Debate on plan for new Hackensack hospital continues
Last updated: Friday September 23, 2011, 1:28 AM
BY MARK J. BONAMO
MANAGING EDITOR
Hackensack Chronicle
The most recent chapter of a more than two-year debate over the proposed construction of a 19-story, long-term acute care hospital at the corner of Summit and Prospect Avenues in Hackensack unfolded at the Sept. 15 Zoning Board meeting.
More than 90 residents attended the meeting to listen to continued testimony about the project, one of more than 20 special meetings held regarding the planned medical facility since 2009.
If approved, the proposed hospital would be built at 329 Prospect Ave.
According to deed records, Bergen Passaic Long Term Acute Care Hospital LLC purchased the property, presently occupied by a residential home, in 2007 for $1.33 million. Company president Richard Pineles also owns Prospect Heights Care Center, a 180-bed nursing home facility close to the site, as well as Regent Care Center, a nursing home on Polifly Road.
The proposed hospital would provide a range of medical services if constructed. The 120-bed facility would have 10 floors dedicated to patient rooms, a dialysis center with 63 stations and an adult medical day-care center equipped for as many as 180 people. The facility would also include several driveways and five levels of underground parking.
City officials have stated that the project will need site plan approval, as well as more than a dozen variances in order to go forward. These include variances for use, parking and lot size. Pineles is also seeking approval to knock down two-story homes on four lots to build the hospital. The site is currently zoned for residential and multi-family buildings.
Pineles first proposed constructing a 24-story hospital with 140 beds and an adult day-care center equipped to handle 250 people. However, he revised the facility's plans in late 2009.
Pineles has previously declined comment about the project, stating that it was company policy not to comment on a project that is pending and that is being proposed to the public.
Attorney Theodore Moskowitz, a Hackensack resident who is representing the Prospect Avenue Coalition, a neighborhood group opposed to the project, extensively questioned Eric Keller, a traffic engineering consultant working for Pineles, about the accuracy of notes taken by Keller. These notes included those related to testimony Keller made during hearings on the project in late 2009. Joseph Basralian, an attorney representing Pineles' application, repeatedly objected to Moskowitz's line of questioning, wondering about its relevance.
During the public's questioning of Keller, Joan Sinowitz, a Hackensack resident and nurse who used to work at Prospect Heights Care Center, questioned the impact of new traffic in the neighborhood if the hospital is built.
"Prospect Heights used to have a tremendous problem with parking," Sinowitz said.
"Based on our analyses, we still have more than enough parking," Keller replied.
Dr. Mark Johnson, a Summit Ave. resident who is a longtime opponent of the project, noted that the prolonged length of the hearing process about the proposed hospital is a necessary evil.
"The back and forth with the engineers and the traffic studies – this is the way this process works," said Johnson. "But in order for us to eventually defeat this, it's going to have to go through the whole course, and everyone is going to have to have their say."
Still, for Murray Cuperman, another opponent of the project who continues to come to the generally well-attended meetings about the prospective project, there is an air of frustration, but determination, about the process.
"If you don't show up, you're not making a statement," said Cuperman, a Prospect Avenue resident. "They have to know that there are a lot of people who just don't want this building and whose lives are going to be disrupted by it. To me, it's a sin that there aren't five times as many people here. But the Nuremberg Trials didn't take this long."
The next special Zoning Board meeting about the proposed hospital is scheduled for Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 65 Central Ave.
Email: bonamo@northjersey.com