Hackensack and its zoning board sued over medical center denialThursday, November 29, 2012
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER
The Record
HACKENSACK – The company behind a proposed 19-story medical center has sued the city and its zoning board over the denial of its application, claiming it didn’t get a fair review.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment denied the application in January, saying the project would bring traffic and parking problems to the residential neighborhood. Residents had packed hearings, held protests, and hired two attorneys to oppose the plan, fearing it would hurt their property values and worsen congestion.
The applicant wanted to demolish two-story homes on Prospect and Summit avenues to make way for the Bergen Passaic Long-Term Acute Care Hospital, or LTACH. It would have included 10 floors of patient rooms, a dialysis center with 63 stations and a medical day-care center for up to 180 adults.
The company claimed the medical center would fill overwhelming demand for long-term acute care and dialysis while meeting the needs of a growing senior population.
The project needed special city approval because the property is zoned for residential use and the facility would have exceeded lot, parking and other building restrictions.
But the project didn’t get a fair shake, the applicant claimed in the lawsuit field earlier this month in state Superior Court. Bergen Passaic LTACH charged that city officials conspired to delay the process and tainted the outcome with bias and prejudicial comments.
The mayor and council members implored the board to deny the application, and council candidates used the issue to advance their campaigns, the company claimed.
"The city and the board engaged in a political scheme to deny the applicant a fair and just forum to present its application and likewise the opportunity to have an impartial and objective fact finder and decision maker," Bergen Passaic LTACH alleged in the lawsuit filed by attorney Joseph Basralian.
City Attorney Joseph Zisa said comments from officials outside the zoning board, such as council members, would not hurt the outcome.
"Most of the board members have been on the board for years and have vast experience," he said. "They weigh every application fairly and without any outside influences."
The company also charged that the board allowed an objecting attorney to harass the property owner; applied different standards for its own experts; and engaged and interviewed the applicant’s engineering consultant, creating a conflict of interest and forcing the applicant to switch engineers in the middle of the process.
The company also claimed it faced unreasonable delays and fees, noting there were 23 total meetings. Twenty of those were special meetings, and each of those required a $3,000 fee be paid to the city.
Zisa said the hearings, which stretched nearly three years, were needed so that all experts and citizens could be heard. The special meetings are granted at a developer’s request so they and their experts can be heard promptly at meetings.
Zisa also said the special meeting fee was imposed to cover a $125 payment to zoning board members, and to cover staff and other administrative costs.
Richard Malagiere, the zoning board’s lawyer, said he had not yet seen the lawsuit and so couldn’t comment.
When told of some of the claims in the suit, he did say: "It’s unfortunate the applicant has lowered themselves to those kinds of allegations."
Bergen Passaic LTACH is asking the court to reverse the denial, compel the city to refund overcharges and award legal fees.
Email: adely@northjersey.com