Community groups want input on development of hospital site

ORANGE — A coalition of residents, community groups, businesses, educators, faith-based institutions, and other stakeholders in the City of Orange has issued a statement demanding a new, inclusive, and community-driven process for the development of the former Orange Memorial Hospital site.

The city recently announced a $350 million redevelopment project is planned for the site of the former Orange Memorial Hospital, which includes creating a new City Hall at the site. Gateway Merchant Banking, a real estate development firm, has gotten approval from the city to build more than 1,000 apartments at the188 South Essex Ave. site with construction expected to start next year.

Citing the site’s unique size, proximity to Orange train station – with less than 30 minute access to New York’s Penn Station, and crucial economic implications to the City of Orange’s future, the group emphasizes the need for a development plan that benefits the diversity of Orange’s communities.

The coalition expresses deep concern about the current proposal, stating that it fails to address critical community needs. They highlight the lack of meaningful public engagement, despite prior assurances from city officials regarding focus groups, questionnaires, forums, and public meetings.

The group also criticizes the current traffic impact assessment as inadequate, particularly its failure to consider future parking and travel demand behaviors and the impact of nearby highways like Route 280, and off-site drainage improvements and pedestrian safety infrastructure along the site’s border of Central Avenue, a critical corridor in the City of Orange.

The city has scheduled two meetings with Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren and Gateway’s Terrence Murray to talk about the future of Orange Memorial:

The first meeting was Wednesday, Feb. 19, at First Shiloh Baptist Church, 424 Main St.

The second meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 6, at St. Matthew A.M.E. Church, 336 Oakwood Ave.

The statement urges residents to appear at the public meetings to demand the development include affordable housing options, that it have a community-centric urban design, that it prioritize culture and community building and other things.

  Orange Memorial Hospital