Council mulls zoning swap

Town would get 215 acres of preserved land in trade

By: Sharlee Joy DiMenichi
   The Township Council plans to introduce a developer’s agreement Tuesday that could result in the rezoning of a 78-acre parcel on Route 1 for commercial use and preservation of about 215 acres of open space at the edge of Kingston.
   The 78-acre parcel is now zoned residential, but Princeton University, which owns the tract, is seeking to construct an office park and conference center on it and an adjacent 72-acre property, already zoned for office/research.
   In exchange for the rezoning, the university is proposing to donate about 215 acres of residentially zoned land to the township, which would be permanently preserved as open space.
   The university unveiled its proposal Tuesday at a Township Council work session.
   Council members said Tuesday night that the agreement was worth exploring, but some wanted to be careful about its wording and requirements.
   The agreement, as presented by David Knights, director of marketing at Princeton Forrestal Center, the university’s real estate division, would require the township to introduce an ordinance within 30 days of the signing of the document that would create an Office/Corporate zone in the township and to act on the ordinance within 45 days after introduction. If both parties agree, the time limits may be extended, according to the agreement.
   The text of the ordinance was not presented publicly Tuesday, but the agreement says the university expects to submit a general development plan by June 1 that would request the right to build a 1.8 million-square-foot complex. Up to 35 percent of the property could be covered with buildings and up to 55 percent could be covered with buildings, parking, sidewalks and other impervious areas.
   The application would include a traffic plan and a storm water management plan.
   While the proposed developer’s agreement does not call for a hotel, Mayor Frank Gambatese said earlier this month that the new zone would allow for a hotel/conference center, currently not permitted in the office-research zone.
   Under the agreement, Princeton University would be obligated before the public hearing on the zoning change to make a report on why the rezoning is necessary to achieve its plans for the property.
   The agreement specifies that nonemergency traffic will have no direct access to Mapleton or Ridge roads and that the university will conduct traffic studies of the area at the township Planning Board’s request no more than once a year.
   Princeton University will conduct an initial environmental study of the open space the township will receive and if the area is contaminated, the university can either substitute another section of open space or remediate the contamination, according to the agreement.
   Princeton hopes to acquire the Flemer property using Green Acres funding and "shall impose a deed restriction upon all of the Open Space Preserve, for the purpose of permanently preserving the same as open space," the agreement said.
   Some Kingston residents who attended the meeting said they were pleased with the traffic restrictions.
   "We were very encouraged to hear no entrance or exit onto Mapleton or Ridge," said Karen Linder of Kingston, co-chair of Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands.