Applicant maintains 96-unit project will help meet shortage of age-restricted housing
By: Kara Fitzpatrick
Princeton Township Zoning Board of Adjustment hearings on a controversial proposal to build 96 age-restricted condominiums on 14.1 acres off Bunn Drive continued Wednesday but a verdict on the application will likely not be made for at least two more meetings, board Chairman Carlos Rodrigues said. Meetings of the Zoning Board are held monthly.
The applicant, Morgan Estates LLC, is seeking the board’s approval to put three 3-story buildings on two contiguous lots just south of Princeton Community Village. The lots have different zoning one is located in an R-2 residential zone and the other in the OR-2 office research zone. Neither of the existing zones would permit the use the applicant is proposing.
The proposal has met with resistance from nearby property owners, two of whom have hired legal representation.
Wednesday’s testimony included a presentation from the applicant’s planner, Paul Phillips of the planning and real estate consulting firm Phillips Preiss Shapiro Associates Inc. Mr. Phillips said the proposed development would not be a substantial detriment to surrounding property owners. Moreover, the proposal would help to satisfy the stated desire in the community’s Master Plan to increase senior housing stock in the township, he said.
"Princeton needs additional senior housing," Mr. Phillips said. "Provision of that housing is in the public interest."
But attorneys representing nearby property owners said the site is unfit for such development.
David Orron, a lawyer representing a Journey’s End Lane homeowner, said the Morgan Estates proposal would create serious problems such as additional traffic and light pollution for nearby residents.
Walter Bliss, representing nearby Church & Dwight Co., inquired about the site’s geological suitability for development. While Mr. Phillips deferred questions to a geological expert who is slated to testify on behalf of the applicant at a future meeting, he said the geology of the site "is not substantially different than other sites that have been developed in the area."
Mr. Bliss and Mr. Orron have requested that professionals hired by their clients have the opportunity to testify before the public portion of the hearing and prior to the board’s decision.
The next zoning board meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on June 28.

