Hackensack, NJ Community Message Boards

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Judge Carver upheld the Hackensack Zoning Board decision denying the Bergen Passaic Long Term Acute Care Hospital, LLC application and dismissed the complaint.

WE WON.

47710

Northjersey.com

Hackensack hospital object of suit

SUNDAY, AUGUST 11, 2013
BY  HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

HACKENSACK — The city and zoning board are expected to go to court on Friday to fight a lawsuit alleging that the board unfairly denied an application for a 19-story medical building that was strongly opposed by neighborhood residents.
The zoning board, however, will not be represented in court by its former attorney, Richard Malagiere, who faced controversy but had community support to keep him on the case.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment rejected the application for the proposed Bergen Passaic Long-Term Acute Care Hospital in January 2012, saying that the project would bring traffic and parking problems to the residential neighborhood.

But the project didn’t get a fair shake, the applicant claimed in the lawsuit, filed in November in state Superior Court. Bergen Passaic LTACH alleged that city officials conspired to delay the process and tainted the outcome with bias and prejudicial comments.

Malagiere declined to seek reappointment as board attorney in January. He never publicly said why, but his decision came weeks after a fire at a Johnson Avenue home he owned with land-use lawyer Carmine Alampi and Anthony Errico. The house had many illegal electrical connections, and the fire was the result of faulty wiring, officials said. The Record also found that the owners didn’t have an occupancy permit and that the premises had not undergone a safety inspection. Serious violations also were found at an adjacent home they owned.

Some residents insisted Malagiere be kept because of his experience and knowledge of the case, and they even made it a topic in the spring City Council race. The Prospect Avenue Coalition, a resident’s group, held three forums to get candidates’ views on the proposed hospital and asked all of them if they’d keep Malagiere after the election.

Stepped down

Malagiere decided on his own to step down from the case in late May, shortly after a new City Council was elected, officials said.
Laura Kirsch, the new zoning board attorney, who was appointed in April, has taken over the case. The case file was lengthy but not complicated, she said.

"You do what you have to and yes it took time, but we got it done," said Kirsch, a Hackensack-based attorney with expertise in zoning and real estate.

The new interim city attorney, Thomas Scrivo, will represent the city in the case, in place of the former City Attorney Joseph Zisa.
The applicant wanted the hospital building to include 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.

Bergen County Superior Court Judge Alexander Carver will hear the case. Carver has announced that he will retire Sept. 1, and it’s unclear whether he plans to rule on the case before then.

Email: adely@northjersey.com

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/219150461_Hackensack_hospital_object_of_suit.html?page=all#sthash.tkQzXm26.dpuf

Both slates had a strong vision for an improved downtown, and both groups strongly opposed the LTACH, so a few important things are not changing.  In the end, the split vote advocated by the Prospect Avenue Coalition didn't amount to much, and Newark Mayor Corey Booker picked the losers.  I'm laughing at Booker.

@Just Watching, ProspectAvenueCoaltion did not advocate or endorse any candidate or slate during this election. We did organize 4 Meet the Candidates Nights for our members and their neighbors so that we could get to know the candidates and their views. We make the information available to our members but they make up their own minds for whom to vote. If our members who are at the same time residents and voters want to suggest a split vote we will not attempt to suppress their voice.

Our focus as a coalition was to make all the candidates aware of how important the LTACH issue is to the residents living on Prospect, Overlook and Summit Avenues and to ascertain how the candidates planned to find the funding needed to defend the City againt the LTACH during the appeal process which could continue beyond the end of the next term.

Towards that end we have been very successful in achieving our goal and our mission was accomplished.

Please see our message which was posted on the 24-story Tower on Summit Avenue:

ProspectAvenueCoalition would like to congratulate the Citizens for Change slate for winning yesterday's election. We are confident you will honor commitments made during the election to defeat the LTACH and look forward to an open government with free flowing information. We also wish you success on addressing the many other issues that affect our city from development of downtown to lowering taxes.

42739 ProspectAvenueCoalition hosted its final Meet the Candidates Night at The Camelot. The format was similar to the debate style used at the Whitehall and the Baridge House which I have observed to be the more informative than the Meet and Greet format -- and revealing it was. 60+ residents and their invited guests attended in addition to the press and a photographer. A residents’ group discussion was held the next evening so that the attendees could exchange thoughts on the candidates and their views. A number of attendees asked if they could attend another Meet the Candidates Night. Sorry folks, we are all out of them.

All of the candidates still promise to fight the LTACH to the bitter end although not all of them may keep those with deep knowledge of the LTACH case in place and may instead retain new counsel.

Earlier this year the Zoning Board Attorney had stepped down from the Zoning Board but has been retained as Special Counsel for the LTACH case. I have spoken to a number of ProspectAvenueCoalition members and all have said that they are relieved to hear of the decision to have the former Zoning Board Attorney stay on the LTACH case.

The campaign promise to keep fighting the LTACH is easy enough to make. We would like to know how the candidates intend to keep their promise. Each of the 2 slates include at least 1 candidate with budget experience. ProspectAvenueCoalition has tried to look closely at this experience for the reason that we need to feel confident that the legal expenses necessary to fight the LTACH for the next 4-8 years will be continually funded and not trimmed or cut. If anyone has the answer to RN’s question re: LTACH we ask them to post here:

“For instance, do you plan to cut the legal defense budget on LTACH, or the budget on Main Street development? How do you plan to lower property taxes?”

