February 19, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 Midland Park Maltbie school traffic bothers neighbors Midland Park neighbors of the Ridge School on Frank- lin Avenue in Ridgewood are asking Midland Park offi- cials to help them with parking problems created when parents drop off and pick up the students. Arthur “Skip” Marchetti, who lives on the east side of Maltbie Avenue around the corner from the school, said parents park on both sides of the narrow street when wait- ing for their children, with cars blocking their driveways and backing up and impeding two way traffic. He also said the parents turn around in the driveways on the street to go back to Ridgewood, causing substantial damage to the driveways and yards. The block-long street, which is north of Franklin Avenue, has only five houses on it, some of which are partially in Ridgewood. Board rules medical practice must make changes to comply A medical group that took over the practice of Dr. David Sutter in Midland Park will have to decide how the practice will continue doing business if it wants to get a certificate of occupancy from the building department. Bergen Gastroenterology, PC, located at 6 Prospect Street, appeared in front of the Midland Park Planning Board at its last meeting upon referral from Zoning Officer Mark Berninger. He determined that operating conditions under the new group may differ from those under Dr. Sutter, who was a sole practitioner, and asked the board to make the final determination. When the office building was approved in 1989 with a parking variance, one of the conditions was that there would be no medical uses. Dr. Sutter received an excep- tion to that condition when he opened his practice in 2004. He had approval for one physician and five staff members. Robert Mancinelli of Montvale, the attorney repre- senting Bergen Gastroenterology, argued that the inten- sity of the use was the same. He said Dr. Sutter had four examination rooms in use and his many patients were often backed up in the examination room. By contrast, the attorney said, Bergen Gastroenterology, as a special- ist practice, has a lower patient volume and schedules longer sessions of 15 to 30 minutes each. Two doctors are scheduled to work three days a week, and one doctor is in two days a week. Board member Stephanie Pantale asked why the prac- tice needed four staff members. Ron Turk, the practice’s director of finance and administration of sites, said they include a manager, a billing person, two people to deal with the patient before and after seeing the doctor, and a technician to handle the blood work. Addressing the parking issue, Mancinelli said that while initially, during the transition period, there were parking complaints, none had been registered since Dr. Sutter retired altogether. “We can’t afford any patient overflow into the town lot,” said Mayor Patrick “Bud” O’Hagan, who is also a planning board member. “We have non-patients parking in our lot to pick up school children. We have spoken to the landlord about enforcing the parking uses,” Mancinelli said. (continued on page 8) “It’s horrible, particularly when the street is snow covered. The backup is unbelievable, and there are no sidewalks,” Marchetti said. He said he had already com- plained to Ridgewood officials, who promised to look into the situation. Marchetti and his wife attended Midland Park Mayor Patrick “Bud” O’Hagan’s recent Coffee with the Mayor session and expressed their concerns, which O’Hagan relayed to the council at its last meeting and asked for a follow-up from the police department. The topic will be discussed at a future meeting of the governing body, and the Marchettis will be invited to attend. Marchetti said he wants Midland Park to post “no parking” signs on one side of the street during before- and after-school hours in hopes of alleviating the situation. “We have to make sure our residents can get through,” said Councilman Jack Considine during the council meet- ing. Councilman Bernie Holst said Lieutenant Bernie Van- denberg, as the traffic officer, should assess the situation and perhaps have lines painted on the street to keep cars from blocking driveways. “It worked on Paterson Avenue and Center Street,” Holst said.