Planning Board Public Meeting Minutes 20140602

The following minutes are a summary of the Planning Board meeting of June 2, 2014. For more detailed information, interested parties may request an audio recording of the meeting from the Board Secretary for a fee.
Call to Order & Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act: Chairman Nalbantian called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m. The following members were present: Mayor Aronsohn, Ms. Bigos, Chairman Nalbantian, Mr. Reilly, Mr. Joel, Ms. Dockray, and Ms. Peters. Also present were: Katie Razin, Esq., substituting for Gail Price, Esq., Board Attorney; Christopher Rutishauser, Village Engineer, and Jane Wondergem, Board Secretary. Councilman Pucciarelli is recused from the hearing on the H – Hospital zone and was absent from the meeting.
Public Comments on Topics not Pending Before the Board – Russell Forenza, 228 Emmett Place, commented on the work being done on Garber Square and the bike lane. Mr. Forenza said that he felt that a bike lane at that area of town was unsafe and that it was dangerous to reduce the number of car lanes to two.
Mr. Rutishauser explained that he and the engineering staff designed the project and that it was part of the Complete Streets policy adopted by the Village in 2011. Mr. Rutishauser also explained that the Department of Transportation approved the project.
Correspondence received by the Board – Ms. Wondergem said there was none.
Public Hearing on Amendment to the Land Use Plan Element of the Master Plan for the H-Hospital Zone, The Valley Hospital, 223 N. Van Dien Avenue, Block 3301, Lot 51 – Following is the transcript of this portion of the meeting, prepared by Laura A. Carucci, C.C.R., R.P.R.:

CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Okay.  Since there are some of you who weren't at the meeting on the 20th, I'm going to go through my discussion of our procedure tonight once again, for those of you who have heard it before please pardon the repetition. 
Thank you all, again, for coming this evening.  Tonight we'll continue our process to hear public comment on the pending H Zone Master Plan Amendment. For those of you who spoke the last time, thank you.  For those of you who were not here at the meeting on May 20th, when we began public comment the Board has established certain procedures so that the process goes smoothly and the Board can hear your comments. Upon entering, you received a number which will be used to facilitate the order of public comment speaking, as well as to monitoring this room's capacity.  Obviously, there isn't an issue with that tonight. Those of you who have come to comment should also have checked the box indicating your intent to speak.  If you are listed as a member of C.R.R. you're considered to be represented by legal counsel.  First we'll hear comments from C.R.R.'s counsel and speaker.  And then I'll call those who signed up the last time to speak but could not, followed by everyone else who signed up to speak tonight and who did not on the 20th.
Please listen carefully to these instructions.  Once your name and number is called, please move immediately to the microphone at the podium, right here (indicating).  Please slowly, very slowly say your name and street address and spell your name for the record, so that the transcriber is able to record that information. 
You'll also be sworn in at that time since all comments must be made under oath.  And Laura, will you do the swearing again? 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Yes.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you. 
If you change your mind about speaking when your name is called, that's fine.  Just simply indicate "pass" and we'll move on to the next speaker.  It's important to note that passing or donating your time to another speaker is not permitted.  If you choose not to speak, you will have waived that time. 
Each speaker will have up to three minutes for comments.  The three minutes will begin following the administration of the oath. If you have a written statement, please be sure it does not exceed the allotted three minutes before you begin. Jane Wondergem, our Board secretary, will indicate when you have    when your three minutes have been reached.  At that time please promptly finish your statements and return to your seat allowing the next person to speak. If you choose, you may at that time provide a written copy of your spoken statement to Jane provided it accurately reflects your spoken words. Katie will comment on this further in a few moments. 
When I call the next individual's name and number, we will continue with that process and proceed in the same fashion until we get through the list of all speakers. 
Again, please note that we will hear each speaker who wishes to make comment only once.  Remember that the public comment period is not a time to make a formal presentation to the Board, that opportunity has already been provided through the hearing process. Please also remember that petitions cannot be accepted by the Board, nor any written statements from someone who is not present tonight.  This is a rule established by New Jersey case law that all parties seeking to put information before the Board must be available for cross examination.
As you all heard the last time, please be considerate to everyone in this room, this is important.  We ask that your comments reflect your own personal experiences with regard to the merits of the pending H Zone Amendment and the testimony heard tonight throughout the process. Please do not use this time to criticize individuals whether of the public, the applicant, the Board or its professionals.  We also kindly ask that no one applaud, honk, or boo or interrupt the speaker at the podium. 
Please respect to time limits and appropriately bring statements to a close when indicated that time is up by Jane.  It's only fair and it will allow us to hear all persons who are wishing to speak. 
Please try to avoid repetition.  The Board has a right, as you know, to limit repetitive and irrelevant statements.  And we anticipate not needing to cut short any speakers provided that this procedure, as we did on May 20th, is followed. 
So before we begin let me again summarize the remaining H Zone scheduling that's anticipated at this time. Tonight the 2nd of June, we intend to complete the public comment process.  On June the 9th, which is a week from tomorrow we'll hear attorney   
MR. RAZIN:  From today.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  I'm sorry.
MR. RAZIN:  A week from today.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  A week from today, sorry, we'll hear attorney rebuttal and summations.  We'll also hear instructions from the Board attorney, Gail Price.  On June 17th will be Board deliberations.  We'll hear a motion for a resolution and the Board will vote. 
All meetings will begin at 7:30 p.m.  All meetings will be here at the BF auditorium.  Again, June 9th and June 17th follow tonight. 
Thank you all, again, for coming tonight and for offering your comments on our H Zone.
At this time.  I'd like to ask Katie to add any comments on our process tonight.
MR. RAZIN:  Thank you, Charles.
I just wanted to follow up on what Charles said about the individuals who submitted written submissions and for those who intend to do so this evening. We had a number of you who submitted a written version of your oral testimony and as we indicated at the last meeting and what Charles just stated, is that we need those statements to be verbatim, essentially to match your oral testimony that you give on the record. So what we've done with the statements that we've gotten so far that were marked for ID but not moved into evidence at the last meeting, is compare them with the transcript. 
All but one were different.  And I'm going to go through    and what we've done today is for those of you who we had contact information for, we sent you an e mail indicating that what you can do is take the transcript and review it with your submission and make changes and indicate    well, we've actually already done that with some of them, trying to give you help to indicate where the differences are and we can give you    provide you that document and then you can resubmit it and Jane will    at that point will mark it to enter it into the record at the next meeting.
So I have a list and I'm going to just read what happened with each of the statements.  Ms. Daly, who was marked    whose statement was marked as P 11 was the only one that was identical.  So that can be moved into evidence this evening, barring any objections, which I don't think there are any.
MR. DRILL:  No objection.
MS. RAZIN:  Right. 
The documents that have some minor changes were Ms. Hunt, Ms. Janet Hunt, Anne Crane, Marcia Ringel    P 5 which was Mr. Posner not yet been submitted so again that same sentiment holds true    Janet Tuomey, Jeanette LaRocco, Lorraine Reynolds, Laurence O'Donnell, those are the ones that had minor changes which we've actually indicated what changes are on there.  We can work with you if you would like them to be submitted. The more substantive discrepancies were Eli Kirshner, Walter Durant Edward Daly and Linda Robins.
And another idea eye to make it simpler if you want to just go to the transcript, which I believe is available on line already, which you can actually just cut and paste your statement and put it in a document and hand it into Jane.
And so whatever way you want to do it we're willing to work with you and try and help you to get your statements in, but please also know that by speaking on the record the testimony that's in the transcript is already part of the record.  So whatever you choose to do is totally fine, but please know that the Board heard your comments already and that they are technically already in the record.  So there should be no concern of having to substantiate a written document.  But please know also that the record will close at the end of the meeting on the 9th.  So at that point that will be the last day for you to make any corrections and make any submissions and we would ask you to go through Jane, but you're welcome to contact our office if you have any questions or if you'd like to provide your contact information to me during the break I would be happy to e mail you and let you know what corrections there are in your statements. 
The other thing that I'd like to just address really briefly is that last week or last meeting, I guess, C.R.R.'s Counsel was not present and we did have some members of that group speak outside of being represented by Counsel and tonight there is Counsel present and so we've asked that even though we are absolutely open to hearing from every member of the public including those who are members of C.R.R. we just ask that they go through their Counsel.  And I've spoken to Ms. Walsh who is here.  And that's how we're going to proceed this evening.
But I just wanted to note for the record about the prior meeting that we reserve all our rights in that regard, but we are now going to proceed through Ms. Walsh this evening.  We're going to call you and similar to everybody else who will be entitled to their three minutes of time. 
MR. DRILL:  Just for the record how many C.R.R. members spoke last time? 
MS. RAZIN:  I believe there were four.  And I can confirm that, but don't quote me, but I believe it was four.  And we have several here this evening.  And I think with that we're good to go.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Okay. 
MS. DOCKRAY:  Charles I have a question.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Yes.
MS. DOCKRAY:  You mentioned that the meeting on the 17th was here at BF?  And I think the website says Ridgewood High School.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  That was recently adjusted the Board of Ed opened up BF so that change   
MS. DOCKRAY:  All right.  So   
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  That change will be noted.
Jane, will you   
MS. DOCKRAY:  Oh, okay.  Cause we   
MS. PETERS:  We have BF.  We have it as BF.
MS. DOCKRAY:  We have it   
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  I'm sorry.
MS. DOCKRAY:  We have it as BF. 
MS. WONDERGEM:  It should say it now.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Jane has indicated that it's been updated. 
MS. DOCKRAY:  Okay.  Must have been done this afternoon, no?  Because we have it.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  We'll follow up and check it   
MS. DOCKRAY:  Okay. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:    tomorrow morning.
MS. DOCKRAY:  Otherwise I won't know where to go.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  It's a good question and, again, they're all here at BF, the meetings. 
Okay if there aren't any further questions, why don't we begin.
Ms. Walsh, if you'd like to begin for C.R.R. 
MS. WALSH:  Good evening, Mr. Chairman and member of the Board.  I am Kathryn Walsh from the law firm of Kates, Nussman, Rapone, Ellis & Farhi on behalf of the objectors, the Concerned Residents of Ridgewood.  We have, I believe, six members that would like to make comments this evening, who I will be calling and introducing in a numeric order that they signed when they signed in.
So the first individual we have is Lawrence Kelty. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Mr. Kelty, please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
MR. KELTY:  I do.
L A W R E N C E    K E L T Y,  438 Colonial Road, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please state your name for the record, spell it and give your address. 
MR. KELTY:  Lawrence, L a w r e n c e Kelty, K e l t y, 438 Colonial Road in Ridgewood.
THE COURT REPORTER:   Thank you. 
MR. KELTY: I'd like to raise four points.  There is no need to go into all the details on them and I would have submitted this but I can't because it won't match up on the transcript so   
MS. RAZIN:  You can do so after if you want. 
MR. KELTY:  Okay.  Four points, the economic idea of the ultimatum game.  The need for a traffic study for the new facility, the radiology labs, my own experience on BF field, and why I stay in Ridgewood. 
First one, the ultimatum game, in economics there is this concept that you do everything that's in your own best interest.  There's been a number of studies that show when party A divides up goods in a way that is not fair or perceived as fair, then party B can reject that.  That's called the ultimatum game. 
So, if party B    if party A is given a hundred dollars to divide, and they chose to divide it 50/50, party B says deal. When it starts to get skewed and somewhere around 80/20, party B says no deal because they perceive this as not fair. That's this scenario.  The division between what is beneficial to the Hospital and what is beneficial to Ridgewood.  There's very little benefit coming.  I can see there is some, and that's why I said this is an important point that the Board to consider.  There are benefits to Ridgewood, but the majority of the benefits are accruing to the hospital, to the doctors, the patients and to other parts of the county, not to the Village of Ridgewood.  So it is economically feasible, viable, legitimate to saying no to this idea. 
Second point, traffic study.  One of the key things here is that we are being told that there will be less traffic at Linwood and Van Dien.  If we create a radiology lab somewhere else in the Village, we have to assume that traffic is staying in the Village.  This is not going to have any positive impact of traffic rates in the Village, that's what we to be concerned about, it's not just one intersection, it's the entire Village of Ridgewood, and a building on Maple, a building on Ridgewood Avenue, a building downtown, will still attract traffic.  And that traffic is all in the Village.  It's not going to go to Paramus, we have to assume it's going to stay here in Ridgewood.
Third point, I've spent the last three falls coordinating the first grade soccer program here at BF.  We've had over 500 kindergarten and first grade kids playing soccer.  Every Saturday in the fall, those 500 kids play at BF because it is the only field in the Village that has a fence around it and parking.  Those 500 kids are inherently beneficial and their right to play soccer should not be taken away from them, their rights to use the field.  BF is a field that's used by kids of all ages from kindergarten to 12th grade.  And they have the right to use that field. 
Last thing, why do I stay in Ridgewood?  My kid graduates and everybody says, are you going to stay in Ridgewood?  I would like to stay in Ridgewood.  I don't have a kid in the school system.  I am the person you want to stay in Ridgewood.  And I'm paying taxes and no kids in school. 
So, please give me a reason to stay in the Village.  Please say no because it offers minimal value to Ridgewood.  It will not decrease traffic in the Village, the kids on the field are more inherently beneficial than the hospital.  And I ask you to please give me reasons to stay in town and pay taxes without burdening the school system. 
Thank you.
(Applause.) 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Kelty.
Please hold the applause, thank you.
MS. WALSH:  Next is Pete McKenna. 
MR. McKENNA:  Pete McKenna, M c K e n n a, President, Concerned Residents of Ridgewood, 420 Meadowbrook Avenue, Ridgewood.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.  If you could please raise your right hand. 
Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MR. McKENNA:  I do. 
P E T E R    M c K E N N A, 420 Meadowbrook Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MR. McKENNA:  We have endured eight years of this now and it's time for it to end. Everyone, including the Applicant, now admits the previous plan the Board approved was flawed.  The Village Council saw it as flawed and unanimously voted that down. 
I urge you to review the full wording of the Village Council's resolution and determine that this proposal adequately addresses the myriad of issues that they had with that plan. Mr. Brancheau's summary clearly points out that this reduced proposal still results in two and a half times the above grade bulk of what's there today, a 600,000 square foot increase.  While we all agree the 2010 Amendment's deeply flawed, I am asking this Board to vote down this Amendment and leave that in place. I am deeply disappointed to request this.  I came into this process with an expectation that we could reach a reasonable compromise that let both sides of the issues equally unhappy, but that is not what has transpired. 
Most of the evidence, most of the testimony was narrowly focused on the specific application that's before you and none of it focused more broadly on what is an appropriate land use on this site. 
Mr. May clearly stated that he was not looking at the Hospital in the context of Ridgewood, but purely on the Hospital's need.
But what does Ridgewood need?  That's what you're charged with. Mr. Steck, the planner we hired, said this plan represents an improper balance of the Hospital's interest and the interests of the neighborhood.  Please reread the testimony from September 30, 2013, for an independent voice on this proposal.
Would Mr. Brancheau's assessment of what this site can handle be different if he was tasked with determining what's the best way forward from here, without the constraints of the specific proposal?
Would his testimony be different as a part of a Master Plan Reexamination?  None of the testimony or evidence over the past 15 months was geared towards determining what is acceptable.  Rather it was purely responding to this application.
The Applicant had no interest in determining what is acceptable.  And simply put this equally flawed proposal in front of you.  It is insulting to you and it wasted your time. It wasted our time, our limited resources.  And leaves us 15 months further into this process without any Board progress on what is acceptable. With the absence of any substantive evidence about what is appropriate land use for the site, I urge you to vote down this Amendment.  This is the only way to show the Applicant that they failed to make a good faith effort to address the concerns of the Village Council and the community.
