Hillier plans blend of housing, parkland, research

But neighbors of Textile Research Institute want the site preserved.

By: David Campbell
   Architect J. Robert Hillier presented the Princeton Township Zoning Board of Adjustment Wednesday night with a plan to build on Textile Research Institute lands off Carnegie Lake that he said promises new senior housing and parklands for Princeton residents, and a research endowment for TRI.
   TRI retains the option to sell its entire 18-acre lakefront property to a developer who could cover the site with 28 single-family McMansion-style houses allowed under township zoning, Mr. Hillier told the zoning board.
   Instead, TRI is seeking a zoning variance for an expansion of its pre-existing nonconforming use there in order to permit the research firm to remain on 5 acres and subdivide the remaining land.
   The site is within an R-5 residential zone. While proposed townhouses are permitted by zoning, removing land from the non-conforming TRI site to build on them constitutes an expansion of that non-conforming use and so a "D" variance would be required, according to officials.
   Under Mr. Hillier’s proposal, 5 acres off Prospect Avenue and Riverside Drive East would be converted into parkland solely for passive recreation, preserved in perpetuity under a conservation easement through the Delaware & Raritan Greenway.
   After accounting for the 5-acre TRI site, the remaining 8 acres would be developed with 28 age-restricted luxury townhouses under Princeton Township’s regulations for cluster housing, with a conservation easement fronting Carnegie Lake and flanking the townhouses as a buffer along Prospect Avenue, the park and the land retained by TRI.
   Mr. Hillier said the plans, which include innovations like parking under the townhouses to preserve the view and a design that maximizes green spaces, were revised with input from neighbors. A coalition of those neighbors has expressed interest in buying the land as open space to preserve it from development.
   "We’ve had a lot of input from neighbors, and we have responded to their comments," Mr. Hillier said. He noted that approximately 22 people are already on a waiting list for the proposed housing.
   TRI President Gail R. Eaton said the institute is undertaking the land deal to create an endowment to enable it to continue its research. Mr. Hillier has said the deal is worth around $5.4 million.
   According to Mark Solomon, the attorney for the applicant, "We think that this is a win-win situation. It will be good for the neighbors, it will be good for TRI, it will provide housing for this site," Mr. Solomon said.
   Prospect Avenue resident Jodi Tolman, president of the Princeton Riverside Neighborhood Association, a group of more than 50 neighbors seeking to preserve the land, called the revised plan "encouraging," but said her group still would prefer to see the land preserved.
   "If that fails, we will continue to work with Bob to fine-tune the plan even further," Ms. Tolman said.
   The neighborhood group also is concerned about future expansion by TRI on its remaining land under the proposal, she said.
   No decision on the application was made Wednesday. Presentations by Ms. Eaton and Mr. Hillier, and by consultants on traffic, planning and impacts from the proposed development on neighboring property values ran until 11:15 p.m., when the meeting was adjourned. The zoning board is expected to resume the hearing at its meeting on March 26.