving the vote on board members to the November general election.