Their inability to listen to concerns raised and make meaningful reductions has put you in this unenviable position. 
Please don't reward this behavior by approving this deeply flawed amendment.  Please send them a message that Ridgewood has had enough of this.  We won't know how creative Valley can be until you say no to this. 
Thank you sincerely for the time you committed to this. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. McKenna. 
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Please, ladies and gentlemen, if I could just make a comment.  We have almost 40, if not more, people who wish to speak tonight. If you applaud, you won't hear the name.  We have to move efficiently.  Please know that everyone's words will be heard and are important and are recognized as well.  So, if you wouldn't mind please holding your applause and allow us to get through this evening at a reasonable hour.  Okay. 
Sorry, Ms. Walsh.
MS. WALSH:  Next we have George James. 
MR. JAMES:  My name is George James, I live at 421 Linwood Avenue in Ridgewood.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Sir, please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MR. JAMES:  I do.
G E O R G E     J A M E S,  421 Linwood Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you. 
MR. JAMES:  Members of the Planning Board, this has been a very long and arduous process for you.  And we appreciate the fact that you have given much of your attention, effort and time to resolve an issue that's very vital to the people that live in this neighborhood and this town.
We have heard so many reports, studies and testimony that the information, the amount of it has been mind boggling. 
But there's something very simple at stake here, and that is this keep this in mind, when I    as I ask you to vote no on this amendment.
Valley officials want to double the size of the Hospital to 1 million square feet, double the size to 1 million square feet with a 94 foot building on a 15 acre lot in the middle of a neighborhood of houses surrounding it, across streets with schools and ball fields and other places, our houses.  I live about five houses down Linwood Avenue from this Hospital. And common sense tells me that there is no place for a structure this large and that the impact on our neighborhood, and on the town of Ridgewood, is not going to be good, no matter what benefit it gives to the Hospital. Ever since the Hospital was built as a community hospital it has come back many years in a row and asked for expansion.  And all you have to do is listen in the morning on the radio to hear the advertisements trumpeting their prestige. 
And this community is no longer HoHoKus, Ridgewood and Glen Rock, we heard testimony to the effect that people are coming from quite a wide area.  And I know people from my own personal experience that people from Orange County and Sullivan County, which is an hour and a half away from here, come to this hospital. 
So, I'm asking you to just use logic in this, yes, consider all the facts but think about this, 1 million square feet on 15 acres.  It's just too, too big. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you.  Mr. James. 
MS. WALSH:  Next is John Citti.
MR. CITTI:  John Citti, C i t t i, 203 Emmett Place. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Sir.  Please raise your right hand. 
MR. CITTI:  Sure.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MR. CITTI:  I do.
J O H N    C I T T I, 203 Emmett Place, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:  
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you. 
MR. CITTI:  I understand the need to modernize, but I don't understand the need for 454 beds. 
When Mayor Aronsohn asked Valley why they couldn't reduce the bed count given the trends in healthcare and the opening of Hackensack North, the response was that they needed to accommodate a growing elderly population. That's just not consistent with my own experience and what I've read.  This is an expensive place to retire with a heavy tax burden and increasingly difficult winters. The people that I know that are approaching retirement, some of them are staying here, but most of them are going to move someplace else.  I just read on Forbes.com that New Jersey leads the country in residents leaving their state. So, when Valley says that they need to have 454 beds to accommodate a larger elderly population, that's based on very questionable assumptions. 
What's not questionable are the impacts on the area.  The traffic will increase.  The community will deteriorate. I want to focus on the students that will be going through Travell, Ben Franklin and the High School.  They're going to    Valley has said that the project will take at least six years.  The students will be in the schools for 13, if we include kindergarten.  So for at least half of the time, for almost half the time they're going to be in the schools, they're going to be breathing construction debris.  Their class is going to be disrupted by construction noise and vehicles.  And they    many of them will be walking past the construction site. Even if their classes aren't disrupted every day, over the course of six years, they're going to be missing important material that's going to impact their performance in college and on standardized tests.
So, what's more important?  The desire of Valley to become a 454 bed hospital or the needs of the students? In my mind, there's no question.  The needs of the students are more important than the wants and desires of the Hospital. 
So, for that reason I ask you to vote no on this amendment.  But as always, I thank you for your service to the Village and your work on this Board. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Citti.
MS. WALSH:  There are six more now so that the Board knows.
Next we have Katherine McCarthy.
MS. McCARTHY:  My name is Katherine McCarthy, 664 Ridgewood Avenue. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Spell your last name and first name please? 
MS. McCARTHY:  K a t h e r i n e M c C a r t h y.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
MS. McCARTHY:  I do.
K A T H E R I N E   M c  C A R T H Y, 664 Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:   
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MS. McCARTHY:  I've never spoken at any of these meetings.  I     
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Excuse me, Ms. McCarthy, can you push the microphone down? 
MS. McCARTHY: Yeah, I'm a little short.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN: It's all right. So am I.
Thank you. 
MS. McCARTHY:  I've never spoken at any of these meetings.  I've attended most, but you know what, I want to be heard. I'm on the side of the majority, and we want to be heard too.  I have put my money where my mouth is, but it's time to use my mouth. I've lived in my house for 50 years.  And when I go, I'll still be in Ridgewood, in Valleau, that's how much I think of Ridgewood. 
Last time Valley undertook the last construction, I think it was 1993, my neighbors and I formed a group.  We called it "Stop Hauling In Town".  You can envision the acronym for that.  (Laughter.)
But Valley prevailed and hundreds of trucks passed my house daily causing dirt and rattle in my house, traffic jams, noise pollution, etcetera.
If this plan's approved, it will be worse.  I won't be able to get out onto Linwood from my Pershing Avenue driveway.  And at my age, it would be dangerous to have to dart out between cars when I see a break.  Actually at any age that's going to be very dangerous.
I'm 78, so for the rest of my life I will have to tolerate this.  It would take at least 10 years to complete, maybe, just maybe I'll still be here. I ask you to not approve this small change that Valley has made to its original plans.  I love Valley.  I've visited too many times. But    and they need to renovate, but not to this extent.  Perhaps they could go back to the drawing board and come up with a reasonable proposal for your consideration that can be acceptable to all. 
Thank you for your time and dedication. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. McCarthy.
MS. WALSH:  Ray McCarthy is next.
(NO RESPONSE.)
MR. RAZIN:  Ms. McCarthy, did you sign in as Kay McCarthy? 
MS. McCARTHY:  I probably did.
MR. RAZIN:  Okay.  So it might be   
MS. WALSH:  Okay.  Jenny Tesseyman is next.
MS. TESSEYMAN:  Hi, my name is Jennifer Tesseyman, T e s s e y m a n, at 222 Steilen Avenue. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MS. TESSEYMAN:  Yes, I do.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you. 
J E N N I F E R     T E S S E Y M A N, 222 Steilen Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MS. TESSEYMAN: First I want to thank the Board for your time regarding this issue. 
I moved on to Steilen Avenue about six years ago.  Some people may ask why I bought my house by a hospital, but it was because I fell in love with my house and also loved its proximity to the town and schools.  I thought it would be nice for my children to have the ability to walk to their elementary school and middle schools. I have three young children, two of them are currently in Travell.  If this amendment is approved and the project proceeds my children may not only not be able to play in their own backyard, but they may not be able to safely walk to their schools due to the construction vehicles and traffic.  In addition, if this massive expansion was allowed, there is a possibility that not only my children, but many Ridgewood children could spend their entire elementary school and middle school education subjected to the destruction by a major construction project. 
I disagree when the Board of Education's opinion which said this project will not impact the learning experience for children attending BF Middle School. Just last week my son had trouble completing a timed assignment because he was distracted by a fly in his classroom.  Now consider how a massive construction project that would include noise and passing construction vehicles for years would impact students. I do not believe these children could possibly have the same educational experience as those children attending a school that was not next to a construction site. This just seems to be so unfair to the children attend Travell and BF Middle School.
I believe Valley was intended to be a community hospital in a residential area.  Do you really feel that a 90 foot building in a residential area constitutes a community hospital? I am not against Valley making improvements to their current facility.  But their expansion requests are too massive for this site. 
If I wanted to double the size of my house the answer from the Village would probably simply be no.  I know that Valley has ceded all its precautions it would take to avoid destruction to its neighbors and the Village, but I can tell you from experience that they cannot enforce the current restrictions. For example, the Hospital is not supposed to have deliveries prior to 7 a.m.  I have contacted them numerous times regarding this issue since I moved on Steilen. Just last week I contacted the Hospital again to inform them of an early deliveries.  I spoke to management at Valley and they confirmed with their cameras that there were, in fact, four deliveries prior to 7 a.m.
It seems that no one at Valley is monitoring this issue.  Now just think if they cannot abide by this restriction, are they really going to be able to address all the issues that will occur from this massive expansion? 
I am asking you to vote no to this proposal to the Master Plan Amendment because it's too massive for this site. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Tesseyman. 
MS. WALSH:  Next we have Ann Walsh. 
MS. A. WALSH:  Hi, I'm Ann Walsh, W a l s h, A n n, no "e", 104 Hamilton Place, Ridgewood. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MS. A. WALSH:  Yes. 
A N N    W A L S H, 104 Hamilton Place, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MS. A. WALSH: While I apologize because I don't have a written statement.  I've been thinking a lot about this issue for about eight years, the last time I came to a meeting a few weeks ago I was rushing off to get to the meeting and my 11 year old son, you know, was trying to get his homework done every day.  And I said do you remember me not going to a Valley meeting?  I started coming to these meeting since he was five.  He is now a sixth grader here at this school. 
We have those yellow signs in our yards for years.  People have spent a lot of their time on this issue.  It has caused anxiety.  It has taken away a lot from our families and our friendships and our neighborhoods. 
So, I'm asking you to please consider what is on the table for us, what the people of our town decided, for example, if you look at Land Use and Development Guide for our town, they encourage the most appropriate use of development on a site. 
I can't imagine that this proposal is the most efficient use of a development of this site.  Is it desirable? 
Is it desirable that 700 children that come to this school every day, the pre adolescent children that come to the school?  Have you ever watched them walk to school or home from school, what their behavior is like?  I was a middle school teacher.  They don't pay attention.  They are like five year olds.  It's dangerous.  Well, it's dangerous already.  I rode my bike here tonight, drove up Linwood Avenue    or Van Dien on my bicycle.  There's cars all the way parked    parked on this side, the other side of Van Dien.  I was riding my bike.  I looked across to the street to get over here and I almost got run over by a van with New York plates that was turning into Valley Hospital.  Every    I can    it's    it happens all the time. 
If you just spend a little bit of time up here, you'll see it. 
I can't    I just ask you please, please, please think about this and please vote no.
Thank you.  Thank you for all your time.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Walsh. 
MS. WALSH:  Next is Elizabeth Blair.
MS. BLAIR:  Hi, my name is Elizabeth Blair, 78 North Van Dien Avenue, Ridgewood.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Spell your name please. 
MS. BLAIR:  E l i z a b e t h B l a i r. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
MS. BLAIR:  I do. 
E L I Z A B E T H   B L A I R, 78 North Van Dien Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you. 
MS. BLAIR:  So, Ann Walsh's presentation was the perfect segue for me because I actually have visual aids tonight. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Okay.
MS. RAZIN:  Ms. Blair   
MS. BLAIR:  Yes.
MR. RAZIN:  I'm sorry, but we're not going.  We've asked prior to, I think the, last meeting, if there were any intended submissions that we receive them so we could anticipate and be able to respond and have all the parties available to respond.
MS. BLAIR:  Right.
MR. RAZIN:  So there may be an issue or there is an issue with trying to submit photographic evidence at this point. 
MS. BLAIR:  Okay.
MR. RAZIN:  So while I think the Board is absolutely happy to hear you speak, but maybe you can describe from your own personal vantage point without utilizing specifically the photographs? 
MS. BLAIR:  Okay.  I see a pattern there's usually an issue with people who are against the Hospital try to give their input or   
MS. RAZIN:  It's not the case    
MS. BLAIR:    evidence.
MR. RAZIN:     we actually made it very clear, in fact, I've spoken to everybody who has wanted to submit documents or anything ahead of time I have personally, actually, spoken to all of them whether for    both for and against the Hospital.
There were actually submissions on both sides and I don't think at this point anything was allowed in. 
So    except for certain things that were judicially noticed. 
So, we're just asking for full cooperation from everybody at this point because we are trying to get through the evening, and we asked for    for this early on in the proceeding. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Wouldn't be fair also to change things midway.  And so if you can describe what your images are, and we'll hear your words.
MS. BLAIR:  Okay.  A picture is worth 1,000 words.  I have 13 pictures here.  I don't know how much time that would take.
But I can tell you today I went to meet my kids at school at BF which I seldom do.  But I thought I'll take some pictures because I    I know that many of you probably don't have the opportunity to see what North Van Dien looks like at the time of school dismissal. So, I opened my camera, and kids are walking by, "Hi, Ms. Blair, what are you doing?  So I told them why I was there and the first picture I took which I actually didn't notice when I took the photograph when I was choosing my pictures was a photograph of a white SUV that has Valley Hospital    Valley Health System on the back of it, turning into the main entrance of the hospital along North Van Dien Avenue as the crossing guard is standing with a stop sign, like this (indicating) and motioning to children to come as the Valley Hospital SUV is actually turning into the driveway.  So that's my first photograph. 
The second is a stream of children.  Now, I live further down on North Van Dien closer to the high school.  And when I look out my door at about 3:15 it is just a solid stream of children coming from the high school, the middle school, Somerville School, the track team, the lacrosse team.  You have no idea the complete convergence of kids who are walking through the neighborhood.
And my second photograph shows children crossing, coming from BF so I'm looking to the north, coming from BF walking along the sidewalk, once again with the crossing guard stopping traffic to let them go. 
The third photograph is a picture of an SUV that stopped smack in the middle of the entrance to Valley Hospital as the crossing guard is standing there looking like this (indicating) telling the kids to wait while the SUV is in the middle of the crosswalk.
The fourth picture is similar to that, except there are two girls who are walking by looking at the back of a black sedan as the crossing guard is holding up the stop sign, looking at the car like "what are you doing"?
The fourth    the fifth picture has a bicyclist in it.  Not the cyclist is heading north, the pedestrians are heading south, and once again there is a car smack in the middle of the crosswalk as this crowd of children is walking south on North Van Dien and the crossing guard is motioning for them to come and the stop sign is up.
The sixth picture is similar, except in this one you actually see that same hospital Valley Hospital SUV that's now turned around, it's exiting the Valley Hospital property and coming out.  And this time waiting, but there's another car on the other side entering the hospital property waiting to get in as all of these kids are crossing by. 
The next couple of pictures just show the stream of kids and the chaos in the street with the cars trying to turn, going around cars that are trying to turn and the children walking on the side of the street trying to get    head south on North Van Dien.
MS. WONDERGEM:  Three minutes.
MS. BLAIR:  One picture here, as I walked from the corner of Linwood Avenue heading north, on North Van Dien, shows a stream of cars.  And I counted them because they were stopped at a traffic light.  There were 34 cars backed up all the way past the entrance to Valley Hospital.  And I know the traffic engineer had asked a question about, well, how many of those cars are for the pick up?  I actually looked in each one of the cars, and there are two children.  In all of the 34 cars that were backed up, there were only two children in those 34 cars.
