The Record
Saturday, January 16, 2010
BY LINDY WASHBURN

The state Department of Health has joined opponents of the reopening of Pascack Valley Hospital in arguing that the legal effort to extend the hospital’s license belongs not in state Superior Court in Bergen County but in the Appellate Division in Trenton.

A hearing on the issue, originally scheduled for next Friday before Judge Robert C. Wilson in Bergen, has been postponed until Feb. 5 at the request of Hackensack University Medical Center, which wants to reopen Pascack.

HUMC contends that the Permit Extension Act of 2008, intended to help developers whose projects were stalled by the recession, applies in the case of the Westwood hospital.

The hospital’s license expired on Dec. 28, after a two-year grace period allowed by the previous state health commissioner when the hospital went bankrupt and closed.

Hackensack says the permit act automatically extends the license until Jan. 1, 2011.

Hackensack, which bought the facility at auction, has applied to the state Health Department for approval to reopen it as a 128-bed community hospital. The license must be extended for its application to be considered.

The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and Englewood Hospital and Medical Center oppose the plan, arguing that Bergen County already has enough hospital beds and that the reopening would cause harm to the others.

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