High level of residential density at hospital site gets backing

But panel downplays proposal for street to split campus

By: David Campbell
   The high level of residential density proposed for the reuse of the University Medical Center at Princeton campus should remain and be put to a vote by the Regional Planning Board of Princeton, a subcommittee of the board determined Wednesday.
   But the board’s Master Plan Subcommittee looked less favorably on the idea of a new residential street running from Witherspoon Street to Harris Road that some residents have proposed to break up the 12-acre hospital block.
   However, subcommittee members Yina Moore and Jacqueline Tillmann strongly favored that idea.
   "The community has been clear: They do not want a superblock," Ms. Tillmann said. "The community has said consistently — consistently — that they want a through street."
   Subcommittee Chairman Marvin Reed said such a street would translate into lost open space for the community.
   Architect J. Robert Hillier, who has worked with hospital owner Princeton HealthCare System on conceptual redevelopment plans for the site, said the developable land between the hospital’s main tower and garage cannot accommodate the kind of residential street being proposed.
   The through-street concept. as well as the reuse density favored by the subcommittee — which includes up to 280 residential units on the main hospital campus in Princeton Borough — will be put before the full Planning Board for a vote.
   A public hearing on the proposed Master Plan amendments discussed Wednesday has been scheduled for Jan. 19 at Princeton Township Hall.
   At a hearing on Dec. 8, the board referred the proposed amendments to the Master Plan Subcommittee for review and possible revision after residents and board members expressed concerns about density and other issues.
   The amendments, if approved by the board, would permit the hospital campus to be rezoned for residential reuse with limited commercial and office uses.
   On Wednesday, the subcommittee fine-tuned language in the proposed amendments on issues such as medical uses that would be permitted on the site and compatibility with the surrounding residential neighborhood.
   The subcommittee also discussed a concern raised by Ms. Moore about the possibility that all the permitted retail uses at the site would be concentrated as frontage on Witherspoon Street.
   The subcommittee also agreed that new development should be limited to about three stories, and that bonus units should be offered as an incentive for senior housing to be built on the site. Under such a unit-based incentive, the total square footage permitted would not change.
   PHCS has announced plans to buy 160 acres owned by FMC Corp. at Route 1 and Plainsboro Road in Plainsboro for a new, $350 million hospital campus to replace the UMCP campus in Princeton.
   Philadelphia-based firm Lubert-Adler Management Inc. was named the likely developer for the Princeton site. Lubert-Adler has said it plans to redevelop the property in accord with the amended Master Plan and whatever new zoning arises from it.
   Princeton University was named as the likely buyer of two other PHCS properties — the nearly 2-acre Franklin Avenue parking lot adjacent to the hospital, and the 9-acre Merwick Rehab Hospital & Nursing Care facility on Bayard Lane.
   The university has said those two parcels could be good locations for new faculty, staff and graduate student housing, and also may be affordable housing.
   PHCS plans to break ground in Plainsboro in 2007 and open in 2010. PHCS has sought a certificate of need for the new campus from state health officials, which is still pending.