I also have two pictures of a track meet that took place at BF last week.  And you can see the Hospital in the background.  And this is a track meet for the High School. 
So if you can see the pictures, these are worth a thousand words.  And I ask you to vote this down.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you very much, Ms. Blair.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Please hold your applause.
Let's continue.
MS. WALSH:  Next we have Don Schwenker.
MR. SCHWENKER:  Don Schwenker, 377 East Glen Avenue.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Spell your name please.
MR. SCHWENKER:  Schwenker, S c h w e n k e r. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Raise your right hand please.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 
MR. SCHWENKER:  Yes.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
D O N     S C W E N K E R, 377 East Glen Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MR. SCHWENKER:  A lot of good reasoning from the people behind me has already been said.  We could say it over and over again the reasons why this shouldn't proceed.  Voices of reason and logic have been presented.  There's too much opposition for this to go forward based on my fellow taxpayers. 
Valley Hospital, it seems this is no hardship for them.  They're not going anywhere.  They're going to be fine.  They're already working on plan B. Plan B is buying up other properties such as The Children Museum which would not be a hardship on a town like Ridgewood.  You have to look at the facts and what's been done.  There's no hardship here.  This would be a McMansion of a hospital going up. 
Everybody knows, but I speak right now to the Planning Board and Council who have to weigh the decision, why should we or why shouldn't we? Very easy, stick to your guns, the Master Plan and the H zone are here to protect us, to protect you.  Give you your reason why to say no in this issue.
That's it in a nutshell.  I'm done.  Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Schwenker. 
MS. WALSH:  And I believe our final speak is Dolores Carpenter.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Ms. Carpenter? 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MS. CARPENTER:  I do.
D E L O R E S     C A R P E N T E R, 319 Steilen Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.  Please state your name for the record, spell it and give your address.
MS. CARPENTER:  Delores Carpenter, 319 Steilen Avenue, D o l o r e s C a r p e n t e r.
THE COURT REPORTER:   Thank you.
MS. CARPENTER: When I attended the first of these Valley expansion meetings almost eight years ago, I came with a feeling of confidence and good faith, knowing that here in Ridgewood we have on our governing boards fair, honest and intelligent people who are unselfishly devoting their time and energies on behalf of the residents with a good    a goal, rather, of making Ridgewood a very special place in which to live. There was no doubt in my mind that what's best for Ridgewood would be the deciding factor in the Planning Board's decision about the Valley Hospital expansion issue. 
It was my expectation that the Planning Board would listen to Valley Hospital's case and eventually make a decision whether or not they considered it reasonable for the Village of Ridgewood to accept any further expansion of this site by changes in the Master Plan.
I stand before you tonight and as a resident I am somewhat disillusioned.  I have listened from the beginning to all of Valley's presentations, and then to the reactions and responses from the Planning Board.  And it appears that you, as a board, have not really considered your position to be "if" Valley should do this expansion, but instead how they should go about doing it.
I appeal to you, the members of our Planning Board and to all our decision making boards in Ridgewood, to take a long hard look at this Valley Hospital request from the eyes of all our residents. I ask you to think about the fact that more than anything, Valley has long since outgrown that piece of property, several expansions ago they needed variances from the town to expand. I ask you to think about what Valley is asking of us, the residents and these changes to our Village you have been considering in recent months, all to accommodate Valley Hospital.  Tearing up and widening the Linwood and Van Dien intersection; making a four way stop street at East Glen and North Van Dien or even a traffic light there; five plus years of construction with accompanying noise, trucks, pollution, dirt, and even maybe asbestos dangers; closing of John Street and inconveniencing many residents; requiring kids to walk to school only on one side of Van Dien during the entire construction; building giant walls behind homes on Steilen Avenue to block the noise; major increase in overall traffic in our Village; serious health and safety risks to thousands of our Village school children, and so many other disruptions, I could go on and on.
Lastly, I ask you to think about the fact that Valley Hospital will go on, they will continue to be the fine healthcare institution they are today.  You can be certain they will find a way, even if the Village of Ridgewood says no to their multi million dollar expansion on the tiny little property in the middle of our lovely residential Village of Ridgewood. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Ms. Carpenter, thank you. 
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you.  That concludes your speakers? 
MS. WALSH:  Yes.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Okay.  So what we're going to do is continue now with four individuals who intended to speak the last time, but weren't prepared. 
We have Jean Delaney, Cathy Benson, Marla Sherman and Delores Carpenter and then we're going to continue    
MR. RAZIN:  She just spoke.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Oh, I'm sorry.  And Marla Sherman. 
And we'll then continue from there with the rest of you who signed up tonight.
So why don't we begin with Jean Delaney.  And while she's coming up, please again hold your applause so we can move through this efficiently. 
MS. DELANEY:  Jean Delaney, D e l a n e y, 323 Fairfield Avenue.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MS. DELANEY:  I do.
J E A N   D E L A N E Y, 323 Fairfield Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you. 
MS. DELANEY:  Thank you for the Planning Board for their time and patience on this proposal. 
I was born in Valley Hospital.  I grew up in Ridgewood.  After several years in New York City, my husband and I moved back here 12 years ago to raise our daughter. I live in Ridgewood, as does my mother and father, my four siblings and their families. We have been fortunate through hard work and blessings to be able to give our daughter and ourselves a wonderful home and life in Ridgewood.
I have been attending these Planning Board and Town Council meetings on the topic of Valley for seven years.  We listened as to how Valley is going to complete their mission.  How the streets will be widened.  How our children will be herded to the opposite side of the streets to walk to school.  How the blasting and demolition will occur in the summer.  And how other towns have like sized hospital on small parcels of land.  How the wheels on the construction vehicles will be washed before leaving the site. 
We have been barraged with facts and figures about the current benefit, municipal land usage that counts. We received a history lesson on the evolution of healthcare from James May of Perkins Will.  Enough. Where are the reports that study the effects of 10 years of construction will have on property values in the area?  And what the lasting effects will be on our neighborhoods surrounding Valley.
Where are reports that study the damage to our infrastructure from the pounding of tons and tons of traffic on our streets?  Where are the reports that study the air quality from the demolition and construction and truck fumes? Most importantly, where are the reports on what this will do to the grade education of thousands of Ridgewood school children?  Noise, vibration, poor air quality, loss of light and air space, the simple act of walking to school will be stressful and hazardous.  Our children and we will literally, and figuratively, be in the shadow of Valley. 
I have heard hours of testimony on the inherent benefits of the Hospital and how important it is for the area and to the region.  There are five hospitals in Bergen County, four in Passaic County, two in Rockland County and some of the best hospitals in the world 16 miles away in New York City.
According to Audrey Meyers, herself, New Jersey has too many hospitals and on any given day there's more than 350 available beds. 
I understand Valley's commitment to keeping current with regards to healthcare trends and state of the art facilities.  But let's get this straight, Valley is a business and a big business at that. 
With a yearly income of over a hundred million dollars and three quarters of a billion dollars cued up should this expansion, should it occur, Valley has the resources to expand in a more appropriate locations. 
Let us not confuse business with public service.  What is the sore issue then, that has so sadly been lost in seven years of rhetoric?  Is this the right thing for Ridgewood?  Is this fair to the taxpaying residents? 
There are rules that keep society and our lives in an orderly manner, they keep chaos at bay.
The Village of Ridgewood has rules and regulations in place to keep us safe as residents and to keep us    our town from overdevelopment, to keep our own properties within the character and integrity of our Village. My family and I abide by these rules, we follow traffic regulations.  We license our dog.  And we pay our taxes.  And recently when doing a small enhancement to our home, followed all zoning and building codes. Follow the laws, play by the rules.  Not play by the rules until you want take more.  Not the entity with the most money overrides those rules.  Valley has a responsibility to follow the zoning and building codes and to be a respectful guest in our town.  Valley clearly has many plans for the future and it is your job as our Planning Board to plan for our future as a Village.  This decision will be far reaching.  And I would encourage you to vote no on the proposal.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Delaney.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Please don't applaud.  Please hold applause. 
Cathy Benson? 
MS. BENSON:  I really am not    you can see I already changed it one time. 
Cathy Benson, 572 Fairway Road. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MS. BENSON:  I do.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you. 
C A T H Y   B E N S O N, 572 Fairway Road, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you. 
MS. BENSON:  Thank you for the opportunity to present before the Planning Board.
The Board asked the neighbors of the Hospital how the proposed expansion will affect our quality of life.  Let me tell you how the last two expansions affected my students’ quality of life.
When I first bought my home I had a quiet street where my kids could play Four Square and roller hockey with their friends.  Near a hospital, yes, but selected for its walkability to all the schools.
Since then the Valley Hospital has gone through two expansions and the traffic on Linwood has become so bad that my street is now a cut through road and kids on my block no longer play ball or ride their bikes after school.  And we are concerned for their safety walking to school.
We used to keep our windows open in the spring and fall, but now with the increased number of ambulances we can no longer do that.  It's like living in the city with sirens going off all the time. 
Will we also have to install blackout shades to hide our view of the 24/7 five story open parking deck?
In the past expansions, the Board took it upon itself to enforce the Master Plan of the Village by limiting growth and protecting the character of our community for the future. 
Since 2008, the Board has abdicated this responsibility, leaving it to the neighbors to spend their time, their personal money to maintain the quality of this Village by limiting the hospital's expansion. 
The increased traffic and noise pollution occurred despite previous boards making it a goal to limit expansion. 
Now, the Hospital is asking for a blank check to undo all the hard work that the residents and officials of the town have done over the past 20, 30 years, to preserve our town's character while working with the Hospital to make sure its construction needs can be met. The center of residential Ridgewood might have been a good location for a small community hospital, but not the regional specialized hospital business that has grown in its place. This Ridgewood address is not the right location for the continued growth of Valley's business.  And our Village Master Plan had stated so until 2010, when the Planning Board gave the Hospital carte blanche. 
Then and now neighbors asked for ground view pictures of the structures allowed in the ordinance and we're told no.  We asked for a crane test.  We got a flimsy flag in the middle of the site on top of a building, hundreds of feet from the tallest proposed structure, one of our biggest concerns. 
MS. WONDERGEM:  Three minutes.
MS. BENSON:  The neighbors voiced concerns about for traffic, we were told that limiting parking numbers would limit traffic to the site.  Then we were told Valley would have unlimited shuttle bus access and unlimited valet parking on the site.  How does limiting parking spaces limit anything?  Unlimited shuttle service and valet parking will increase traffic to the site. The massive expansion in square footage will loom over our neighborhood destroying the aesthetic character of our surrounding community and decreasing the quality of life of the neighbors, through increased traffic, light pollution and sound pollution. The Hospital has fought every step of the way to deny its neighbors information on the true visual impact of the proposed structures and the true traffic impact of this proposed expansion.  And the Board has a right to continue.
Our final plea for you now is to vote no to this uncompromising amendment.
Thank you. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Benson. 
Marla Sherman? 
MS. SHERMAN:  Hi, Marla Sherman, 449 Beverly Road.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MS. SHERMAN:  I do. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
M A R L A   S H E R M A N, 449 Beverly Road, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MS. SHERMAN:  Good evening, it's been another 14 months.  Six years for me in total.  And pretty much, my own Valley expansion (indicating) going on here that I'm going to have to work on reducing too.  (Laughter).
I know tonight I'm supposed to talk from my heart about what this expansion is supposed to mean to me and my family, but tonight I'm not going to do that.  I'm going to talk    I’m going to be boring and I'm going to stick directly to the facts of the things that we've heard over the past 14 months.
Regarding light and air, the North Building is not 70 feet tall plus mechanicals, it's 94 feet tall.  Mr. Brancheau said that if Valley wanted to build a 10 story building on the property line, it would probably be too much. And 94 feet tall is a 10 story building.  And it will be on the BF property line. Setbacks are now 300 feet and they will be reduced to 70 feet.  This is still a massive development that compromises light and air.
Regarding traffic, we heard traffic will be reduced in improvements are made to the intersections, but that's not within Valley's purview. We heard traffic will be reduced by eliminating some outpatient services, but there's absolutely nothing in the Master Plan Amendment that requires this. We are left to trust the reduction of 300 parking spaces will improve our traffic problems.
Regarding the water table, we are grateful that Valley Hospital has agreed not to crack the foundations of our homes by extensive de watering, thank you. Regarding the removal of bedrock, again, phase one is now only three years and four months of excavation. 
Regarding construction, it's still expected to last six years and require over 35,000 trucks that are exempt from local road weight restrictions.
And then regarding it's just being too big and intense, their reduction of 50,000 of square feet of Space In Your Face is a 5 percent reduction.  This is an insult, not a compromise.  We define intensity of use by light    or excuse me    Mr. Brancheau has defined intensity of use by light, noise, number of beds and parking.  Again, the only reduction is 300 parking spots. 
In terms of inherently beneficial, the term is misleading.  If we lived 90 miles from the nearest medical center, I would not be standing here.  But we have at least five other acute care hospitals within a 15 mile radius. Mr. Brancheau clearly said that this fact should be considered by you when weighing your decision. 
So, in the end it all comes down to proper planning and land use.  C.R.R.'s planner, Mr. Steck, said this represents an improper balance of the Hospital's interests with the interests of the neighborhood.  He stated that this proposal will have major effects on the neighborhood.  An environment that produces noise, light, traffic is one that starts to degrade a single family area. 
Shouldn't we have insisted that the after effects of similar hospital expansions?  Our Village planner has no opinion on whether a 1 million square foot, 24 hour/7 day a week business will affect either the immediate area or our Village overall? 
We are all residents.  And these concerns should have been outlined for you by our planner. 
With that, I ask you please to not only vote no on this Master Plan Amendment, but make it clear that this is not a compromise and advise Valley Hospital to rescind the 2010 Master Plan Amendment before any further discussions can take place. 
Thank you for your service, sincerely. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Sherman.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  We're going to continue now with Gene Cornell. 
FEMALE AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Do we know what number he is? 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Yes, He's number 85. 
MR. CORNELL:  Number 84. 
MS. WONDERGEM:  He should have been 85.
MR. CORNELL:  Hi.  My name is Gene Cornell, 623 Belmont Road, Ridgewood.  C o r n e l l. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MR. CORNELL:  I do. 
G E N E    C O R N E L L,  623 Belmont Road, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:   Thank you.
MR. CORNELL: I am president of Ridgewood Residents for Valley, an organization of hundreds of Village residents who support the needs to modernize the Hospital.  The fundamental question in whether or not Ridgewood wants to continue to have convenient access to first class medical care comparable to the best available in New York City. If there was no one to find that important we don't need to be here today. The need to modernize the hospital is clear.  I run a software company and when we renewed our lease we underwent major construction to accommodate necessary new equipment.  Medicine is no different. When the current buildings were finished, there were no PET scans, CAT scans, Gamma guns or computers in every patient room.  And all the wiring necessary to support them. 
Nobody could argue that single patient rooms, now required by law, are not safer and more comfortable.
But that leads to a simple mathematical problem, what is the minimum number of beds required to support the expensive infrastructure of a modern hospital? Given the need for single rooms, Valley could greatly reduced the patient count and shrink the proposed size.  But then how many beds would it have, 100, 200, 300?  Is that enough?  If you need to maintain a comparable bed count, we need a lot more space, there's no way to escape that.
So, that is the real question, do you want a hospital like Valley today or a shell that serves as a temporary staging area until patients are moved elsewhere?  Do any of us voluntarily go to a second rate hospital? 
Regarding the plan, itself, Valley has listened to the objections of the community and scaled down its original plan. But we should not pretend that any plan acceptable to concerned residents will allow Valley to maintain the level of technology, services and care today.  The numbers just don't work. 
