Discussion of McMansions is postponed.
By: Jennifer Potash
The municipal budget, a proposed sewer rate increase and a proposal to help untangle parking around Princeton High School fill a crowded Princeton Borough Council agenda on Wednesday.
Not on the agenda is so-called McMansion ordinance aimed at regulating house sizes to prevent, for example, a Georgian manor from popping up amid a neighborhood of compact Cape Cods. The ordinance public hearing was postponed to invite the public to attend a series of neighborhood meetings to ask questions about the proposed changes, said Councilwoman Wendy Benchley.
The council will continue a public hearing on the proposed $21.8 million municipal budget that projects a 14-cent tax rate increase to 86 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Under the proposed budget, the owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $347,138 would pay $2,985 in municipal taxes.
Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi said the council will take up some amendments to reflect $86,000 in budget cuts and over $234,000 in new revenues. The council will likely continue the public hearing until the June 22 meeting, Mr. Bruschi said. The state has not yet given the borough permission to adopt the budget pending a decision on a request for additional aid, he said.
The council will also hold a public hearing on an ordinance to increase sewer rates.
With the increase, residential users would pay $50 per 1,000 cubic feet of water, an increase of 4 percent. Commercial users would pay $60, an increase of 6 percent. And users in the highest tier would pay $72, an increase of 8 percent. The highest tier affects large-volume users such as the University Medical Center at Princeton and Princeton University.
Borough officials have said the increased rates reflect the cost of the sewer service billed to the municipality by the Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority.
Under the McMansion zoning ordinance, which would apply to the borough’s four residential zones, the maximum size of a single-family house would be reduced by about half from the current limits, which range from 5,400 square feet to 15,000 square feet. Depending on the minimum lot size required by the specific zoning district, the new maximum would range from 3,000 to 7,000 square feet. The minimum lot size will not change under the proposed ordinance.
Officials have said based on a review of residences in each zone, on average 94 percent are under the maximum size allowed by borough zoning ordinances.
Ms. Benchley said the ordinance would "absolutely not" prevent new construction in the borough.
"We want an ordinance that is fair and reasonable that allows for tear-downs and allows people to do additions and preserves the streetscape and character of our neighborhoods," she said.
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, an ad hoc committee of representatives from Princeton High School, the Princeton Regional Board of Education, Westminster Choir College and the two municipal governing bodies will present a host of immediate and long-term recommendations to alleviate the parking problem around the school.
Included in the report are proposals to widen part of Walnut Lane to create about 30 spaces exclusively for Princeton High School students or to build a shared parking deck or lot at Westminster Choir College. "We could do a lot without spending money, or we could do a great deal more by spending some money," said Ms. Benchley, who serves on the committee.
The council’s regularly scheduled meeting for today was moved to Wednesday because of the primary elections.