Stuart Country Day School officials are scheduled to meet again with the Princeton Site Plan Review Advisory Board March 14 before going to the Planning Board.
By: David Weinstein
A third official meeting is required before a recommendation on the Stuart Country Day School plan for new construction and renovations can be rendered, the Site Plan Review Advisory Board concluded Wednesday evening.
Once the advisory board has decided on a recommendation, it will be used by the Princeton Regional Planning Board as a starting point for its own deliberations on the proposed plan, which calls for 53,000 square feet of new and renovated building space, as well as several new athletic fields and parking areas.
The school is expected to present its application before the Planning Board on April 5.
Township staff and the advisory board are expected to meet with Stuart representatives March 14 to finish up.
Prior to Wednesday, two meetings had already occurred between Stuart and the township one official, the other informal to iron out differences concerning water and drainage off the environmentally sensitive site bounded by Stuart Road and The Great Road.
But board members Wednesday were not inclined to take final action, despite numerous revisions of the Stuart site plan, including three that the board readily accepted. The revisions reduced the number of trees to be cut down by 125. More than 600 trees, under the latest proposal, are to be felled.
"I feel you’ve made a number of very good movements" with the revisions of the plan, board chairman William Wolfe said to Stuart representatives at the meeting.
But, other board members noted, there are several issues that remain, including the number of parking spaces to be added and the placement and shape of a parking lot on the south side of the school’s property.
"The only problem is the parking areas," said vice chairman Harry Cooke. "Everything else to me is falling into place,"
As currently proposed, the school will expand by 53,000 square feet by adding classroom space and a number of new buildings directed toward academic, theatrical and auditorium space. Two athletic fields are also proposed, along with a maintenance building.
Board members are seeking an application that proposes approximately 252 parking spaces, while Stuart has proposed more than 300.
Another concern still to be ironed out is whether a bathroom facility to be built near the proposed athletic fields is to be connected to the township’s sewer system.
Mr. Wolfe suggested the board can "punt" on that detail because the Princeton Board of Health must make that determination.