No building on the Valley campus is original.  The Hospital, by necessity, has to renovate and reconstruct around it.  Previous construction has not led to the diminution of our quality of life here in Ridgewood. 
Recently Ridgewood schools underwent major construction while classes were in session.  Reconstruction is a fact of life and can be accommodated.  The revised plan reduces the size by 100,000 square feet By eliminating one underground floor, the water to be removed was reduced by 70 percent and time by six months.  Truck trips were reduced by 5400 and the amount of dirt removed by 29 percent.
Valley has relocated additional facilities and plans to continue this process to further reduce traffic.
In addition to the medical benefits, you must look at the importance of Valley economically to Ridgewood.  In 2011, Barbara Williams wrote an article for The Bergen Record on the economic impact of hospitals in Bergen County.  They collectively pay more than 1.7 billion in salaries and employ 21,812 full time jobs. Valley's contribution was 3,166 jobs and $243 million in payroll.  The Ridgewood area is dotted with doctor's offices. 
Ridgewood without a vibrant downtown would not the attractive place it is today.  Valley is an important resource for the Village, probably the most important one we have.  Without it I doubt enough traffic would be generated to keep the downtown going.  Valley's 3,000 plus employees and the many visitors to the hospital are critical for the continued health of downtown.  And downtown is critical for the health of the Village.
Some people seem to think that Valley shouldn't be here at all, and all the traffic it generates.  To them I say, be careful what you wish for. We don't disagree with the statement that having Valley more removed from the immediate neighbors would be ideal, but we don't have that option.  There is no space in Ridgewood beyond what Valley has.  You either live with Valley on the existing campus or deny this and it will take time but eventually the loss of visitors will spell Valley's end.
I urge you all to support this project.  And I thank you for your service.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Cornell. 
Sarah deLeon Mansson? 
DR. deLEON MANSSON:  Hi, my name is Sarah DeLeon Mansson. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
DR. deLEON MANSSON:  I do.
S A R A H   d e L E O N   M A N S S O N, 222 North Van Dien Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey,having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:  
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
DR. deLEON MANSSON: Good evening, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight. 
I have lived in Ridgewood for the past two and a half years.  I live at 222 North Van Dien Avenue. 
I am a practicing noninvasive cardiologist and director of the echocardiology lab at Valley Hospital. 
I have three young kids six, four and ten months old.  We have enjoyed living in this great town of Ridgewood.  This town that Valley has helped support for more than 60 years. 
I think it is invaluable to have quality healthcare readily accessible here in our town.  It goes without saying that when your loved one's need immediate medical attention, it's great to be able to drive down the street and have quick access to exceptional healthcare that can potentially save you or your family's lives.
In cardiology, time is muscle, meaning the quicker you can    the quicker you can get to that cardiac catheterization facility, the more muscle you will save.  To that end, it is important that we ensure the future of Valley Hospital by allowing the facility to expand and accommodate the current and future demands of delivering quality healthcare. The Valley Hospital needs to remain competitive in order to stay open in the future healthcare market.  To do this, an expansion of services and space is necessary.  An important component of the expansion is creating single patient rooms. According to the joint commission, the panel that accredits hospitals, approximately 2 million hospital acquired infections kill about 100,000 people each year.  It is proven that single patient rooms reduce this number. 
Infection control is the number one argument for the necessity of single patient rooms.  Other reasons are obviously privacy, keeping your conversation with your physician between you and your physician.  And better rest, which allows for better healing.  These three issues are paramount to providing patient centered care to the people of Ridgewood and surrounding communities.
Another important aspect of this project is a need for enhanced technology.  Over the last decade in medicine, we have seen cloning of stem cells, targeted cancer therapies, percutaneous procedures, advanced heart rhythm therapies and the advancement of minimally invasive surgery which allows for less pain, smaller scars and shorter recovery times.  These are just to name a few of the important treatment modalities we have seen recently.
In order to meet the future needs of healthcare we need to make space for medical technology to grow.  Robotic equipment and machines etcetera. 
The Valley Hospital is committed to creating productive compromise to develop this product. 
The hospital will be extremely mindful of the safety and convenience of our community during this construction process. 
We understand this may be a challenging position, but when you take into account the greater good that this expansion will provide for this community, the decision is clear.  Vote yes on this project and vote yes for the future of healthcare.
Thank you for your continued volunteer service to the Village of Ridgewood. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. DeLeon Mansson.
Next is Tom Ahlborn.
DR. AHLBORN:  My name is Tom Ahlborn, I live at 310 Glenwood Road. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand, sir.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 
DR. AHLBORN:  I do.
T O M    A H L B O R N, 310 Glenwood Road, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
DR. AHLBORN: I am a general surgeon and I've lived here in Ridgewood with my wife and five children since 1987. I want to thank the Planning Board for the opportunity to speak this evening in support of The Valley Hospital Renewal proposal. 
In my role as a general surgeon who has cared for over 20,000 patients at Valley, I want to address two urgent needs that I see as a practicing physician in the existing Valley Hospital facility.
The first of these, Phillips Building.  As you know, all of the patient rooms in this wing house two patients in each room.  And as everyone who has been a patient in the Phillips wing knows, these rooms are archaic.  No modern hospital today cares for two patients in the same room. 
Every new hospital room built in the United States today is a single occupancy room.  The Phillips wing needs to be replaced with a modern patient care facility.
The second major shortcoming is the operating room suite.  When these operating rooms were built 25 years ago, they were state of the art.  They are not today.  The surgical procedures performed in 2014, are not the same as they were in 1990.  Joint replacement surgery, robotic cancer surgery, neurosurgical spine procedures, cardiac bypass and valve replacement surgery and laparoscopic bariatric surgery are just a few of the many operations performed every day at Valley that utilize very sophisticated and physically very large support equipment. The operating rooms in the basement of the Cheel wing were not built with this in mind.  They are too small.  And this problem will only get worse in the coming years as surgery performed at Valley becomes more and more complex.  And these operating rooms can't just be renovated.  As you know, they can't be enlarged because they're in the basement and they already extend out underneath the parking areas. The most compelling argument for this Renewal Project is that these operating room suites need to be replaced and the patient rooms need to be modernized. 
Valley has modified their plan for Renewal to mitigate the impact to the neighborhood.
As a father of five children, I understand how the people who live in this neighborhood feel.  Quite honestly, in a perfect world nobody would want this disruption. But I am also smart enough to know that Valley is not going to abandon this site and move elsewhere.  We all know that Valley is going to be here 25 years from now.  And it will either be a state of the art hospital with the most modern equipment and patient rooms or it will become a hospital from the past or will no longer be one of the finest hospitals in New Jersey.
I encourage the Planning Board to look favorably upon Valley's Renewal Project request and to thank you for all the time you've spent reviewing this project.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Doctor.
Number 89, Jennifer Errico? 
MS. ERRICO:  Good evening, my name is Jennifer Errico I live at 350 Mountain Avenue. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Could you spell your last names please?
MS. ERRICO:  E r r i c o.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MS. ERRICO:  Yes.
J E N N I F E R     E R R I C O, 350 Mountain Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MS. ERRICO: Good evening everybody, I am a resident of Ridgewood for the last 17 years.  And I have been part of the Valley Auxiliary Ridgewood Branch for over 13.  And I currently serve as president of my branch for the past two. 
I first want to say that I believe the Hospital is one of the greatest assets that our Village has to offer.  And it adds to the quality of life to many of our residents. I've seen a lot of great changes in the time I've lived here with the expansion of the ER department.  And having four kids I've used that a few times. 
My last child was born at Valley.  And I've used the breast center, another great facility, for my annual mammograms.  And just in the last five months, I've been twice to get MRIs because I have bulging discs in my neck and back, probably from screaming at my kids or doing whatever.
If everyone is wondering what the Valley Auxiliary is or does let me explain, the auxiliary started in 1945 with a group of ladies raising money to open up our hospital right where it sits now.  The doors opened in August of 1951 and I can only imagine the opposition back then. Nobody likes change.
Now, we have 14 active branches in Bergen County.  And they do all that they can in supporting and raising money for the many modern necessities that Valley needs.
I know The Renewal and expansion is of great concern, especially for the residents that live on Linwood and Van Dien, Glen and surrounding streets.  And I can understand, nobody likes construction. 
No matter where you live in this town though, I think it affects everyone. 
The word I can best describe to everyone is "patience", us, you, everybody, you have to be patient.  You can't take steps forward without going backwards. 
I've worked closely with the people at Valley.  Many of them are Village residents.  They care deeply about the town and our school system and the neighbors.  And I feel strongly that they will go to great lengths, like any good neighbor would do, to mitigate the disruption that The Renewal will cause.
They would    they want to modernize and bring us all the newest and latest in state of the art technology that there is and I cannot tell you how many times people tell me that my wife has to go get chemo or radiation, and they walk into Sloan in the City and they can't wait to get out of there and come back to Valley to do their treatments. 
We don't want to lose people to go to Hackensack or Englewood or even the City.  If that starts to happen than it all starts going down a slippery slope.  People take for granted this great hospital that we have in our backyard.  Close your eyes everyone and imagine the Hospital were closing.  The Hospital can't attract top doctors without top facilities.  And Ridgewood can't be the town it is without the Hospital we have. 
I hope this town will come together and resolve this issue.  I completely encourage and support Renewal
And I thank you for your time tonight.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Errico.
Number 90, Carol Forenza?  Ms. Forenza?
MS. FORENZA:  I pass.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  No?  Passing, okay.  Thank you. 
Russell   
MR. FORENZA:  Forenza, same last name.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Forenza. 
FEMALE AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Can the Chair call the on deck person up also?  So that we can get done quicker? 
MR. FORENZA:  On deck, in the hole.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Sure.  We're going in sequential order right now.
So after Mr. Forenza will be Mary    help me, if you're number 92.
MR. RAZIN:  Number 92.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Number 92, you're next. 
Okay, sir? 
MR. FORENZA:  Good evening, Russell, R u s s e l l, Forenza, F o r e n z a, 228 Emmett Place, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450.   
THE COURT REPORTER:  Sire, do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MR. FORENZA:  I do. 
R U S S E L L     F O R E N Z A, 228 Emmett Place, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:   Thank you. 
MR. FORENZA:  I moved into Ridgewood at age seven in 1951, 63 years ago.  I love Ridgewood.
When I got married, I told my wife from Jersey City, I'd like to live in Ridgewood.  She had no objections.  We've been living here ever since. Had one child who did not use the Ridgewood school system, so I saved the taxpayers a lot of money.  So I continue to save the taxpayers money because I don't need the school system at all anymore.  I have no more children. 
But it is mind boggling that one has to defend something that is essential to all people.  And it's for the purpose of doing good versus evil.
People all over the world would welcome a hospital in their vicinity, especially one that would be basically a brand new hospital with all the latest equipment.  And as a bonus, a highly experienced staff. 
However, only Ridgewood and only a small group of people, if you know the last election, wasn't much of a choice, but only 20 percent came out to vote, have taken control of a Village Council and all the boards in this once great Village. The other 80 percent should be ashamed of themselves.  This is what happens when you let a minority of special interests control anything. I'm communicating with residents of Ridgewood and other communities, residents consider the state of the art hospital to be an asset and not a detriment. 
Why would anyone not want excellent healthcare?  And why would a town let a minority of residents be able to make decisions that would affect the majority? 
There will be no increase in traffic.
(Audience Outburst.) 
MR. FORENZA:  There's no   
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Please.
MR. FORENZA:  If anybody knows the history of Ridgewood, they'll know the three circles out on Route 17.  Two of them got picked up by overpasses, one had a traffic light.  When they took the traffic light away and put no overpass, Racetrack Road.  All the traffic came to Linwood Avenue.  Know your history, folks.
No reduction in property value.  There never has been since I've been here.  No one's had reductions. 
Safety will be at its utmost.  You can be sure of that.  The Ridgewood police will be conducting the safety of Valley's construction.  Your own hometown police force. 
Remember that the Hospital will be functioning as usual.  They will be taking care of the sick and performing necessary procedures, considering resident safety, patient and visitor safety and their staff safety. 
Do you think with construction going on and they're doing an emergency procedure working on somebody's heart or Dr. Ahlborn working on somebody that they want to have anything that can possibly affect that patient?  No.  This is right in your area.  There's going to be nobody affecting what's going to happen in your area.  They don't want that.  At least not to the patients and also not to the neighborhood.  So these are non existent things.  They will work for the utmost of the people of this town.
I feel this issue has been blown out of proportion.  It is one that will affect each and every resident and residents of surrounding communities.  The leaders of the Village, and the Concerned Citizens should have a thorough examination of their conscience for what they are saying and doing for the best interests of the Village and the surrounding communities.
I urge you to reconsider your position and vote for the common good.  You represent all of Ridgewood's residents.
Also, no one person should have more than one vote on this issue or any issue in Ridgewood. 
MS. WONDERGEM:  Time is up.
MR. FORENZA:  You can't be sitting on boards, on Councils and everything else and have one, two votes or whatever.  One vote.
If you want to put a representative there, that's something different.  They can vote the way you want, if that's what we want.  But one vote per person. 
And everything is business.  You name it, its business no matter where you go. 
Everybody has to make money, everybody has to make a living.  So everything is a business that's for your consideration.
Thank you very much Planning Board.  I just hope your mind is not set the wrong way. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Forenza.
MR. FORENZA:  There will be no applause. I should have been given another 30 seconds.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Forenza.
Tracy Carbone, number 93.  What is your name? 
DR. BIRNBACH:  Birnbach.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Okay.  It said no, but that's fine come forward.  It's Marty Birnbach?  It said no but come forward. 
DR. BIRNBACH:  Dr. Barry Birnbach, I live at 6 Richmond Avenue.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 
DR. BIRNBACH:  Yes, I do. 
B A R R Y   B I R N B A C H, Six Richmond Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:   Thank you.  
DR. BIRNBACH: I came and joined the staff of Valley Hospital in 1980.  I've been living in Ridgewood pretty much steadily since 1981. Both of my daughters were born at Valley Hospital.  And as you can imagine with kids we made full use of the emergency room.  I also    when I came here I also was younger and had more hair, and since then I have had four admissions to the hospital for various problems.  One which Dr. Ahlborn fixed.  I can't tell you how appreciative I am of what the Hospital has done for me personally as a patient. 
Now I'll tell you a little story, when I came out here the senior partner of our group lived somewhere northwest of Valley.  And he had a heart attack and went to a community hospital.  He had a complication and died. As far as I am concerned, hospitals    community hospitals are antiquated.  You need the best and most modern equipment. 
Now, on the other hand people say well, we have all these big hospitals in the City.  I get calls from patients in the City, one patient at Columbia who said, "come and rescue me the nurses are trying to kill me".  I had other patients who had gone to the City and said they bring a broom and a dustpan because the hospital is so filthy. 
I think there is an optimal size of the hospital for optimum care.  And I think Valley has that size. 
Now, somebody    one of the doctor's stated earlier that time is muscle, meaning the quicker your heart attack gets treated the greater the chance of a good survival. The neurologists have a term, they say time is brain.  So you have a stroke, the quicker you get treated, the quicker you have for a good response.  I find it totally ironic that the people who are against this renovation, who are closest to the Hospital, would benefit the most.
Now if you have    you have a big dinner and you have crushing chest pain and can't catch your breath, you will look back at the Council and say put in a six lane highway going from my house to the hospital, or they should move the Mayo Clinic here.
