Unanimous late-night vote follows mostly negative public testimony; Sierra Club seeks state review.
By: David Campbell
Following more than four hours of emotional public testimony Monday night, the Princeton Township Committee voted unanimously to approve two overlay ordinances that encourage high-density senior housing on the environmentally sensitive Princeton Ridge.
Some seniors gave testimony before the vote favoring the ordinances, but most of the speakers opposed the move, arguing the ordinances would harm sensitive lands and bring massive and monolithic housing out of keeping with the neighborhood.
The committee voted 4-0, with Committeeman Leonard Godfrey absent, to approve the ordinances.
According to municipal land-use law, a minimum of four votes was needed to approve because a petition submitted to the township Clerk’s Office opposing the overlay ordinances, and because the ordinances are contrary to a Master Plan clause limiting new senior housing to 75 units, said Township Attorney Edwin Schmierer.
The petition was signed by 20 percent of people within 200 feet of the proposed zoning changes, Mr. Schmierer said.
Meanwhile, the Central New Jersey Sierra Club, following up on its threat last week, mailed a letter Monday to Joseph J. Maraziti, chairman of the State Planning Commission, urging the commission to review the ordinances to determine whether they conform with the regional center designation granted Princeton in 1995 under the State Development and Redevelopment Plan.
"In the event that the proposed ordinance is adopted, please be advised that we anticipate formally petitioning the commission to rescind Princeton Township’s regional center designation and termination of all financial benefits afforded that status," the letter reads.
The ordinances allow housing for seniors 62-years or older on a 30-acre site off Mount Lucas Road and Route 206; a roughly 20-acre site off Mount Lucas Road near Herrontown Road; and a 20-acre site off Bunn Drive near McComb Road.
All three sites are located on Princeton Ridge and have some wetlands, streams or other environmentally sensitive areas.
Under the RSC-1 (Residential Senior Community-1) overlay, a maximum of five units per acre would be allowed on the Mount Lucas Road sites, with a maximum of 150 units permitted per development.
The RSC-2 overlay would allow a maximum of seven units per acre on the Bunn Drive site, and would also limit each development size to 150 units.
At least one developer, Intell New Jersey, has expressed interest in building age-restricted housing on one of the Mount Lucas sites if the ordinances are approved.
Monday night was the second of two public hearings on the ordinances.
At the first hearing on Dec. 10, Sierra Club’s Laura Lynch told Township Committee the Sierra Club would petition the State Planning Commission to strip the township and Princeton Borough of their regional center designation if the township approved the ordinances.
The designation makes available state funding incentives aimed at furthering the goals of the State Plan, funds that the Princetons could lose if the Planning Commission decided to de-designate.
Last month, the Princeton Environmental Commission indicated that committee approval of the ordinances might jeopardize state funding.
On Monday night, Planning Commission Chairman Anthony Lunn said the ordinances are in "direct contradiction and violation" of the center designation.