Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 23 October '85 5

Nursing Home Doesn't Need Committee Okay

By JOE ZELNIK COURT HOUSE - Developers are attempting to get state DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) okay for their 120-bed nursing home on Magnolia Drive whether or not Middle Township Committee approves. Construction is on schedule at the Court House Convalescent Center and some of its controversial sewage treatment plant already on site, according to Benjamin Miller, a partner with Hospicomm, the home's developer. But township committee is refusing to reconsider a tabled resolution of approval, citing objections to the plant's capacity and asking further guarantees it will have a qualified licensed operator. HOSPICOMM'S PERMIT application to the DEP states that the plant has an 8,000-gallon per-day (GPD) capacity plus a 4,000 gallon overflow chamber. Middle Township Committee, echoing the Cape May Court House Neighborhood Association, says that isn't good enough. The association wants a 12,000 GPD capacity. DEP officials confirmed to this newspaper that they could approve the plant without the resolution township committee has been asked to enact. But they would have to give the

township and the public 30 days to make "public comment." That announcement hasn't come yet, meaning the home's opening apparently cannot come until at least late November. BUT MILLER TOLD this newspaper Friday that "We're proceeding to ready the thing for the end of this month. DEP is going to act on this. I'm under an obligation to finish the project with all due diligence. I'm leaving other matters to the attorneys and the agencies." Hospicomm attorney Norman Zlotnick said that "Under DEP regulations, it can proceed with regard to the permit process without the township (passing the resolution). But we would like it. It's our desire to achieve the township approval." "We're not willing to live with that type of resolution," Committee member James Alexis told this newspaper. "Their request to the DEP may be approved in the absence of any municipal endorsement, but the DEP must notify us 30 days in advance and request from us our reasons for rejection or disapproval." IN ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT. Michael F. Catania, director of DEP's Office of Regulatory Services, has informed Hospicomm that a legal appeal by the neighborhood association contained

enough merit for him to order that the nursing home should not be used or occupied until a final decision is made on that appeal. The appeal objected to Hospicomm 's former plan for an on-site septic system that would have discharged effluent into the ground, a method Hospicomm has since abandoned. The neighborhood association has told Hospicomm it will drop its appeal if it is assured the septic system has in fact been abandoned. BUT IN THAT SAME letter, association chairman John V. Beitel insisted that the proposed plant should be "capable of treating 12,00ft gallons of effluent daily" and warned that "if such a system is not built, and the system should prove inadequate. I assure you that the association will sue all the agencies involved plus Hospicomm." Miller said he expects the state Health Department to inspect a finished facility "by the end of the month. " He said all five department heads have been hired for the $4-million nursing home. He said he also has hired four RNs, "some" LPNs, and is taking applications for nurses' aides. The home will employ the full-time-equivalent of about 100, he said. "We hope for patient intake by the end of the first week in November," said Miller.

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