Project delayed by three property owners who will not grant easements.
By: Jennifer Potash
To push through a long-delayed drainage project on Jefferson Road, Humbert Street and Greenview Avenue, Princeton Borough may turn to condemnation procedures after being stymied in its effort to obtain easements from some residents.
The project, planned for 1999, has been held up as the borough seeks easements from three residents, said Borough Attorney Michael J. Herbert. The other 13 residents have granted the easements.
"We’ve negotiated in good faith and obtained fair appraisals," Mr. Herbert said. "Two or three folks are adamant they are not going to grant the easements while the other residents have signed the easements and want to proceed."
The possibility of the borough resorting to condemnation procedures in order to obtain the needed easements from the property owners will be discussed during the Borough Council’s closed session tonight.
As a result of storm water runoff, 50 to 60 borough residences on the three streets, with inadequate storm drains, have experienced basement flooding and other property damage.
The borough Engineering Department designed a drainage project to alleviate the flooding problem and the 2001 capital budget contained $761,892 for all three streets.
Some of the residents have complained at council meetings about the price the borough was offering for the easements, claiming that the borough’s right of perpetual access, preventing the installation of landscaping or building additions on the easements, would lower property values.
The delayed drainage project also has set back the reconstruction of Jefferson Road in the borough.