Hearing on Allendale Rehabilitation expansion continues after testimony on parking, fencing and EMS calls

The Allendale Land Use Board heard extended testimony on June 17 about a proposed 8,541-square-foot addition to Allendale Rehabilitation and Health Care and numerous operational concerns raised by neighbors and board members.

Applicant counsel Michael Rubin presented revised plans and called operational and engineering witnesses. Engineer Neil Jeffress described site changes meant to address neighbor concerns: removal of 12 parking spaces in a northern lot to widen the landscape buffer by roughly 20 feet, the relocation of an internal fence to the property line with an option for a 5- or 6-foot privacy fence subject to board approval, added evergreen plantings and a reconfiguration of employee parking that reduces the total parking count from 170 spaces to 154. "With these changes collectively, we would reduce the overall parking from 170 ... down to a 154," Jeffress said.

Owner representatives and operations staff described steps already taken and planned to reduce emergency-service calls and improve communications with first responders. An owner representative summarized outreach beginning March 3, 2025, and said the facility had tracked 22 911 calls in March with 16 originating in memory-care areas; the applicant said it would pursue measures including family outreach, removal of in-room phones for selected memory-care residents and additional staff procedures, and that it had commissioned a radio-frequency survey to address in-building radio coverage.

Neighbors questioned whether promised operational changes have been implemented and raised continuing concerns about early garbage pick-ups, deliveries at the Harrington Road gate and employee congregation near the northern property line. The applicant responded that mapping corrections (to direct deliveries to the Route 17 entrance), additional buffering, cameras, revised signage and a new employee courtyard were proposed and that they would work with borough first-response officials to verify progress.

Board counsel and the applicant agreed on a series of deliverables the applicant must provide in advance of the continued hearing: a formal 911-call breakdown and documentation from first-response officials, any records of postal-address change requests and evidence of implementation of operational commitments. The board opened the record to public questioning of the witnesses who testified tonight and then carried the application without further notice to September 17, 2025, at 7 p.m. in this room so those witnesses and first-response officials can appear and the public may cross-examine them.

What happens next: the applicant will provide the requested evidence to the board and return on Sept. 17 for additional testimony, cross-examination and public comment; the board extended applicable time constraints through the new date.