Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Wyckoff Planning Board expects a final vote on the Vista project on March 4.
Christian Health Care officials cast a new plan before the Wyckoff Zoning Board Tuesday that would eliminate construction of additional entrance to the 199-unit senior housing facility. The latest revision to the application came on the heels of concerns vocalized by board officials and a citizen opposition group, both of which believed the driveway entrance proposed for the intersection of Sicomac and Cedar Hill avenues could negatively impact commuters and local businesses. Christian Health Care Center Engineer Kenneth Karle presented the amended plan, which rehabilitates an existing road down the middle of the CHCC campus. It's the same road, but "requires quite a bit of new construction," Karle said. The road, "which intersects almost…
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Standing room-only audience in uproar following 6-1 decision
The Wyckoff Zoning Board voted 6 to 1 on Monday that the Vista Project should be considered an inherently beneficial use, effectively tasking the opposition with proving that negative aspects of the proposed 258-unit Christian Health Care expansion outweigh its benefits. The board's approval in this matter does not rubber stamp the project. "You can vote yes on this and still vote no on the project," Board Chairman Jerry Lombardo assured Zoners before the vote. As stated in a recent story on Wyckoff Patch describing the potential impact of tonight's decision, it has not necessarily become more or less likely that the board will approve the overall application because the inherently beneficial distinction has been made. Erik Ruebenacker, …
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Are the signs an eyesore or first amendment right?
Wyckoff officials met in private with leadership from a local advocacy group Monday to discuss how residential lawn signs could be regulated without limiting free speech. While the discussions are spurred by the ubiquitous signage created and distributed by the grassroots organization SAVE Wyckoff, Monday's talk may have a wider impact on first amendment rights and how the township and its zoning officer enforce the sign ordinance across Wyckoff. SAVE Wyckoff is a group started by Stanley Goodman in November 2010, which opposes the Christian Health Care Center's Vista project. Goodman, and the group's Treasurer Ken Bloom, met with Wyckoff Mayor Chris DePhillips, Committeeman Rudy Boonstra, and Township Attorney Robert Landel in an …
Monday, February 27, 2012
Send your letters to joseph.gerace@patch.com
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Monday, February 27, 2012
Dear Editor, As 33-year residents of Wyckoff, my wife and I are very concerned about the proposed senior residential project known as "The Vista" at the Christian Health Care Center at Cedar Hill and Sicomac avenues. The CHCC is a wonderful humanitarian organization that has been helping people for decades. However, there are two key issues about The Vista that residents of Wyckoff need to understand. First, the CHCC has officially opposed the installation of a traffic light at this intersection. In testimony before the Wyckoff Zoning Board on April 25, 2011, Jerry Vogel, the CHCC's attorney stated that the only reason they have agreed to re-build the entire intersection (which will change traffic patterns and present potential …
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Peter Steck testified on behalf of S.A.V.E. Wyckoff at Monday's zoning board meeting.
The Christian Health Care Center's hilly, wooded land is not suited for the proposed 258-unit Vista expansion, according to planning expert Peter Steck. Steck was hired to testify at the Wyckoff Zoning Board's special meeting Monday about the Vista project by S.A.V.E. Wyckoff, a group opposed to the plan. According to Steck, the proposed building would technically be six stories tall under Wyckoff zoning law. The ordinance states that a building's height should be measured from the ground to its highest point, which is a gap of 80 feet in this case because the building would rise with the hill. A CHCC representative had previously testified that the project would technically count as several seperate buildings because of fire walls between…
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Fire Chief: Plans would be in place to handle increase in calls
An expert in fire fighting called by the attorney opposing a proposed 258-bed senior living complex brought a number of concerns before the Wyckoff Zoning Board of Adjustments at a Monday night meeting. The board heard testimony in the nearly yearlong battle over Christian Health Care Center's Vista Project at the special zoning meeting in front of a standing-room only crowd. Gerard Naylis, with Bergenfield-based Technical Fire Services, Inc., was called to testify before the board on a number of issues he believed first responders with the Wyckoff Volunteer Fire Department could face should a serious fire break out at the massive facility planned for the Sicomac Avenue campus. Among his concerns was how the township's volunteer …
Monday, December 5, 2011
Special meeting tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Christian Health Care Center's Vista Project is scheduled to be the topic of discussion tonight at a special 7:30 p.m. meeting of the Wyckoff Zoning Board. The board is expected to discuss the proposed plan to build a 258-unit senior citizen housing complex on the CHCC’s property. The application has been criticized by neighbors and board members because of the center’s large size, which they feared would cause more traffic along Sicomac Avenue, Cedar Hill Avenue and Mountain Avenue. The meeting will be held in the Municipal Court Room on the second floor of Town Hall. Read some more on Christian Health Care's Vista Project: here, here and here.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
A U.S. Census report estimates 20 percent of the national population will be 65 or older by 2030.
The Christian Health Care Center's proposed Vista 258-unit "continuing care retirement community" would serve a growing need for senior housing in Bergen County, according to project planner Richard Preiss. Preiss gave testimony about the project at a special meeting of the Wyckoff Zoning Board of Adjustment Monday night. According to Preiss, the CHCC is the only facility of its kind in Bergen County, where a U.S. Census report predicts the population of residents age 60 or older will grow 58 percent between 2000 and 2025. Currently, the CHCC has room for 71 independent living, 90 assisted and 300 nursing care residents. "There is a great unmet need for independent senior housing," Preiss said. All of the proposed 258 units would be for …
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Zoning Board heard testimony about the plans at their Monday night meeting
The Vista buildings at the Christian Health Care Center will be a three-story senior housing complex with "rustic earth tones" and numerous conveniences, according to project architect Glen Tipton's testimony at a special meeting of the Wyckoff Zoning Board of Adjustment held Monday night. However, board members were skeptical about some of Tipton's testimony because the seven buildings all appear to be one building and the difference between the highest point of the top building and the lowest point of the bottom building is over 80 feet. "I can't look at that and see six or seven different buildings. To me, that's one building," board Chairman Doug Christie said. According to engineer Kenneth Karle, the buildings count as separate under …
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Christopher Botta will fill in for Harold Cook, who took leave of absence following misconduct charges
At a closed door session of the Zoning Board Tuesday evening the board tapped Ramsey Mayor and attorney Christopher Botta to step in as a temporary board attorney to fill in for Harold Cook , who announced last week he would be taking a leave of absence following the misconduct charges levied against him, the Zoning Board will meet this evening in a closed door session to discuss a temporary replacement, Zoning Board chairman Doug Christie told Patch. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Zoning Board will be on Thursday. A special meeting is scheduled on June 27th where the board will hear continued testimony on the Christian Health Care Center expansion application. Christie told Patch the Board must have an attorney present in …
Gary Rabinowitz
11:02 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
@ Stanley Goodman: >"Can anyone think of a major development which was rejected or severely cut back?" A resounding NO. The zoning board is a perfunctory rubber stamp. I find it abhorrent that such explicit conflicts -- the Pascack Bank BOD, folks who do and/or will transact with CHCC/Vista like appliance merchants, landscapers, attorneys who traffic in influence peddling and campaign … more ›