No resolution expected at tonight’s session.
By: Rachel Silverman
Princeton’s Zoning Board of Adjustment is gearing up for another round of jazz-club inferno, in which board members expect to plow through more testimony on the contentious application tonight.
The hearing is a continuation of the April 20 meeting, in which applicant Stephen Distler outlined his plan to build a combination jazz club, bar and performance space at Route 206 and Birch Avenue.
"I’m assuming we’ll move into the traffic and engineering part of the discussion," board Chairman Carlos Rodrigues said, referring to the substance of tonight’s meeting. "I’m guessing the noise consultant will testify."
But despite pushing forward on the application, Mr. Rodrigues said he does not expect a decision to be reached tonight.
"I’d be completely flabbergasted if we exhausted all the testimony," Mr. Rodrigues said. "I’m hoping we get through it in three meetings," he said, noting a third session has already been scheduled for May 25.
And after a fiery initial hearing that drew a large, heated crowd, Mr. Rodrigues is also bracing himself for what promises to be another turbulent evening.
"I’m hoping the crowd will be a little less rowdy. I’m hoping Mr. Wohl will be a little less confrontational," he said, referring to the lawyer representing residents Penny Baskerville and David and Becky Goodman, who oppose the application. "I’m hoping it will all run a little more smoothly."
Tonight’s meeting will assume the same format as the last, when application testimony took up the majority of time and public comment was reserved only for the last hour.
"It’s important to get the application presented and get it on the record," Mr. Rodrigues said. "At this point, people give a sense of their feelings, not tangible issues. The zoning board doesn’t run on feelings," he said, explaining why the public comment section should be limited in time.
"There will be an opportunity for the public to comment at length," the board chairman promised. "If need be, we’ll schedule additional public hearings."
At the April 20 meeting, the board reviewed information presented by architect Terri Smith, engineer Russ Smith and Mr. Distler himself.
According to that testimony, Aston’s Restaurant and Bar, as the club is to be called, would occupy a 24,669-square-foot parcel "oriented along" Route 206, with a shorter façade facing Birch Avenue. The club would offer valet parking to all patrons and would house a maximum of 165 people at any one time. Though originally in the application, a packaged-goods store was eliminated from Mr. Distler’s plans.
Also ongoing is an appeal by residents to a legal decision made in March, in which Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg ruled in favor of the club’s application continuing to the site-plan-application review phase.
The eight families who filed the suit this summer claimed that Mr. Distler and the board failed to properly notify neighbors about project-construction plans. They also alleged that the club would usher in noise, traffic and safety concerns.
The zoning board reviewed the appeal to Judge Feinberg’s ruling in closed session Wednesday.