Council holds off on proposed zoning change for Engineering Quad area

Opposition voiced by officials, neighbors.

By: Marjorie Censer
   The Princeton Borough Council tabled the introduction of an ordinance Tuesday evening that would allow increased density in the zoning district east of Olden Street that includes Princeton University’s Engineering Quadrangle.
   The present ordinance provides for an additional 200,000 square feet of floor area, above the floor area that existed as of April 1, 1990.
   Robert Durkee, the university’s vice president and secretary, said the university already has used 118,000 square feet of this allowance. The university’s proposed ordinance would allow an additional 100,000 square feet of area, bringing the total to 300,000 square feet.
   The ordinance also would change the setback line from Murray Place properties from the current 250 feet to 150 feet for new buildings. The existing buildings closest to Murray Place are set back about 25 feet from the rear of those residential properties. In return for pushing the setback line closer to the properties, Mr. Durkee said the university would remove the buildings that are now closer than 150 feet.
   The proposed plan is part of the university’s effort to continue to develop the main campus rather than build a new campus on the other side of Lake Carnegie. Mr. Durkee added that the university would use its shuttle system to allow the building’s users to park off-site and be bused to the quadrangle.
   "We want to make fuller use of the land we already have," Mr. Durkee said. "We know we have an impact on the people who live next to us."
   Borough Council members and Murray Place residents voiced opposition to the ordinance.
   "It seems like a cynical approach to (the university’s) planning to agree with the neighbors on a certain set of restrictions," Councilman David Goldfarb said, "and come back 10 or 15 years later and seek a significant expansion."
   Andrea Stine, a Murray Place resident, said the university’s development, coupled with the downtown development, was too much.
   "We’re just getting to a point where we’re being surrounded almost by a coliseum of development," Ms. Stine said. "Our property values really suffer as a result."
   The council voted to table the motion and refer it to the Princeton Regional Planning Board, where it would be directed to the appropriate subcommittee.
   The council also discussed a proposed ordinance that would set affordable-housing requirements for developers of nonresidential buildings. The council members said the suggested guidelines could make profitable development impossible.
   "This could be so onerous that no one would ever build in Princeton Borough again," Mayor Joseph O’Neill said. "What we’re trying to do at this point is get a public policy in place that is consonant with the existing COAH (Council on Affordable Housing) regulations. If they are changed, we will certainly change our policy."
   The council agreed to send the draft of the ordinance back to its working group: Assistant Borough Attorney Karen Cayci, Zoning Officer Frank Slimak, Affordable Housing Coordinator Derek Bridger and Shirley Bishop, an affordable-housing consultant retained by the borough.
   In other business, the Borough Council approved a 10-year lease agreement with Hinkson’s, the office-supply store located on Nassau Street. The lease provides for Hinkson’s to move into the 1,043-square-foot retail space in the Spring Street garage. Rent will be $20 per square foot for the first three months, to allow Hinkson’s to outfit the unfinished store space, and $25 per square foot thereafter.
   Additionally, the council approved the introduction of a bond ordinance that would provide for the rehabilitation of the sewer system. Through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, half of the proposed $6.7 million loan is no-interest, while the other half is set at the current interest rate.