So I think from a medical standpoint and as a patient, not a doctor, it makes sense to do the renovation for the good of everybody.  And the closer you are the better you'll benefit. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Birnbach.
Now Tracy Carbone, number 93. 
(NO RESPONSE.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Okay, Todd Johnson, number 94. 
MR. JOHNSON:  My name is Todd Johnson, and I live at 341 Linwood Avenue.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Spell your name please.
MR. JOHNSON:  T o d d J o h n s o n.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MR. JOHNSON:  I do.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
T O D D    J O H N S O N,  341 Linwood Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having  been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MR. JOHNSON:  Okay.  I've got a couple of things to point out, some of them have actually been brought up already so I maybe will or maybe won't be redundant. 
I grew up in the Boston area, my wife grew up in Florida.  And we live in Ridgewood for a number of reasons, none of which have anything to do with the hospital.  We respect the hospital.  We hear a lot of stories from proponents of the Hospital about the good work it’s doing.  And I don't think that we're talking here tonight about either closing it or expanding it.  I believe the Hospital will still be here whether it expands or not. 
A couple other things that came up with the first speaker, the    the benefits to Valley versus the benefits to Ridgewood. I    you know, I am going to have to think long and hard what the benefits to Ridgewood are.  My wife had all of our children, you know, we've got three of them, one has graduated from high school, two are at Travell.  One of them will be at BF next year.  The other one will be a year later. She had them all in the City.  Worked out fine.  And I'm sure they give great care here for women having babies too, but it's not like you can't go elsewhere to get that care.
The issue of traffic.  I know there are people who are more sophisticated than me and there were really complicated studies and everything else that are done, if somebody's going to try and convince me that building the Hospital the way they're talking about building it is going to somehow not make traffic worse or I think I even heard where it's going to get better, I'm having a hard time buying it.  We live on Linwood as I said.  And I just can't imagine, you know, there's a lot of spin that we hear, especially nowadays more than we've ever heard.  That's insulting.  And I don't know if you're as insulted as I am and probably a lot of these people are, by the notion that traffic won't get worse if we expand the hospital. 
The last I looked at it I said I live on Linwood, there was a PSEG project across the street from me last week for two days.  I    I work out of my house, I feel very fortunate to be able to do that. 
So I'm sitting there in my office and, you know, I hear all this construction going on and it kind of dawned on me that my    two of my kids will know nothing but that.  And a lot bigger than that for their entire    the rest of their primary school here in Ridgewood.  I don't know how loud it's going to be at the high school, but certainly for the three years both of them are at BF, that's all they're going to hear.  I    I    I don't know exactly what the project is, but I don't know how it can be avoided.
So just that little bit across the street from my for a couple hours a day and I'm thinking my kids are going to be hearing that all day. 
So, you know, I also say back to the traffic, I've lived here for 12 years and even without any expansion, there's no question there's more traffic now than there was 12 years ago.  That's just what's happening in the town. 
So    I think the    the other thing that I would say, I've heard some of the    some of the people talking about, you know, the families that their children have grown and they're gone and they stay in town. 
I don't know where my wife and I are going to end up when our kids get out of school.  If we leave that means someone else with a family will be able to move in to our house, hopefully, and raise their kids the same way we're doing it.  And I just    I don't remember the last time we talked about    with other people who live around here and family of ours that come to visit and talk about what a wonderful town we live in and I don't ever remember the Hospital coming up and the reason they're here and how great it is.  Now and I don't disrespect to the Hospital, I respect it.  I respect what they do.  But expanding it the way we're talking about expanding it doesn't make sense. 
Thank you. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Johnson. 
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  We'll take a five    literally a five minute break.  It's 9:20, we will resume at 9:25.
(Whereupon, a brief recess is taken.) 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Let's begin to wrap things up, we're going to move quickly so we can get through everyone tonight.
We want to do this in a way that has minimal interruption so we can hear the words and focus on what people are saying.  The applause really doesn't make any difference to us.  It's really the words that count.
So let's begin.
Jane, roll call, please.
MS. WONDERGEM:  Ms. Bigos? 
MR. BIGOS:  Here. 
MS. WONDERGEM:  Mr. Nalbantian?
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Here.
MS. WONDERGEM:  Mr. Reilly?
MR. REILLY:  Yup.
MS. WONDERGEM:  Mr. Joel?
VICE CHAIRMAN JOEL:  Here.
MS. WONDERGEM:  Ms. Dockray?
MS. DOCKRAY:  Here.
MS. WONDERGEM:  Ms. Peters?
MS. PETERS:  Here.
Mayor Aronsohn?
(NO RESPONSE.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Jane.
I'll note when the Mayor returns.
Okay.  Next person is Jim Griffith, number 95.  And George Becker will be up after Mr. Griffith. 
MR. GRIFFITH:  My name is James K. Griffith, G r i f f i t h, 159 South Irving.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Sir, please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MR. GRIFFITH:  Absolutely, yes. 
J A M E S     G R I F F I T H, 159 South Irving, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MR. GRIFFITH: I am delighted to be in front of you, but I'm more delighted that you took time to let me be here. And also your persistence in this seven hour    seven year effort to get to the bottom of this problem. And I think you've done a good job.  I know it hasn't been easy.  And I don't    I think some of you know this hasn't always been pleasant and that it's confrontational, but even worse I think is the people who didn't tell you and you had to go digging. 
What I do have to commend you now about, as far as I'm concerned through both the sessions, everything is on the table.  There's no missing links, you know what you want.  You know what the rule says.  You know what they want.  You know what the hospital wants. It's a little wisdom, why, and you sit down and you solve the problem.  Now that's easy for me to say.  I don't have that responsibility. 
But that's the name of the business.  You've done a wonderful job and getting multiple facts and I was ashamed that they didn't come out earlier at some very critical times, but let me tell you who I am and why I'm here, 45 years ago I lived in a garden apartment in East Paterson.  And I was content to read the Sunday papers and my wife said we're going house looking in Ridgewood. And I said, "why Ridgewood"?  And she gave me two words, she said "schools and hospital".  Now, stop right there.  This is a 27 year old young mother, three kids and she comes up with those words.  Not my words.  She comes up with the words, "Schools and a hospital". 
Well, here I am 45 years later.  And my kids are just fine.  And you can't imagine the ball I'm having with my grandchildren.  And that feels wonderful, because both of her expectations came through.  It allowed me to be very happy, very happy.
Now I'm glad I wasn't the first one to speak because those who have come before me have spoken in three direction which I object to and I'm glad they had the first crack at being wrong, at least in my opinion they were wrong.
First of all is this age, a young mother, so many young mothers have gotten up and have been cautious about the improvement to the hospital and I have to say that from my interpretation, their cautions on the improvement on the hospital is based on the assumption that the current hospital is always going to be there, because they wouldn't have moved to Ridgewood if that hospital wasn't here right now.  There's no doubt about it.  So, their concern is a false concern. 
Someone else said that you don't have to worry about it the older people.  Let me tell you something, you got to worry about the old people, I'm one of them.  I'm one of them.  And in two months I'm going to go from old to very old.  All right.  Not only that, I intend to stay around here.  So, yes, there are    and I read the statistics and I know how we're increasing.  And I also know how the life expectancy has increased.
So look at me and take a good look because you're going to look at the likes of me for a long time in here.  And believe me, as I go down this aging road, I want that hospital to be as efficient as it possibly can. 
Now, to date   
MS. WONDERGEM:  You have 30 seconds left.
MR. GRIFFITHS:    I've had a little cancer in the eyes three times, three times, then kidney.  Then I got leukemia. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Mr. Griffiths, you're going to have to wrap it up. 
MR. GRIFFITH:  Okay.  And more quickly, more recently my lung. 
So that hospital got me out real good, real quick.  The doctor spoke about all the things that are coming and I'm reading a book about where you're going to be 50 years from now.  And they only asked the experts.  They didn't ask me.
And you heard the doctor said what happened in the hospital, well in the next 50 years, there's going to be 150 percent times that.  Thank you for letting me speak.
(Mayor Aronsohn is now present on the dais.) 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Griffiths.
Mr. Becker, George Becker? 
Mr. Becker will be number 97.  Next is Margaret. 
DR. BECKER:  Hi, George Becker, 310    314 Marshall Street, in Ridgewood. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please spell your name? 
DR. BECKER:  Becker, "B" as in boy, e c k e r, first name George, G e o r g e. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 
DR. BECKER:  I do.
G E O R G E   B E C K E R, 314 Marshall Street, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
DR. BECKER:  Good evening.  Thanks for the opportunity to speak.  I am a resident of Ridgewood since 2000.  And I am in favor of Valley's plan for Renewal. 
As a resident I know we're lucky to have a vibrant, accessible and outstanding hospital in our hometown, able to care for patients and their families, everything from life threatening emergencies, to long term chronic illness.  We enjoy that benefit extending back for than 60 years.
As a physician I know also that there are many realities that impact our ability to deliver care. 
As you have heard before, healthcare is a constantly evolving field and in order to deliver excellent care, and to recruit the best healthcare providers and medical staff, an up to date facility is needed.  This involves a continuous effort to stay current with medical information and technology as well as periodic modernization of the hospital in order to accommodate those changes. Some of those changes including having state of the art operating facilities and single patient rooms which has become necessary to optimize healing and prevent the spread of infection. As with modernizing our own homes, sometimes this can be accomplished in place, but occasionally it requires an increase in size. 
Valley has done an admirable job of supplementing the main hospital with offsite outpatient facilities including physician offices, operating rooms, and oncology services.
However, there does need to be a central hub dedicated to in patient care.
I believe that Valley will be mindful of the safety and security of the Village during the process of renovation and will pay careful attention to challenges caused by this process.
I realize it is a difficult decision.  I too have children on these streets and at these schools.  I ride my bike on these streets as well.  And I have friends on the other side of the issue whose feelings I respect as well. 
But I feel that having an institution dedicated to the health and located in our community is something that we cannot take for granted.
Hospitals across the state and nation have close or are closing because of their inability to provide effective care.  Therefore, I urge the Board to move ahead with The Renewal process. 
Thank you for your time and for your service. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Dr. Becker.
Number 97, Margaret?  Thank you.  Nancy Coopersmith will be next. 
MS. VALENTI:  Hi, my name is Margaret Valenti, 440 Cambridge Road.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Spell your last name? 
MS. VALENTI:  V a l e n t i. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Mr. Chair, do you want to note the Mayor is back. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Please note that the Mayor has rejoined the Board. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
MS. VALENTI:  I do.
M A R G A R E T      V A L E N T I, 440 Cambridge Road, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you. 
MS. VALENTI:  Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the Village of Ridgewood Planning Board. 
My name is Margaret Valenti, and I am a Ridgewood resident and also a nurse at the Valley Hospital. 
I thank you for the opportunity that you are providing for me to speak this evening. I feel comfortable speaking on behalf of myself and my fellow co workers by saying that not only do we love the Valley Hospital, but all of our employees feel that they are part of the Ridgewood community. We come to work each day driving through the community.  We shop here.  We frequent the restaurants.  We care for your residents.  And we share the responsibility with your teachers in educating your students who volunteer and work at this wonderful hospital.
Valley Hospital is fully aware that this is a challenging decision by the Planning Board when you must take into account the greater good of the entire Village and the surrounding community.
But please know in the same way we all care for the mind, body and spirit of our patients, we will care for your community in the same way. Valley Hospital has demonstrated in the past that it will conduct itself well and be extremely mindful of the safety and convenience of our neighbors, my family being one of them, during construction.
Valley Hospital is in the business of making people well.  And our main focus is on patient family center care.  We are not hypocrites where this would only apply to one area and not all areas. The Valley Hospital plays a critical role in the Village and the surrounding communities.  It's in all of our best interest to have the best state of the art facility that will far exceed our competitors driving in your neighborhood. 
With all of the healthcare reform that we are all facing, with declining reimbursements, we will be doing the Village of Ridgewood a huge disservice to allow this amazing hospital to fall short.  Not only should it be an aesthetically pleasing building, but it also should be the top hospital which offers patients and families private rooms and a state of the art facility. This will help to maintain and increase property values.  A declining hospital is a detriment to the community.  I'm sure the majority of you have visited the Valley Hospital either as a patient or have visited a friend, family member or loved one. 
I know for certain that over 80 percent of you were very satisfied with the care you received, but I am sure if I asked for a show of hands right now, very few of you would volunteer to share a room with a complete stranger during your time of illness or during recovery over the opportunity of having a private room. 
I thank you for your time. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you Ms. Valenti. 
Nancy Coopersmith? 
Ellie Gruber, will be next.
MS. COOPERSMITH:  Nancy Coopersmith, 373 Meadowbrook Avenue.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MS. COOPERSMITH:  I do. 
N A N C Y     C O O P E R S M I T H, 373 Meadowbrook Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MS. COOPERSMITH:  Thank you to the Planning Board for all of your hard work. 
I oppose the scale of the Valley Hospital expansion plan and the Amendment that would pave the way for this proposal.  I'd like to convey two messages to the Board. 
First a story from the heart, my niece from Orangetown, New York and her four school age children were visiting us last month.  They stayed overnight during the week because her kids were on spring break.  Ridgewood schools happened to be in session that week. We were up early in the morning about 8:30 talking and having coffee.  My niece ran out to the car to get something.  When she came back in she said    and I'm pretty sure this is a direct quote    "Oh my god, your neighborhood is awesome.  I love seeing all the kids walking to school and riding their bikes, even the little ones are out crossing with the crossing guards.  I wish we had that".
I responded without skipping a beat, "I know, that's why we moved here". 
And the truth is that is why my husband and I settled in Ridgewood 26 years ago.  Like most young families, moving to Ridgewood was a huge sacrifice for us.  The sky high real estate values and exorbitant taxes.
But this is where we wanted to raise our children.  This was the gift that we wanted to give them.  And some things you just can't put a price on. My children are grown now and I don't need to worry about them walking to and from school anymore.  But it profoundly saddens me that my neighbors' children might not have the same experience that mine did.  The freedom to walk the streets safely, the power to be independent and that is something you definitely cannot put a price on, to enjoy their neighborhood and to have a positive and healthy learning environment.  Not one in which the goal is to mitigate deleterious impacts. 
My second point is from the pocketbook.  Not just mine but all of Ridgewood.  Whether you live on Mountain Avenue, Heights Road, North Van Dien or South Pleasant.  My concern is what happens to our highly desirable town when one neighborhood degrades?  When the middle school, one of two feeder schools to the high school, becomes undesirable because it's too dangerous to get to or too noisy or too polluted for parents to send their kids to or for the best teachers to choose to work in? Without the promise of an excellent educational environment, what will Ridgewood have to offer young families, the lifeblood and future of our town?  There are so many other beautiful communities in close proximity to New York City that aren't under this cloud we've put ourselves under.
I'm also concerned about the effects on the Ridgewood's standing and morale when confidence is lost and the town's ability to maintain the residents’ quality of life. 
A little while ago I had a conversation with a friend from HoHoKus about Valley's expansion plan.  He knew we were talking about a massive proposal in a neighborhood adjacent to a school but he wasn't really up on the proceedings over the past eight years.  His comment to me was, "Ridgewood would never allow that to happen". I would have said the same thing eight years ago.  Please take back that reputation of fiercely protecting the people you represent once and for all and to force Valley Hospital to come back with a cooperative, collaborative and common sense approach to achieving its goals, rather than conceding to its outrageous demands.
At the last meeting someone said it perfectly, if you had the right to vote you have the right to vote no. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thanks, Mrs. Coopersmith.
(Applause.) 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Ellie Gruber?
