Monsey Hatzolah - Expansion

Journalnews: When it comes to saving lives, Sylvain Klein knows seconds can make a difference. Faced with a growing population in its Monsey and New Square service area, the ambulance company Chevra Hatzoloh of Rockland County is planning to build a garage and parking lot at Grandview Avenue and Route 306 to house two ambulances. "We pride ourselves on our response time," said Klein, who has been the ambulance company's executive director for the past two years. "The faster the better." He said a study done over the past six months showed that the company's average response time was 2.6 minutes. The proposed garage would allow volunteers to maintain, if not improve, their response time by avoiding heavy traffic that often arises near the company's Grove Street headquarters. Klein said the one-floor, 2,475-square-foot garage would be built on a 1-acre lot that was previously the site of a one-family home. Klein said the 30-year-old ambulance company purchased the site a few years ago. The house was recently torn down in anticipation of the new garage, he said. The town's Planning Board will hold a public hearing on the environmental impact of the proposed two-bay garage and adjoining five-space parking lot Tuesday, said First Deputy Town Attorney Alan Berman. Klein, who is chairman of the Planning Board, said he has recused himself from any discussion of the project. According to U.S. census figures the population of the village of Monsey grew from 13,986 in 1990 to 14,504 in 2000, an increase of 518. Those same figures show a population increase in the village of New Square from 2,605 in 1990 to 5,920 in 2004, an increase of 3,315. Hatzoloh currently has six ambulances, 110 volunteers and 13 dispatchers, Klein said. According to paperwork filed in the town's Building, Planning and Zoning Department, all training would be done at the company's main facility, and the garage would be used only to house the ambulances. Klein said that if the town's land-use boards approved the project, construction could begin in six months.