Hackensack is a nonpartisan municipality and you may vote for any candidate regardless of which slate the candidate is affiliated with. The candidates with the most votes will fill the open seats on the Council allowing for a split slate Council.

Please vote on Tuesday, May 14.

In the summer of 2008, I received the following notice in the mail. I encouraged the unit owners in my building (located immediately next door) to attend the Zoning Board Meeting to protest the mounting of a wireless antenna atop the Blair House. Other than myself no one showed and the hearing was postponed by the Zoning Board. I contacted the Zoning Board to discuss the matter of allowing wireless antennas in such a densely populated residential area and where there may be kids/elderly living directly below or level with the antenna.

I was informed that many towns (Fair Lawn and Leonia) were facing lawsuits from wireless communication companies and Hackensack was weighing its options as to whether it would toss its hat into the litigation ring. I was told that my unit is located at the farthest point away and many floors below the antenna so the effect for me may actually be minimal. Regardless, I passed along to the Blair House a radiation study which may have trumped the rental income paid by Omnipoint since I only see zoning board approval for MetroPCS at 300 and 101 Prospect Avenue.

My friend who lived in a rental in New York which installed an antenna a few months after he moved in began suffering from diminished brain function and had to resort to sleeping in a special tent because his landlord would not let him out of the lease. His wife was about to have a baby so the lease was broken without regard to the cost.

The rental income may be attractive to the landlord but what about the cost to the renters? and would it be as attractive if the landlord was living in the penthouse.

CITY OF HACKENSACK
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
APPLICATION V#10-08 and SP#9-08

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that OMNIPOINT COMMUNICATIONS INC.
("Applicant") has filed an application with the City of Hackensack. Zoning Board
of Adjustment. seeking permission to install a wireless communications facility
consisting of four (4) wireless panel antennas and three (3) equipment cabinets
on the roof-top of the existing fifteen (15) story building. No on-site demolition or
expansion of the building is proposed for the subject property. The property
which is the subject of this application is located at 235 Prospect Avenue,
Hackensack, New Jersey, is located in the R-3 Zoning District, and is designated
on the Tax maps as Block 343, Lot 14 and Block 343.03, Blair House
Condominium. Applicant is seeking the following variances, approvals and
waivers:

• Use Variance as the use is not permitted in the R-3 Z.one, a variance for
expansion of a pre-existing non conforming use for the alterations, and
variances for three pre-existing nonconforming bulk deficiencies, including
possible height variance for the antennas and rooftop equipment,

• Preliminary and Final Site plan;

• Such other approvals, waivers and variances from the requirements of
the Zoning Ordinance as may be deemed necessary or required by the
City of Hackensack at the hearing in this matter.

TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the City of Hackensack Zoning Board of
Adjustment will meet at 7:00 P.M .. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2008 at 65
Central Avenue, Hackensack, N.J. :lid Floor Council Meeting Room at which lime
opportunity will be given to all those in interest to be heard and al which time the
Board may approve, modify or deny this application. Any interested party may
appear at the aforesaid hearing, either in person, or by their attorney, and be
given the opportunity 10 be heard with respect to the aforesaid application.
TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the application for development and all
supporting maps, site plans and document may be inspected in the office of the
Department of Community Affairs, City Hall, 65 Central Avenue, Hackensack
during regular office hours.

This notice is being sent to you by the applicant by order of the Zoning Board of
the City of Hackensack, New Jersey.

Date: August 4, 2008

OMNIPOINT COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
c/o GAROFALO ZIERAK & O'NEILL P.A.
Authorized Agent for Applicant
60 Baldwin Road, Suite 202
Parsippany, New Jersey 07054

40172

LTACH APPEAL WATCH

The matter has gone before Superior Court Judge Alexander Carver for a management conference.

To better prepare ourselves for a potentially prolonged court battle ProspectAvenueCoalition is asking the residents of Hackensack to vote in the mayoral election on Tuesday May 14, 2013.

Why you should vote? A newly elected Mayor and Council may decide to cut litigation costs to the City of Hackensack. If the City of Hackensack chooses to settle rather than continue to fight the Pineles lawsuit then the Bergen Passaic Long Term Acute Care Hospital will be built on Prospect and Summit Avenues. They may also appoint a new City Attorney. The incumbent City Attorney successfully fended off several lawsuits filed by PC Air Rights (Excelsior III). If a new City Attorney is appointed we would like (prior to casting our vote) some assurance with respect to their credentials and win record.

To ensure that the candidates support our opposition to an LTACH being built in a single/multi-family residential zone instead of the area surrounding Hackensack Hospital which is zoned specifically for a project of this type, ProspectAvenueCoalition has begun planning Meet the Candidates nights at some of the condo/coop buildings on Prospect and Overlook Avenues. The candidates may hold their own candidate night at a larger public venue. If they do we will post the information here.

If you would like a mail-in ballot please email ProspectAvenueCoalition@yahoo.com.

The artist, Charles Tang, lives on Prospect Avenue near Beech and here is the other view:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctang/494355248/in/set-6833

 37155 Attached is a copy of the summons and complaint.

Bergen Passaic LTACH, LLC v. City of Hackensack, et al.
Docket No. BER-L-8293-12

If you have any questions please email: prospectavenuecoalition@yahoo.com