Parking, Venue Shift Fanned Tensions Before Contentious Valley Meeting

More than two weeks after a contentious Ridgewood Planning Board meeting resulted in the approval of a massive expansion to the Valley Hospital, rumors linger on what led up the historic meeting.

Planning Board attorney Gail Price said the board went "above and beyond" its legal obligations, while Paul Gould, spokesman for the activist group Concerned Residents of Ridgewood, said his group "was absolutely not satisfied" with the board's communication.

By a 6-1 vote Planning Board members passed a Master Plan amendment to permit the village hospital to nearly double in size before a mixed crowd of Valley supporters and resident opponents. Outside, more than 200 people chanted "Vote, no!" after being excluded from the 430-seat auditorium due to its maxed-out capacity.

Two relatively late announcements helped fan the flames in the sweltering auditorium. On June 17, the meeting was moved to the smaller George Washington Middle School, and on June 21 the board announced that parking was restricted at the West Side Presbyterian Church—the only sizable nearby lot.

Price said the board was limited by the rooms made available by the Board of Education. Additionally, miscommunication led to the parking problems.

"People waited 3.5 years to hear from the board members and (the) final vote, and many people were denied that opportunity," Gould wrote in an e-mail.

The board began considering the amendment in 2006 and has gone through two drafts, three experts and nearly 40 hearings in that span. After the public hearings officially closed earlier this month, the board announced final deliberations would be heard June 21.

Originally, the vote was to take place in the Village Hall Court Room—a room with a capacity of about 100 people, Village Clerk Heather Mailander said. After residents requested a room change, Price said, the board approached the Ridgewood school district for a larger venue—eventually named as the large Benjamin Franklin Middle School auditorium. The meeting was properly noticed.

"We were told that we had to be very careful at BF because of a scheduled promotion ceremony for eighth graders. They wanted to ensure the condition of the room was left in the manner we found it," Price said.

However, on June 17 the district told the Planning Board "it had been contacted by the Class of 2010 Project Graduation, who were very concerned that they weren't going to have full access for setup."

That concern and the promotion ceremony caused Superintendent Dr. Daniel Fishbein to move the meeting to George Washington Middle School.

Some have said the board was trying to prevent residents from viewing the proceeding. Price called that "ridiculous because the decision was made by the Board of Education and the (Planning]) Board didn't have a say." 

She said board secretary Barbara Carlton sent out the new legal notice and further went beyond requirements by personally e-mailing other parties, including Gould, the Valley Hospital and Patch, among others.

Although the board fulfilled its required communications, Gould said, due to the smaller venue, measures had to be taken to allow opportunity for access.

If the middle school would be used, Gould requested, "arrangements should be made for people to be able to hear the proceedings... We also let the board know that we were expecting a large crowd. We expected that if arrangements could not be made to allow people to hear the proceedings, they would postpone until a larger venue was available—despite the venue being heavily advertised."

He said the small venue coupled with parking problems were more than reason enough to postpone the meeting.

The day of the meeting, Carlton e-mailed people asking them to carpool or get dropped off at George Washington as parking would be unavailable at the West Side Presbyterian Church, as it had events previously scheduled. Members from the church said its request wasn't as absolute as the village's announcement read.

Pastor Dr. Gareth Icenogle said the church learned about the meeting the day of the event. "There wasn't any prep time. We like to be a good neighbor, but it was kind of a shock," Icenogle said.

That night, the church had two events scheduled. The pastor said he contacted the village and asked for police assistance to help with parking control, which he said the village said, "wasn't possible."

Carlton then issued the community notice that parking would not be permitted—as she said she was directed internally. She didn't know specifically about the request for police help, but said private parking lots couldn't be policed unless given Title 39 exceptions.

That night, people stayed away from the West Side Presbyterian Church's lot.

"Our lot was far from full. That was the irony—people respected what they heard. We felt bad about it afterwards," he said.

To make room, Icenogle instructed people at West Side to park on grass areas to increase space availability on the Monroe Street lot. Icenogle also said he wanted police presence out of fear of the potentially "volatile" crowd.

"People might come into the lot with an edge. We wanted to make sure that if people got upset, the police were around," he said.

Generally, he attributed it to a communication breakdown.

"It's sad that the message came out so absolute... If there is a next time, we want to make every effort to clear the decks, if possible," the pastor said.

At the very least, Gould wanted an audio or video feed. For council meetings that overflow, a video simulcast is available in two lower rooms in Village Hall—in addition to access on Cablevision Channel 77. 

Ridgewood schools Assistant Superintendent of Businesses Angelo DeSimone said he "did not believe" George Washington was equipped to handle Cablevision.

Throughout the meeting, crowds chanted inside and out. The crowd spilled into the street, causing police to close North Monroe Street from Godwin to West Ridgewood avenues. One man, Leonard Nix, from Hackensack, was arrested.

Although officially part of the Master Plan, the proposed Valley Renewal requires Village Council to issue new zoning ordinances and approve site plans before construction can begin.