Muhlenberg Study Wins Approval

The City Council approved hiring a planning firm Tuesday to make an independent study of uses for the Muhlenberg campus, with many residents voicing support before and after the vote.

The vote was 4-0, with council members Bill Reid, Vera Greaves, Rev. Tracey Brown and Council President Bridget Rivers voting "yes" on the contract with Heyer Gruel and Associates. Cory Storch, Rebecca Williams and Adrian Mapp were absent. Deputy City Clerk Sherri Golden tried unsucccessfully to reach Mapp by phone for the vote.

The owner of the tract, JFK Health Systems, has already asked the council to rezone the property to permit development including 600 apartments. Although some residents said they will settle for nothing less than restoration of a full-service hospital on the site, others objected to the high-density residential proposal as out of scale with the neighborhood.

Before the vote, resident Dottie Gutenkauf asked the council to approve the study so the city "can take an honest and objective look at the property." Bill Michelson, a lawyer and planner, said he is "one of the die-hards who still wants a hospital, but agreed with Gutenkauf that JFK should apply to the land use boards like anyone else. He said the planning firm should wait for the application before making the study.

Dr. Harold Yood saw the study as a chance to "get a productive use" for the property where the hospital closed five years ago.

"We have a chance to be proactive," he said. "Let's do it."

But resident Tony Rucker said a study should wait until the new administration comes in on Jan. 1.(Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs lost the June primary after serving two terms and voters will choose a new mayor in the Nov. 5 general election.)

A dozen speakers in all weighed in on the Muhlenberg issue. The meeting was recorded and will be aired on local channels Comcast 96 and Verizon 34.

Several people came to the microphone to complain about the condition of Seidler Field. Improvements are needed both for the sake of Plainfield youth in sports and to provide a better welcome to visiting teams, speakers said. Storch, who came in late, said a capital improvement plan includes $800,000 over two years for artificial turf at the field.

Storch arrived just in time to provide the fifth vote necessary to add a new item to the agenda, namely permission to use city streets for a Nov. 2 Plainfield High School homecoming parade. Once it was moved to the agenda, the measure passed unanimously.

The next meeting is November 12 and will combine an agenda-fixing session and a regular meeting, to permit council and staff attendance at annual League of Municipalities conference the following week.

--Bernice