Changes to proposed Master Plan amendments to be considered following public comments
By: David Campbell
Residents voicing concern about Master Plan amendments that would permit high-density redevelopment of the University Medical Center at Princeton site sent the Regional Planning Board of Princeton back to the drawing board at a public hearing late Thursday night.
At press time, the board had entered into deliberations on possible major revisions to the amendments which, if approved, would lead to rezoning of the UMCP campus on Witherspoon Street for largely residential redevelopment.
Responding to comments made by nearly two dozen of the roughly 60 residents attending the majority of those speakers expressing concerns about the impact of density on the neighborhood and community board member Wendy Benchley recommended the board consider several major changes to the proposed amendments.
Proposed changes dealt with building height; a proposal for a road to break up the hospital block; whether or not the surgi-center on Witherspoon should be preserved; and issues related to limited retail along Witherspoon that would be permitted under the amendments.
Minutes before, board member Philip Feig urged that the amendments be voted on that night and not sent back to subcommittee for more changes, arguing that the guidelines were broad enough to accommodate more specific rezoning ordinances and that further revision risked "suspended animation."
But member Jacqueline Tillmann called the amendments as proposed "flawed." She said she did not believe in micro-management in the Master Plan, "but we should get it right." Board member Yina Moore also strongly favored incorporating changes based on public comments Thursday night.
Comments from the public Thursday included calls for more low-income and senior housing.
Montadale Drive resident Cynthia Shull, a member of the hospital auxiliary board, urged that the amendments be approved in a timely manner and that Princeton HealthCare System, the hospital’s corporate parent, be permitted to get fair-market value for its land in Princeton.
But most comments were from residents concerned about high-density building adversely affecting the neighborhood, the fabric of the community, and bringing increased traffic.
"I suspect that these Master Plan amendments don’t really express the wishes of most of the people of Princeton," said Ronald Berlin of Jefferson Road.
Mr. Berlin called for changes to the amendments that would encourage the hospital block to be broken up by a residential, tree-lined street, subdivided into smaller parcels for resale to avoid "monolithic ownership" there.
Resident Jenny Crumiller noted that West Windsor-based Hillier Architecture worked with PHCS on conceptual redevelopment plans for the site while the Master Plan amendments were being drafted and now is expected to be hired as architect by the site developer. She asked whether profit had something to do with the high density under the proposed amendments.
Architect J. Robert Hillier, principal of the firm, defended the redevelopment plans, saying those plans were drafted to meet the community’s and PHCS’s needs.
Last week, the PHCS trustees voted to move ahead with the purchase of 160 acres owned by FMC Corp. at Route 1 and Plainsboro Road in Plainsboro Township for a new state-of-the-art hospital campus to replace the UMCP campus in Princeton.
The trustees also approved the sale of three properties the 12-acre UMCP Witherspoon Street campus, the adjacent nearly 2-acre Franklin Avenue parking lot, and the 9-acre Merwick Rehab Hospital & Nursing Care facility on Bayard Lane which will help pay for the planned $350 million campus in Plainsboro.
Philadelphia-based developer Lubert-Adler Management Inc. plans to buy the UMCP campus, and the firm has said it will redevelop the land in accord with the amended Master Plan and new zoning that arises from it. Gerald Ronon, principal of the Lubert-Adler, has said the company plans to hire Hillier Architecture to design the reuse.
Princeton University plans to buy the Merwick and Franklin Avenue properties as possible locations for new housing for faculty, staff and graduate students, and possibly for affordable housing.
PHCS plans to break ground in Plainsboro in 2007 and welcome its first patients to the new campus in 2010.
Prior to the start of the public hearing Thursday, Planning Board Attorney Allen Porter recused himself to avoid any conflict of interest since he has also represented Mr. Hillier’s interests as an attorney.
Board Chairwoman Wanda Gunning and member William Wakefield also recused themselves, because their spouses work for the university.

