Ridgewood Planning Board Approves Controversial Valley Hospital Expansion Plan

RIDGEWOOD, N.J. - The Valley Hospital's controversial expansion plan was given the go ahead Tuesday by the Planning Board years after the hospital first proposed it.

The board voted 6-3 after dozens of residents spoke out for the second consecutive night against the expansion that means the hospital will be 961,000 square feet. Several students from the adjacent Benjamin Franklin Middle School showed up wearing surgical masks and signs speaking out against the air pollution that many of the plan's detractors said come with the expansion.

It was the third time in a decade Valley's plans have gone before the board. The hospital proposed an expansion in 2014 that would have increased it to 995,000 square feet, but the board voted it down. Another proposal for an expansion to 1.2 million square feet in 2010 was similarly approved, but the council rejected it. Valley sued the board and the Village Council, claiming the board "unlawfully prioritized" the interests of the neighborhood over the region's interests.

The hospital and village met for several mediation sessions with a retired state judge before an agreement on the 2016 proposal for 961,000 square feet was reached.

Valley agreed to reduce the height of the building nearest the middle school from 70 to 56 feet as part of the mediation.

The Village Council must still adopt an ordinance approving the proposed zoning changes.

A trial against the council will begin May 9, officials said. The judge in that trial could force the council to adopt an amendment ordinance permitting the changes recommended by the Planning Board. Although the the Planning Board has jurisdiction over the master plan, the council still needs to approve the changes as a matter of law.

If the Planning Board had not adopted the amendment, the judge could have used the hospital's 2010 and 2014 plans as the basis for a decision in the case.