The deck will add about 100 parking spaces at the hospital’s Grange Road side, said Holy Name’s VP for facilities, Wayne Kinder.

He said that the additional spaces are needed to accommodate the outpatient departments and the new emergency room, currently under construction.

"Our outpatient services have grown over the past five years and are continuing to expand," he said.

"The parking lot has been there all along," Kinder added. "We are not moving it any closer the neighbors’ properties. We are just adding a level."

But neighbors along Grange Road allege that the deck will bring increased traffic, noise and late night light pollution to the neighborhood and disrupt its residential character.

Grange Road resident Judith Prigal noted that the existing lot is just 11 feet from adjoining private property.

"Holy Name proposed the expanded emergency room a number of years ago and the application was approved, but they never mentioned they would need this extra parking," she said.

"We realize that the emergency room has to be built and we are not objecting to that, but we feel that there is room for parking in front of the hospital," she added.

Prigal noted that Holy Name has also applied to build a new parking garage at the front of the hospital, but has reduced the number of parking spaces that were originally in the plans.

The proposal for the rear parking lot deck runs contrary to the township’s master plan, which includes a statement of purpose to preserve the character of existing low-density neighborhoods.

Although Holy Name officials have said they would establish a buffer zone between private residences and keep it landscaped, Prigal said that the hospital has a poor record maintaining such zones.

"They don’t do a good job or take care of them. They had promised to landscape the western border but have allowed trees to die on Vandelinda Avenue," she said.

Prigal’s Grange Road neighbor Marc Schussel described the application as bad planning that would require multiple variances from the township.

"It makes good planning sense for traffic to come through Teaneck Road, which is the main street, and not through residential streets," he said, noting that Hackensack University Medical Center has installed valet parking.

"They are putting up a structure and increasing the intensity the use," Schussel said.

Kinder acknowledged that Holy Name had withdrawn a proposal build additional parking spaces on the Teaneck Road side.

"It would be a long way for patients and visitors to walk to get to the outpatient services and emergency room," he said.

But Kinder asserted that, rather than adding to noise and light, the deck would decrease them.    

"It will make it quieter because cars currently pull in at grade level. We are proposing a four-foot parapet wall on both levels, and the parking lot light fixtures will be lower than the existing fixtures," he said. 

Prigal said that she has attempted to audit tapes of BOA meetings involving Holy Name from several years back, but that the tapes are in poor condition, and there are no transcripts of those meetings. The BOA currently records meetings on CDs but formerly had used a tape recorder.

"The quality of the tapes make them almost impossible to listen to. The town has not kept good records," Prigal said.