Some Dodds Lane residents object to access to site on their road.
By: David Campbell
Dodds Lane residents turned out Thursday night to oppose public access on their road to the Gulick farm, which Princeton Township is preparing to acquire as open space.
But the Princeton Regional Planning Board voted unanimously to approve a subdivision that will permit the township to acquire 30 of the roughly 40-acre farmland property that is bounded by Princeton-Kingston, River and Herrontown roads, with a 200-square-foot access easement off Dodds Lane.
The township expects to close a $2.7 million deal by May to buy the property as open space.
Some Dodds Lane residents asked for a postponement of the Planning Board vote pending a clarification of the township’s plans for the property.
Neighbors said they were not asked for their input on the open-space deal and said they were worried that public access to the land by the Dodds Lane easement would bring traffic, parking woes and more accidents to their neighborhood.
Dodds Lane resident Barbara Spalding said public access by Dodds Lane would turn "our bucolic neighborhood into a very difficult place to live."
Township Attorney Edwin Schmierer said the township has no plans for immediate development.
But Mr. Schmierer said the township could build a park of some sort on part of the property in three to five years, and said neighbors will have "ample opportunity" for public input similar to the meetings held with neighbors of Barbara Smoyer Park.
Princeton Planning Director Lee Solow said it was "a leap" to assume access to the property would be by Dodds Lane and said "tremendous" community input would preclude any future building on the land.
The residents also complained of a typographical error on the public notice from the township that they said gave incorrect lot numbers.
Several Planning Board members and Princeton residents voiced their support for the land deal, however.
"This is a great achievement for Princeton Township," said Rosemary Blair, Princeton Environmental Commission member and Princeton-Kingston Road resident. "I enthusiastically support this acquisition and have full trust in the Planning Board that it will be done in a way that benefits the community."
Benjamin Gulick, current owner of the farmland property, said, "I have no intentions of developing this property. I would like to see it preserved."
But Mr. Gulick noted that "if this does not go through I cannot guarantee the historic nature of this property," and said he could easily sell the property for residential development.
Under the open-space deal, the Gulick family would retain the 10 acres on which the homestead and several historic structures stand, as well as an under 1-acre building lot on the westerly side of the property.
The Gulicks have agreed to transfer the development rights to the 10-acre property to the township, and to commit a minimum of $600,000 from the sale proceeds to help renovate some of the 15 historic structures there over the next three to five years.
In other business Thursday night, the Planning Board unanimously approved Princeton Theological Seminary’s plans for a triple-deck parking garage on campus along College Road West adjacent to the seminary’s Templeton Hall.
The 286-space, three-level garage will replace an existing at-grade student lot of 138 spaces, but will result in a campus-wide gain of 57 spaces when four other permanent and temporary lots are closed as the new garage comes on-line.
One-hundred-twelve spaces in the proposed garage will be dedicated to short-term parking but 174 will be reserved for long-term parking, which the seminary has said will result in minimal increases in commuter automobile and pedestrian traffic.
The garage will cost in excess of $1 million and construction is expected to begin in late May.