MS. GRUBER:  I'm sorry.  I have allergies.  Ellie Gruber, G r u b e r, 229 South Irving Street, Ridgewood. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
MS. GRUBER:  Yes. 
E L E A N O R   G R U B E R, 229 South Irving Street, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MS. GRUBER:  And I drove my own car tonight so that's good.
First of all, I just want to say that the    I understood the procedure tonight that we were supposed to speak on how it affected us personally.  That's what I thought we were supposed to be doing or else I would have brought a stack of articles and reports about hospital expansions in general. 
But I'm going to stick to what I thought were the parameters of what I am supposed to say tonight. 
And I'm going to    and I also want to say that we are    those who are objecting to the expansion are by no means a minority of the residents of Ridgewood.  We are a large number of people who have lived here a long time and do not want this expansion.  And it is an expansion not a Renewal.
I am going to start with an objection.  When you give the parameters of our comments to be limited to how it affects us, each person who speaks, you're creating a NIMBY situation.  If my neighbor wants a deck then I can say how it affects me personally or not. 
But when a hospital maneuvers to change to the entire variance process, to change the entire permitting process, for nothing more than their profit, their share of the market, then I do object to being told that I have to limit my remarks to how it affects 229 South Irving Street.
I am not across the street from the Hospital, but I am in the Village of Ridgewood.  I've lived here for 46 years this month.  And I have lived through two or three expansions of Valley, each time claiming that if they didn't expend, all would die, poor care.
How does that impact me at 229 South Irving Street?  I have spent many hours in the emergency room, three children, guests, one husband and me.  I have no complaints about the emergency room.  But this is not a world class teaching hospital.  It is a community hospital.  And we have to keep that in mind.  Somehow it has grown to attempt to service most of lower New York City and New Jersey. 
How would it impact me personally?  I will lose all faith in the reason that variances are given by law.
Financial gain is not a reason to grant, not only a variance, but a change in our Master Plan. 
How does it impact me?  How does it impact me?  To see how many meeting this Hospital has caused all of us including you, the members the Planning Board, it’s wrong. 
How does this impact me at 229 South Irving?  Since you tell me this is the only way I can testify tonight.  It impacts my sense of right and wrong.  It impacts my sense, after reading report after report about the enormous sums of money hospitals in the guise of non profit status sock away and have to spend on expansion. 
Other hospitals are coming to our area and soon 229 South Irving Street will be in a hospital zone.  In fact the entire Ridgewood will be in a hospital zone. 
So how does it impact me personally, I think you've heard.  Thank you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Gruber.
George James?
(NO RESPONSE.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Sorry, it's Michael   
MS. HALEY:  Michelle. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  I'm sorry.  Michelle. 
MS. HALEY:  Michelle Haley.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you.
MS. HALEY:  M i c h e l l e H a l e y, 172 North Van Dien Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MS. HALEY:  Yes. 
M I C H E L L E    H A L E Y, 172 North Van Dien Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
MS. HALEY: I moved to Ridgewood because of the schools.  I didn't care for the hospital.  I live right across the street from the hospital. I'm the only corner the hospital doesn't own.  And I don't mind that there are ambulances, I don't mind that they want to renew.  I do mind that they want to expand.  They're not a world class hospital.  They're not going to be a world class hospital unless they compete with Hackensack.  And if they compete with Hackensack, I dare you to drive around Hackensack.  Drive around the hospital.  Tell me if you want to live there.  Tell me what the Hackensack school systems have turned into.  It's not a place that you want Ridgewood to turn into.  I don't think you do.  I don't want it to.  I will move out.  And I dare that many others will too.  It sounds elitist.  It sounds not necessarily nice, but why do you think people move here?  They didn't move here for the hospital.  I don't know if you really    you did, maybe you did, but in all honesty if you want a world class hospital to live next to, you move to Hackensack.  It's listed and afforded that way.  But this hospital is not. 
If they want to renew and they want to make better what they have, deal with what they have.  Make a proposal that will be within the confines of the community.  It's a Village.  It's not a hospital community. 
That's all, thank you very much.
(Applause.)  
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Haley.
Marisol Romero?  Go ahead, come forward. 
MS. ROMERO:  Sorry, Marisol Romero, M a r i s o l R o m e r o, 258 Steilen Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MS. ROMERO:  Yes, I do.
M A R I S O L    R O M E R O, 258 Steilen Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having  been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MS. ROMERO:  Good evening.  I am against this expansion because it will detrimentally affect the most vulnerable residents of our Village, the children. 
As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child.  Well, if this proposal for expansion passes, the Village will be on fire and burning down.
I would like to make some points.  I live on Steilen Avenue and my house backs up    the   lot backs up to the hospital.  And I live there with my husband and two young children.  And we moved here for the schools, especially for the special ed services. 
Having a high building towering over me would make me feel like a thousand pair of eyes would be intruding not only on mine, but my children's right to privacy.  I don't want people at the hospital to see or record what my children are doing in the backyard.  My kids should have a right to be in their PJs without peeping toms or feeling like a giant is watching them.  And I know this because my son had to have some surgery at Valley Hospital and I could see    in March and I could see my neighbor's lots and what they, you know, what was going on in the backyard from his room.  And so that kind of gave    clued me into what we would look like if this huge expansion of 94 feet would continue.
Second, noise and traffic levels from construction and traffic will affect a child's right to a free and fair education.  Especially children on the east side.  Student's focus, concentration, attention and safety will be negatively impacted, especially around testing time, as mandated by the more demanding common core standards.  And I don't know if it's going to take for all of a sudden number 10 schools to become number five, because the kids aren't doing well with the testing or if it's going to take, God forbid, for a child to be seriously injured because of the traffic and the safety issues of walking.
On a personal note, my oldest child has special needs, sensory issues relating to loud noises.  And as I try to work with this child at home after school, homework and studies, this will become a nightmare if he is not able to concentrate on his work.
Lastly, I didn't have the privilege to grow up in a neighborhood like Ridgewood, but I wanted my kids to have the same opportunities.  But I have seen the future.  I grew up in Queens in Elmhurst, down the block from Elmhurst Hospital.  I lived through decades of seeing that mid sized hospital become a ginormous, monolithic building.  And to this day, because my mother still lives there, they have been dealing with congestion, pollution, parking is horrendous.  It's increased a hundred fold.  And the neighborhood looks like it will never be done with construction.
I don't want Ridgewood to end up looking like this.  For this I would have stayed in Queens, paid low taxes, and had my kids go to crappy schools. 
Thank you very much. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Romero. 
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Arnie Vimba?  And then after that it's Cynthia Halaby, you didn't have a check mark.
MS. HALABY:  Pass.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  No speaking?  Okay.
MR. VIMBA:  Arnie Vimba, A r n i e V i m b a, 204 Sollas Court, Ridgewood.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MR. VIMBA:  I do.
A R N I E    V I M B A, 204 Sollas Court, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MR. VIMBA:  Good evening.  We've been at our current address for about 15 years.  I'm here to deliver another voice of opposition to the proposed Valley Hospital expansion.
For many years, the multitude of reasons such as traffic, noise, size, dust, safety and property values have been endlessly debated.  And although these reasons are still critical points of contention, I believe the real reason is the fact that the proposal is simply too big.  No different than the previous iterations proposed several years ago. Valley chose to tweak the previous proposal instead of offering a significant downsizing, and as a result, should simply be turned down. 
As most who oppose the current proposal, I'm not against Hospital Renewal, I do believe Valley needs to update and keep up with the current trends in hospital accommodations and technology.  However, this needs to be done within reason and compromise and the current proposal offers neither of these. 
This latest proposal simply addressed the technical points of the Ridgewood Village Council's previous rejection and neglects the fundamental issues of the project's scope and scale.
Doctors always say we need to deal with the cause of the problem, not the symptoms but with this proposal, Valley chose to focus mainly on the symptoms and not the fundamental causes. 
I commend the Planning Board for your service and patience over the many years of these hearings.  You've been here for every session and heard countless hours of testimony from both sides.
I realize the view of the Planning Board may be that many who oppose The Valley proposal are doing so for personal reasons living in proximity to the Hospital and that your job is to look beyond personal issues and look at the bigger picture.  The so called greater good provided by a hospital.
The problem is that this proposal does not pass the greater good test either.  The proposal creates obvious negative impacts to Ridgewood, while the benefits to Ridgewood or even the broader public are vague at best. 
Would I appreciate a state of the art operating room along with a single occupancy room if I need those services from Valley?  Of course I would, but not at the impact it will create for our community. 
Valley needs to find a compromised solution which provides most of the benefits at a much lower cost to our community.
I realize the decision you're facing is daunting, technical debates have been long and overwhelming.  Ultimately, you simply need to follow your instinct and decide if this is reasonable or too big.
If you do find yourself thinking this proposal is reasonable, how much bigger would this need to be before you believe Valley has gone too far?  More than doubling the gross square footage of the hospital?  Going more than 94 feet high?  More than 6.8 years of phase one construction? 
Remember the contrast, the residential neighborhood and close proximity to two schools.  It's too big and you should vote no. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Vimba.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Joan O'Donnell, 116. 
And following this will be Jody McCambridge. 
MS. O'DONNELL:  Joan O'Donnell, J o a n O ' D o n n e l l, 568 Wyndemere Avenue. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MS. O'DONNELL:  Yes, I do.
J O A N    O ' D O N N E L L, 568 Wyndemere Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:  
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MS. O'DONNELL:  Thank you, Planning Board members for all the time and effort you have spent on learning about the facts, opinions, pros and the cons of the Valley Hospital's proposed expansion.
At a previous meeting I said that approval of this huge expansion on such a small property, "does not make sense".  My opinion is rooted in a common sense appraisal of the project and of the history of how the Valley Hospital has responded to the many concerns of Ridgewood residents. 
So I say to the Planning Board it is just not reasonable to ask us to trust Valley Hospital's proposals for meeting these concerns.
Too often, the Hospital's spokespersons, sometimes in meetings such as these, have treated our concerns very dismissively.  In the legal proceeding, Valley representatives said there were too many hospital beds in Bergen County. Common sense would suggest that the Hospital could serve the community well with fewer beds, especially since such a small percentage, six percent, of Valley's patients are Ridgewood residents. 
Against all logic, we're asked to look forward to having less traffic on nearby streets during and after the years of construction.  That is definitely in the "doesn't make sense category".
Assertions by Valley supporters that the at least six years of construction, the massiveness of the North Tower building and the complexities of the walking and traffic patterns won't have a negative impact on the students at BF and Travell are all against all reason. I can't imagine how the track and field events at the facility right next to the hospital will be handled in light of the difficulties in controlling the air, noise and traffic pollution. Similarly, the 95 students who have asthma, senior citizens and those with compromised health issues will surely be negatively affected.
And, finally, the difference between the 2010 Amendment and the current proposal is so negligible as to almost be an insult to Ridgewood residents, many of whom felt that Valley Hospital was going to address our concerns in a substantive way, that didn't happen. 
So, in my opinion, it doesn't make sense for the Planning Board to allow Valley Hospital to treat our Village in such a disrespectful way.
Please vote no on this proposed amendment.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. O'Donnell. 
Jody McCambridge, 118.
Tom DeVita is after Ms. McCambridge.
MS. McCAMBRIDGE:  Good evening, Jody McCambridge.  J o d y, McCambridge, M c C a m b r i d g e, 232 Steilen Avenue, Ridgewood. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MS. McCAMBRIDGE:  I do.
J O D Y   M c C A M B R I D G E, 232 Steilen Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MS. McCAMBRIDGE:  I'd like to thank the Planning Board for this opportunity.  I don't usually speak out, but I feel this is an instance where I have to express my opinion. 
Again, good evening, I live at 232 Steilen Avenue, Ridgewood for the past 37 years.  I live there with my husband, my daughter, a soccer trainer here in town, her husband who is 32 years old and a veteran who is 100 percent disabled who suffers with PTSD, TBI and an undiagnosed medical condition.  Their two children, a 12 year old boy, who presently goes to BF and is also a severe asthmatic, his brother, a five year old, who will attend kindergarten at Travell in September. 
When I moved to Ridgewood 37 years ago, it was a much    Valley Hospital was much smaller and I remember being told from the local realtors, do not worry.  The Hospital has reached its maximum.  And it will not change very greatly. 
At that time, many of the Valley Hospital medical staff also lived on our block, including personnel.  Of course we all know the changes that have been made, new buildings erected and many of the medical staff and personnel now have all moved. 
We want a good hospital, believe me my family has used it many, many times.  The Hospital quotes itself as being a good neighbor, but in reality it does what it wants and when it wants it. The sirens of the ambulance, the beeping of the delivery trucks backing into the delivery bay area, the loud and sometimes foul mouth of some of the workers in the delivery bay area.  The music being played is constant both throughout the day and the night. The yelling back and forth of the worker getting    forgetting they're within the range of homeowners and children.  The banging of the dumpsters, certainly invade the peacefulness of the home.  And the fumes from the smokestacks permeate the area. I could go on indefinitely.  And it goes on all hours of the night. 
But what I really would like the Board to come away with is that that unless you were there and you are on constant watchdog you don't see it.  And you don't hear it. 
Be aware The Valley Hospital speaks out of both sides of its mouth.  The future of Ridgewood is vital.
I would urge the Planning Board to vote no on this proposed Master Plan Amendment.  Do the Village of Ridgewood and the resident the right and please vote, no. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. McCambridge.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Tom DeVita.  After Mr. DeVita, David Sayles. 
MR. DeVITA:  Good evening, my name is Thomas DeVita, D e V i t a, 256 Sollas Court.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MR. DeVITA:  I do.
T H O M A S    D e V I T A, 256 Sollas Court, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MR. DeVITA:  My wife and I and our six children have lived in Ridgewood for 12 years.  And I grew up in Paramus.  I'm here to ask you to reject the Valley Renewal Amendment to the Master Plan and that you as a Planning Board return to the Master Plan in place before the series of unfortunate events and litigations last year.
I hope you remember me as I attended many meetings last year.  My business and personal schedule have prevented me from attending meetings this year in the process. 
Interestingly though, my travels take me many places, including by some of the hospitals mentioned by the experts as a comparison, which leaves me to ask you a question on the planning aspects. However, my travel also reinvigorated my view about what makes Ridgewood so special.  In a country whose development seems to end up with wide congested roads, waffle houses, Outback Steakhouses and an Olive Gardens, we have a great community and part of its greatness is the Hospital.
This is about our future.  We need the Hospital, my daughter was born in the Hospital.  And countless others can stand in lines singing its praises. 
But, regrettably, we've been told a story by the Hospital about what it must have to go forward.  You've been asked to trust the Hospital.  You've been told by the Hospital that the plan is the plan and no major alterations to their plan appears amenable. In fact, many of my questions over the past two years, were along the lines would you consider something smaller or different. 
Each time the experts mentioned that they only addressed Valley's plan and did not consider the feasibility of any compromise to a smaller plan. Please do not take this story as fact.  Do not take their experts forecasts as definitive.  Common sense should lead you to the right result to reject this plan.
Over these many months, I've come to believe that the Hospital should be able to expand far less than the planned behemoth. I'm confident that Valley will continue to thrive even with a smaller addition.  They just need to plan for it.  I believe that their strategic decisions or lack thereof, should not result in the community bearing so great a burden for the growth plan.
In my limited time left I will highlight only a few items as you deliberate and ask you to consider them as fatal to Valley's plan.
Recall the many discussions about the number of beds, the number of beds is important because it's a simple factor used to calculate and justify the square footage of the facility.  This is a huge change to the present size of the facility yet only a modest reduction in the original plan. Once you approve the plan, the use of space as currently designed, with no requirements, to be sorted later take them at their word. 
