June 25, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 5 Area Valley Hospital expansion rejected by planning board by John Koster The plan to expand and renovate Valley Hospital was rejected last week by the Ridgewood Planning Board. The planners’ 5-2 vote drew applause from the residents gath- ered at the Benjamin Franklin Middle School who had opposed the plan. Hospital officials wanted to provide private rooms for Storm causes damage A tree fell during a recent storm on Dairy Street in Midland Park. No one was injured when tree fell and the home is still habitable. The front porch was wiped out and there was damage to the roof. (Photos courtesy of Boyd A. Loving.) all patients, and wanted to expand the facility’s parking. The proposal called for Valley Hospital to expand from 562,000 square feet to 995,000 square feet. One building would have been 96 feet tall, and the project was expected to last for about six years. The hospital is located in the middle of a residential neighborhood and next to the Benjamin Franklin Junior High School. Hospital sources said they need private rooms and expanded technology to stay competitive with the newly reopened hospital in Westwood. Residents, however, said the plan would be detrimental to their neighborhood. Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn, voting as a member of the planning board, joined the majority of members in rejecting the hospital’s second expansion bid in a decade. Aronsohn said he did not feel the plans as proposed would serve the best needs of the community. Several other plan- ning board members agreed with his opinion, which was shared by virtually all of the residential neighbors of the hospital. The planning board members who voted in favor of the proposal were Chairman Charles Nalbantanian and member Nancy Bigos. The planning board had forwarded the first expansion plan to the Ridgewood Village Council in 2010, but the implementation would have required a change in the Ridge- wood Master Plan, which would have had to have been carried out by the Ridgewood Village Council through an updated ordinance. The council rejected the 2010 request for a change to the Ridgewood Master Plan. Observers noted that, had the change been requested of the present council as elected, the vote would also have been negative. Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli had recused himself from voting, and council members-elect Susan Knudsen and Michael Sedon had stated their opposi- tion to the expansion plan at several pre-election events.