My daughter has leukemia.  Sloan Kettering, I trust you know the name, treats their patients two to a room.  It's simple math, there's too many beds.
Height, my understanding is the proposed height would be by far the tallest structure in Ridgewood, 50 percent taller than anything in town, especially outside of the Central Business District. 
MS. WONDERGEM:  You have 30 seconds left.
MR. DeVITA:  It was helpful to see a small flag on top of the Hospital to show the proposed height, clever indeed to have the optical illusion of a small spire, when in actuality upon construction the entire structure will be at the heights noted.  The building is too tall for a residential section.
Finally, just a minute    the experts Valley has put on all say everything will be fine.  Water will be removed.  Blasting will not be an issue.  The air will be clean.  The drivers will wear white gloves.  The brakes will never squeak and there will be no extra traffic.  Don't believe it.  The construction would revert itself. 
Mr. Olivo was quite confident.  I find the forecast he predicted most difficult. 
I'm enlightened, though, I learned that the traffic expert also predicted not much impact of the daycare center located just over the Ridgewood border on Paramus Road.  I hope you get this right.  The Village desperately needs a parking garage.  Where you cannot make a change to your driveway without a long process.  This plan asks too much.
Reject the plan, seek a more modest addition to the facility that better matches the needs of the Hospital with the reality of its location. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. DeVita.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  David Sayles?  Following Mr. Sayles will be Ms. Cooper. 
MR. SAYLES:  Good evening, my name is David Sayles, S a y l e s.  I live at 537 Nagle Street.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Sir, I'm sorry. What street? 
MR. SAYLES:  Nagle, N a g l e. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MR. SAYLES:  I do.
D A V I D    S A Y L E S, 537 Nagle Street, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MR. SAYLES:  I don't have a lot prepared, I know you guys have been through a whole lot, and I don't pretend to be an expert in everything that's going on here. I just    I want to speak a little bit from the heart.  The discussion about time is like    time is muscle and    and time is brain.
I would urge you to consider voting for this change only because I have lived through a couple of situations where I had to get to a hospital regularly, once in New York for my father and once at Valley with my son. 
I can tell you it's a lot easier and it's a lot    much nicer for the family and for everybody else to have    to be able to go right next door and take care of    help your son or whoever, family member, go through what's a very, very tough time, you know, I had to go into New York.  It was a 45 minute to an hour trip two, or three times a day sometimes.  It's just very, very difficult to make that happen.  And    and speaking from the heart and what's close to us here, for those of you that haven't been through it, I hope you never do go through it, but if you do, you'll want a place like Valley right around the corner instead of going into New York, going to Sloan Kettering.  I mean I can tell you stories about Sloan all night long.  I just, you know, We're here about    talking about Valley.  And I think it's a wrong decision to shoot it all down.  I    I am for the movement.  And I think you guys should think about it and vote that way it. 
That's all I have to say, thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. Sayles.
Colleen Cooper.  Following Ms. Cooper is Jason VanVolkenburgh. 
MS. COOPER:  Colleen Cooper, C o o p e r, 418 Northern Parkway.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
MS. COOPER:  I do.
C O L L E E N    C O O P E R, 418 Northern Parkway, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MS. COOPER:  I have lived in Ridgewood for 11 years.  And my reason, like a lot of the other people for coming here, was the schools.  And also being able to walk around the community, and go to the business district, for my children to be able to walk back and forth to school. 
I mean the Hospital was a bonus, but it really was an afterthought and it really wasn't my reason for coming here. I have three children in the Ridgewood Public School system, one in Travell, one at BF middle school, and at the high school.  And my middle school student is one of the asthma students that we've talked about.  And 90 students, that's about 10 percent of the student body of BF.  I mean at recess my son now can play basketball.  He can play soccer.  He walks to and from school.  And those 90 students, are they going to have to stay in the building the whole time for their middle school experience? My son sees Dr. Kanengiser who's a pulmonologist with Valley.  It's very interesting to me that he has not testified with regards to air pollution and quality of air.
And my daughter, Anya, the high school student, she also has asthma.  She runs cross country, does track and let's just say a lot of the practice is, you know, at the BF track and runs from Ridgewood High School, as do our football students, our soccer students, you know, tennis, I mean the all use the track.  They start running after period nine which is roughly 3:30.  And in the fall and the winter when they're running back it's usually 5:30, six o'clock, it's starting to get dark.  And some nights when I go to pick her up there's 40, 50 students running in the middle of the street. 
And, you know, I'm very concerned about the safety of them.  In addition to use of the track by all of the students in Ridgewood.  No one has really talked about the size of this big building.  I mean all of our students, this is our biggest auditorium in the community, I mean I know with Travell we put on our annual play, four afternoons are students are at rehearsals here.  And if they show up at 3:15, after school, I mean the local production companies, like stage right, I mean they come and they practice here.  And these are students whose parents often drop them off on the opposite side of the street and they run across the roads.
MS. WONDERGEM:  You have 30 seconds left.
MS. COOPER:  Sorry.
And, finally, in conclusion our children are the foundation of our community.  I am a parent of a 'tween and a teen.  And we've get several    we've been getting several e mails from the superintendent about the use of technology, now when they arrive to school our students bring their iPods, they have their smartphones.  They're using these while walking across the street, very often it's not a crosswalk.  I mean I really just see this as an accident waiting to happen.
I am all for Valley's modernization and having my own room, but when it comes to compromising the safety and health of my children, I really urge you to vote no. 
So thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Cooper.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Jason VanVolkenburgh?  And after Jason VanVolkenburgh will be Elizabeth Clothier.
MR. VanVOLKENBURGH:  Jason VanVolkenburgh, 468 Linwood Avenue. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Spell your name please? 
MR. VanVOLKENBURGH:  V a n V o l k e n b u r g h.  VanVolkenburgh. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MR. VanVOLKENBURGH:  I do.
J A S O N  V A N  V O L K E N B U R G H, 468 Linwood Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:  
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MR. VanVOLKENBURGH:  Good evening, first and foremost, I want to thank the Planning Board for the many hours that they have devoted to this matter, for allowing Ridgewood residents to speak on this important issue this evening.
I stand before you tonight because I truly love this Village.  And I care deeply about preserving it, so those who currently enjoy it can continue to do so.  And so those who have not yet had the opportunity to enjoy it, will have an opportunity to enjoy it in the same manner we do today.
Unlike many of the residents that spoke last week, and who have lived in this Village for decades.  I have only lived here for three years.  And I have no children. 
However, I have a vision that one day I will have children and that my children and their children will have the same opportunity to enjoy this Village as all of us in this room do today, to preserve that vision and ensure that it becomes a reality, I feel it's incumbent upon me to stand before you tonight and ask you to do three very important things.
First, make sure you understand the true consequences of approving Valley's expansion.  You've had the opportunity to hear from many experts that Valley has proffered throughout this process.  When you consider their testimony, use your common sense to sort through it and make sense of it. 
Don't take things that you've heard at face value, especially some testimony that the expansion will actually reduce traffic. Remember that those experts that stood before you testified on Valley's dime.
The residents of Ridgewood have not had the luxury of putting forth our own experts to counter the testimony of each and every one of Valley's experts.  As we are out working hard to earn money to pay our taxes. While Valley on the other hand pays no taxes and reaps great profits on the backs of us hardworking citizens.
Secondly, make sure you narrow the issue and ask yourself the right question.  Is this expansion and proposed Amendment to the Master Plan in the best interest of the Village? As one of the residents so eloquently put it last week, this is not the Village of Valley, this is the Village of Ridgewood.  And you are here to make the decision of what is best for Ridgewood, irrespective of the potential consequences to Valley Hospital. 
Finally, I said I was going to ask three things of you this evening.  One, understand the consequences; Two, ask yourself the right question; and three, finally make the decision that you can be proud of, the decision that your children and your children's children can be proud of, make the decision that will allow everyone in this room to continue to enjoy this Village as it stands today.
We are all counting on you, please don't let us down. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you.  Mr. VanVolkenburgh.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Ms. Clothier.  And then next is Kelly Gioia. 
MS. CLOTHIER:  Hi, Elizabeth Clothier, C l-o t h i e r, 462 Overbrook Road.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MS. CLOTHIER:  Yes, I do. 
E L I Z A B E T H    C LO T H I E R, 462 Overbrook Road, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MS. PETERS:  I do apologize but when people clap I can't hear the name being said.  Could you please repeat your name? 
MS. CLOTHIER:  Of course, Elizabeth Clothier, 462 Overbrook Road.
MS. PETERS:  Thank you.
MS. CLOTHIER:  Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak tonight. 
What I would like to do is read a letter that I sent to the Planning Board and also to The Ridgewood News two months ago because as I reflected on the things that I could say tonight and how this personally affects me, I actually thought I said it pretty well two months ago.  So I thought I'd re read it. 
"Dear Ridgewood Planning Board members, I listened with interest to Mr. Brancheau's presentation at the Planning Board meeting last evening".  Which would be two month ago. "I found it informative and supportive of my belief  that the Planning Board should deny Valley Hospital revised Master Plan Amendment. Mr. Brancheau stated that both hospitals and schools fall under the land use category of inherently beneficial uses.  That use is defined as universally considered of value to the community because it fundamentally serves the public good and promotes general welfare.  Accordingly, the adjacent uses Ben Franklin Middle School and Valley Hospital are similar  in nature and deserving consideration because they beneficially serve the public.  That similarity being acknowledged, that is where the similarities and consideration should end. Mr. Brancheau acknowledges that the Valley Hospital expansion would cause detrimental effects on adjacent land uses including detrimental impact from increased intensity of use, loss of light, air, open space and increased visual impacts relating to height,  building mass, setbacks, buffers and building designs.  That one adjacent entity of similar land use classification could impose such detrimental impact to an adjacent entity also beneficial to serving the public, seems preposterous. Additionally, BF can only serve the beneficial use to the community where it exists right now.  BF has no alternative to locate its services elsewhere. Further, I presume that almost 100 percent of the beneficial uses offered by BF serve to directly benefit Ridgewood residents.  That same percentage to service to Ridgewood residents cannot be claimed by Valley. From past testimony I believe that less than 10 percent of patients treated at Valley are from Ridgewood.
Therefore, those adjacent land uses are  classified similarly, the direct benefit of  those uses being applied to Ridgewood residents are inherently disproportionate. The ability of BF to provide its services to the Ridgewood community should trump the  limited services offered to Ridgewood residents by Valley Hospital.
Accordingly, the Planning Board should deny Valley's application.  Denying Valley's application to amend the Master Plan doesn't prevent Valley from providing its inherent beneficial use, because Valley can provide those services elsewhere.  It simply ensures and protects the educational integrity and beneficial use provided by BF to the residents of Ridgewood.  Thank you for your consideration". 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Clothier.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Kelly Gioia?  After Ms. Gioia is Lisa Baney.
MS. GIOIA:  Hi, I'm Kelly Gioia.
THE COURT REPORTER:  State your name please.
MS. GIOIA:  Kelly Gioia. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Can you spell it please? 
MS. GIOIA:  G i o i a. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Is Kelly with a "Y" or "I".
MS. GIOIA:  No, just "Y".
THE COURT REPORTER:  And your address please? 
MS. GIOIA:  447 Fairway Road.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
MS. GIOIA:  Yes.
K E L L Y   G I O I A, 447 Fairway Road, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you. 
MS. GIOIA:  Usually it's not me up here speaking it's my husband Dan.  So I really just have two or three things to say. 
I want to thank Pete and C.R.R. for all their hard work and fighting a good fight here.  Thank you so much.  Lorraine and Marla, I mean I'm so sick of all this and listening to all this and I've been come to these meetings for six or seven years still and this year I basically gave up because I can't really take it anymore. 
And I was going to go and come up here and say I would like my three minutes to just be silence because    and just reflect on everything that has happened over these last    last seven years.  And it's mind boggling to me.
When I first came up here and made a statement probably six or seven years ago I said something about it's like the Hospital is fitting a size 16 in a size two bikini.  And that got a lot of laughs, but it's not even funny anymore because, it's crazy. 
So, the other thing I just want to say is I took note tonight as I was sitting here and standing that most of the people who spoke for the Hospital who do live in Ridgewood, they said their little speech, and they hightailed it out of here. If you notice most of the people who are really concerned said what they were going to say and they sat back down.  And they sit here and they listen night after night. So   
(Applause.)
MS. GIOIA:  Thank you.  Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you.  Ms. Gioia.
Lisa Baney? 
MS. GIOIA:  Please vote no. (Laughter).
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Lisa Baney?
After Ms. Baney is Liz Henky.
MS. BANEY:  Lisa Baney, at 136 Brookside Avenue. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
MS. BANEY:  Yes.
L I S A    B A N E Y, 136 Brookside Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey,having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:  
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MS. BANEY:  Good evening.  If the proposed amendment is based on a plan that is detrimental to Ridgewood in significant ways, please vote no. 
If you even are concerned that maybe this could exceed the positives, the responsible vote is no. 
This is your personal decision, I think that's the way you have to look at that.
Ridgewood has been my home for 50 years.  I first moved to the corner of Glenwood and Parsons when I was three.  I figured out that it was 50 years because unfortunately I recently did that math.
I love this town and there is not a place in the world like it.  So worth preserving that even with kids in the prime of their growing up, I just spent the last seven years trying to navigate a process where we residents can substantiate the obvious, in what I think has been a defensive and narrow quasi judicial process. 
Residents clearly cannot afford to hire expert witnesses to make our intelligent input admissible, or hire the authors of official government documents to swear to their contents.  It's just not possible. 
But this town is so worth preserving that I needed to put my heart and mind on the line.  I wish now that this process winds down, that my children weren't now almost off to college. 
Along with your very good judgment, here are some quick reasons to vote no.
Number one, some witnesses say that pre existing hospital has to modernize and expand.  I interpret that fact differently than Valley.  If a business knows growth or industry change    industry change is going to steadily push them this far beyond their land use confines, it needs to be a big boy and plan ahead. 
Blais told the story how Valley first was in a residential zone exempted in 1957 from a residential 30 foot height restriction, and has grown steadily upward and outward to how it is today.  And now essentially double?  A greedy request at a site already recognized for an incompatible land use?  I cannot imagine this Planning Board could approve that and call it good planning.
Number two, the Hospital knew this was coming for decades.  Uh oh, the Hospital and the Board obviously see the latest outpatient and care trends yet now there are no teeth in this plan on intensity of use.  Won't the same pressures of industry changes certainly come knocking again?
Number three, the vast majority of disease in acute care hospital is spread through blood transfusions and other line procedures, breathing masks and health worker hygiene.  You can check that with the latest reports from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  A huge    a huge demerit on the credibility of Valley's experts and even the Board's expert, Mr. May, who have named contagion as one of the key rationale for single patient rooms.  I know I do not have the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with me, with my lawyer to swear him in as an expert, but taken based on the fact that five weeks ago Valley held that it had received an A on how well they protect their patients against infections, accidents, errors and injuries. 
MS. WONDERGEM:  You have 30 seconds left.
MS. BANEY:  I'm almost finished, sorry, and as only one of less than 500 hospitals in the country to get that award.
Number five, and I'm ending here    actually I'm going to skip four, you want to be inherently beneficial and keep pace with the market?  Face land use constraints head on, and early.  Focus on renovating or rebuilding that practices with your greatest competitive advantage and/or locate offsite those that are best served without such land use restraints. 
If Valley says this is cost prohibitive, but it won't tell us the numbers because that's confidential, then it is unfortunately, as a fact, unsubstantiated. 
By the way, residents absolutely cannot afford to have their homes, typically the bulk of their life savings, degrade in value m and still stay in their homes, which can degrade neighborhoods.
This should be a concern for the Board.  Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Baney.
(Applause.)  
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Please hold your applause. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Mr. Chairman, can you ask Ms. Baney if she would give us a copy of her statement. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Lisa, can you provide Laura a copy of your statement so she can   
MR. DRILL:  She had trouble understanding a few words. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  A copy of your statement. 
MS. BANEY:  I'll give it to her after, I'm going to clean up what I said.  I will hand it to you later, I have a fresh copy. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Okay.  When will you have that for her? 
MS. BANEY:  Maybe in, like, three minutes.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Okay.  Great.  Perfect. 
MS. HENKY:  Liz Henky. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Liz, how do you spell the last name.
MS. HENKY:  H e n k y. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  You address? 
MS. HENKY:  266 Steilen Avenue.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Raise your right hand please.  Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MS. HENKY:  Yes.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
L I Z   H E N K Y, 266 Steilen Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
MS. HENKY:  Hi, everybody.  Thank you guys so much for everything.  I know you guys put a lot of time in and I thank Mr. McKenna and all you.  All of you who have been working so hard. 
I don't have anything prepared and public speaking is my least favorite thing to do.  But I do live right behind the Hospital.  I do have three babies at home.  They're going to go to Travell.    They're going to go to BF.  They're going to go to the high school.  And it's going to be their whole life with all this construction. 
I grew up in Ridgewood.  My husband grew up on Ridgewood.  And it was our dream to get married to move to Ridgewood and raise our children here.  And    and we do love it.  There are parts of the Hospital that I've had experience with like the NICU.  I had a sick baby first.  And I know Dr. Antonella (phonetic).  It a big NICU.  And I know the doctors and the nurses and I get it.  I understand that they need to modernize.  I have a daughter that has other issues.  She was delivered in the City.  And then I had my third child back at Valley.  We called it the Valley Country Club because it really is so nice.  And it is nice.
And I do think that they need improvements, but I just think the whole plan is just so crazy.  And I wish that they came to a better compromise then they did, it kind of    some people say it's open.  I just think it's just a little bit silly.  And I know all you guys all have families and you guys are busy.  I feel like this is just    just like crazy that this is going on so long. I hope that you guys vote no. 
Again I thank you.  For all your time and good luck with it.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Henky. 
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Brian O'Connor.  Following Mr. O'Connor is Suzanne O'Connor Horne.
MR. O'CONNOR:  Brian O'Connor, 317 North Pleasant Avenue, Ridgewood. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? 
MR. O'CONNOR:  Yes, I do.
B R I A N   O ' C O N N O R, 317 North Pleasant Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey,  having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MR. O'CONNOR:  Thank you for the hours, the time you put in. 
But there's    first of all, there's a lot of acrimony.  I have a lot of respect for Valley Hospital.  A lot of bed use in my family.  That thing looks familiar, my daughter.  I was born in Valley Hospital, none of my children were, but some of my grandchildren were. So, I have kind of mixed emotions about this.  But it's not about Valley Hospital.  It's about the construction of a massive, massive building.  And with that massive building there's some unknowns that, you know, have to be addressed, the contaminant, the exhaust, the asbestos. 
Just the way they were addressed and how we are going to hose them down, literally speaking that was the testimony, we're going to hose things down to dampen this particulate matter, the contaminants that exist.  I don't know if they're asbestos, but they are contaminants.  So what happens when they hose them down?  Where does it go?  What happens when they dry?  You get this particulate matter and it's going to float in the air, it will be ingested, by who, thousands of children over the course of six years.  You know you said 95 kids with asthma? Can you imagine the ramifications of that dust and particulate matter?  I don't know what's going to happen, but it's an unknown. 
And I don't see how in good faith you can okay a project like that with that number thousands of children.  That's number one.  That's what we don't know.  And that's a legal liability issue.
Quickly, the facts, yes, what we do know, what we do know is the impact this would have on the municipal services.  I mean that's a given.  You have a bigger structure, the town and    and limit to the town, fire apparatus that may have to be purchased for this, the cost to maintain that apparatus.  I mean I don't know what this thing is going to be, but it's going to be there.  It's going to be a cost we don't have now.  And a cost we don't have to incur. 
These are things I hope that you look at competently and that it would give you sound reasons to vote no against it. 
I mean I can go on forever. 
Another thing, the paradigms that exist   
MS. WONDERGEM:  You have 30 seconds left.
MR. O'CONNOR:     with healthcare.  Hospital for Special Surgery the    probably the most prominent orthopedic hospital in the world, maybe, just announced they're opening a satellite office in Paramus, two, three blocks    three blocks away from this facility. 
So, this is all about business, you know, why is Hospital for Special Surgery coming into this area?
MS. WONDERGEM:  You have 30 seconds left.
MR. O'CONNOR:  Could be the vicinity, you know, it's stellar and nice, Valley Hospital    Valley Hospital isn't going anywhere. 
MS. WONDERGEM:  You have 30 seconds left.
MR. O'CONNOR:  Huh?  Three minutes.
Well, that's    that's kind of a wrap.
But, again, the paradigms with the technology, the size of the CAT scans, the decreasing MRI, decreasing technology gets smaller, so the footprint you need to operate is going to get smaller.
So I don't know if you really need a million feet whatever the case is.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mr. O'Connor.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Following Ms. Horne is Suzanne Gagan, number 172. 
MS. O'CONNOR HORNE:  Hi, Susan O'Connor Horne, 420 Overbrook Road.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.
Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MS. O'CONNOR HORNE:  I do.
S U S A N   O ' C O N N O R   H O R N E, 420 Overbrook Road, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MS. O'CONNOR HORNE:  So I apologize you had a better speaker lined up than I, my nine year old daughter Katie was going to make a heartfelt plea that you please reject the expansion.  However, she pooped out.  So she's in bed and you're stuck with me.  So I will make my own plea.
When my husband Bill and I moved here in 2007, we were happy we had the Valley Hospital nearby considering we came with, you know, a two year old and four year old at the time, you know, it gave us great peace of mind.  And I know over the course of the last seven years, having to visit the emergency room four times, Valley Hospital became a blessing.  And the care and service, absolutely outstanding, with the exception of the arguments as part of this proceeding, my experience with Valley has been overwhelmingly positive. 
That said, I have worked for over 20 years for a financial information company.  And my job is largely to act as a strategist.  And in my role, I have to look at all of the different options of what can be done, and then you have to deselect.  When you deselect and narrow the focus based on fixed points.
There's so many fixed points, points that are fact based that will not change.  Those things help you to limit your options and there are so many with regards to this project.  They just do not make sense. 
In my job as strategist this would be a very, very simple decision to make because the logic just does not    does not justify the benefits.
However, you have a difficult decision, I respect you for it, I respect you for the time and energy you put in. 
Please for the sake of the kids and for the sake of the community, please let it be the right decision. 
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Horne.
Suzanne Gagan? 
MS. GAGAN:  It's S u z a n n e G a g a n, Suzanne Gagan.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Your address.
MS. GAGAN:  313 Graydon Terrace. 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
MS. GAGAN:  Yes.
S U Z A N N E    G A G A N, 313 Graydon Terrace, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows:
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MS. GAGAN:  I am here to urge you to vote no on this Master Plan Amendment.  The proposed hospital expansion will seriously and permanently hurt the quality of life of my family and community both during the construction period and over the long term after the construction project has been completed. 
I am particularly concerned about the health and safety of the children in the community, Especially those attending neighboring schools during the many years of construction whose learning environment will be irreparably damaged. 
In addition, the size and scope of the proposed expansion is completely out of proportion with the size and location of the existing site.
Please vote no.  Thank you.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Gagan.
Number 192? 
(NO RESPONSE.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Number 198, Kate Mancini? 
MS. MANCINI:  Kate Mancini, M a n c i n i, 325 Meadowbrook Avenue.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
MS. MANCINI:  Yes, I do.
K A T E    M A N C I N I, 325 Meadowbrook Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
THE COURT REPORTER:  Thank you.
MS. MANCINI:  In the interest of keeping my comments to three minutes, I had to take out all of my feelings on how this expansion will negatively affect me and my family so I am speaking of just to previous testimony given.
I would like to start by thanking everyone involved both on the Planning Board and the C.R.R. community.  I truly appreciate everyone's time and commitment as I know you all have Ridgewood's best interest at heart.
I would like to speak to the testimony that Mr. May, the hospital expert, provided.  And, unfortunately I couldn't be at either meeting but if I had, this is what I would have asked and said. I was born and raised in Binghamton, New York and from three generations of physicians practicing in the Rochester/Binghamton area. Both of my grandfathers, my father, four uncles and numerous cousins are doctors.  My uncle was on the Board of Directors for Sloan Memorial Hospital in Rochester, over 800 beds. One of my cousins is a physician at Geneva Hospital. 
I myself have been a patient in the ER at Binghamton General.  And two of my mother's personal physicians and long time family friends currently sit on Binghamton General's Board.
In his testimony, Mr. May acknowledged that the towns of the hospitals that he used as comparables were not apples to apples.  And I couldn't agree with him more.  He described Binghamton General as being residential on three sides of it and pointed out the Binghamton High School in his slide.  The description of the neighborhood is completely inaccurate.  Two sides of it are commercial, including many bars and restaurants.  The other two sides are rundown, low income, two family homes and apartments. 
And Binghamton High School is not pictured in the slide.  In fact you have to cross two rivers, the Susquehanna and Chenango to get to it.
But disregarding all of those facts that Mr. May totally got wrong about the surrounding area, what really interests me is where he came up with the 500 bed count and to question him further about the 481 skilled nursing staff beds that he claims are in General Hospital. I would also ask him to clarify about the 477 staffed beds, plus 142 licensed beds at Geneva that he testified are in the hospital. 
Did he mean that they are actually within the hospital, itself, or are they spread out amongst the Hospital and two separate nursing homes and an elderly housing complex all around the Geneva campus?  Because this is what he was hired to do after all, find other hospitals with similar bed count to Valley and compare them. 
But since I am both limited in time and due to your third party hearsay rules, I cannot get into the details of what I know at the Binghamton General and Geneva bed count are to my understanding and that we, the private citizens of Ridgewood, simply do not have the deep and endless pockets that Valley does and are, unfortunately, unable financially to hire our own hospital expert to give the Board our own accounting.
But if I were on the Board and charged with such a heavy monumental decision that could forever change Ridgewood, I would make two phone calls to verify whether or not Mr. May gave statistically correct factual testimony because if he misrepresented the bed count in the hospitals that he himself chose to compare to Valley, then I would have to seriously question his overall credibility as an expert. 
I would   
MS. WONDERGEM:  You have 30 seconds left.
MS. MANCINI:  It is only three minutes, I timed them. 
I would make the first call to Binghamton General and the second call to Geneva Hospital. 
In 1983, the Village Council gave very clear direction that Valley via resolution "expand no more".  They have the ensuing 30 years to investigate alternative means of expansion and/or renovation.
Like the comparable institutions selected by the so called expert, Geneva and Binghamton General, they could have chosen to merge with nearby hospitals, this option presented itself when Pascack Valley closed, but instead they filed a lawsuit to stop Hackensack from acquiring it.
If Valley was truly concerned about the health and welfare of patients in the community that they serve, they would not be choosing this slap to our face with the so called compromise they outlined in the submission to the Planning Board. 
Please vote no.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Ms. Mancini. 
Amy McCambridge?
MS. A. McCAMBRIDGE:  Amy McCambridge, 232 Steilen Avenue.
THE COURT REPORTER:  Please raise your right hand.
Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MS. A. McCAMBRIDGE:  Yes, I do. 
A M Y   M c C A M B R I D G E, 232 Steilen Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey, having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: 
MS. A. McCAMBRIDGE: Okay, I did not come planned with anything to say, I actually just walked in.  I'm pretty tired because Valley has had me up ever since the weather got nice.  We got some windows in the house and we back right up to Valley so I think it was like one, then four and then six that we woke up    not just myself but my kid also.  So it’s been pretty awesome not being able to sleep through the night, you know for a couple of weeks.  And I'm sure it will continue as the weather gets nicer and nicer.  So we have sound makers and the air conditioning on to block out all the noise.
And I called and complained, but it's falling on deaf ears all the time.  It just continuously happens.  I am my three concerns here is the    the noise.  My kid already uses the middle school.  He's up at least twice in the night and that's already effecting his learning for sure.  He's tired.  He's in seventh grade at BF.  He's also an asthmatic so I can't even imagine that with all this construction how that will affect him through the years as well as all the other kids.
The other two things that are my big concerns is the safety of our children and the environmental concerns. 
My husband was the vet my mom, she spoke earlier.  And my mother is wondering was so sick and what happened in Iraq and the toxins that were in the area and whatnot.  And I can see the smokestacks from the hospital and I    I wanted to ask my parents is that an incinerator?  And they said they didn't know.  And I called Valley for like two months and they didn't know the answer to that either, but actually it's not an incinerator.  It's a boiler, but it used to be I guess.
My point is that if it's a boiler clear smoke would be coming out of it.  My husband is home every single day and he sits in that backyard and it's not clear smoke all the time, they're burning stuff in there.  They definitely are.  They burn stuff there.  And I remember one time we were barbecuing and we could taste the diesel fuel on the steaks.  It comes right across.  Right across, like I said, we back up, the wall is right there (indicating).
And that leads to my next concern is the safety of our kids.  When we moved back against the backyard, we put a trampoline in the back, right back to that wall so my kids have learned so many curse words from the workers back there going back and forth. So, I sit out there with them and I hear it.  And I don't want to say anything because I don't know who these people are and don't know who's coming into the hospital.  I don't know whose cars are backed up watching myself and my kids, they know our routine and whatnot.  The wall is so low they can see everything. 
The Hospital does nothing to protect us from that or give us privacy from    from all these strangers coming in.  And that relates to all those kids walking around this school.  We don't know who is coming into our town.  This is Ridgewood.  This is not a city.  We're here to protect our kids.
MS. WONDERGEM:  You have 30 seconds left. 
MS. A. McCAMBRIDGE:  Oh, I have 30 seconds.
Anyway, it's not safe environmentally.  It's not safe for the kids.  It's not safe for any human being.  And a safety issue we don't know who is coming into the town.  Like I said the wall is low    oh, one last thing we had a guy    we have beer cans behind our wall and I guy jumped over the wall and he just    he peed in our backyard from the Hospital, a worker, which We reported to the Hospital.  So now my husband sits out there and he's our watchdog.  But, again, please vote no.  Please vote no.  That's it. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Thank you, Mrs. McCambridge.
That was the last person on our list.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Did I miss anyone?  Is there anyone else who has not spoken who wishes to speak this evening? 
(NO RESPONSE.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  If not, I want to say thank you very much for your comments it's a very informative process.
If there is no one else to speak, is there a motion to close the public comment.
VICE CHAIRMAN JOEL:  Motion to close public comment.
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  A second please? 
MS. BIGOS:  I'll second. 
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  All those in favor?
(Whereupon, all Board Members respond in the affirmative.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Anybody opposed?
(NO RESPONSE.)
CHAIRMAN NALBANTIAN:  Okay.  So this concludes public comment. 

The hearing was continued to June 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. 

The meeting was adjourned at 10:50 p.m.

      Respectfully submitted,
      Jane Wondergem
      Board Secretary

Date approved: