It’s all about what to do with the cars when it comes to attracting and pleasing businesses say elected leaders of Princeton and West Windsor
By: Lauren Otis
WEST WINDSOR It’s all about what to do with the cars. At least when it comes to attracting and pleasing businesses, the mayors of Princeton Borough, Princeton Township and West Windsor all indicated recently.
Although the vehicular problems they confront are different, and many other factors come into play when making their communities business friendly, all three mayors spoke of parking, traffic management and road upgrades as critical to keeping retail companies happy in their towns. They spoke at a "Meet the Mayors" luncheon held at the New Jersey Hospital Association center, sponsored by the Princeton/West Windsor chapter of the Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce.
"Unlike the township and West Windsor, parking in Princeton Borough is a problem," said Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman. The borough is committed to maintaining "a vibrant business center downtown," and one of the most difficult aspects of this commitment is offering enough parking for visitors and business patrons, Mayor Trotman said.
With every positive addition to downtown Princeton she cited the new library, the new Arts Council building under construction, and the recently approved Hulfish North residential development which Mayor Trotman said were considered "drivers for our central business district," there also comes an attendant parking problem.
The Spring Street Garage next to the library "was not a panacea" and the Hulfish North development still must address parking concerns before it can go forward, Ms. Trotman noted.
West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh described a vehicular problem which was the inverse of Princeton Borough’s: acres of parking with no vibrant center nearby. Noting how charged the issue was, Mayor Hsueh said when he first entered West Windsor politics in 1993, "I was warned, never talk about town centers because if you talk about town centers you are out of politics in West Windsor."
Mayor Hsueh said that he chose to grapple with the issue anyway, observing that the Princeton Junction train station was nothing more than a "sea of parking" whose potential to be remade into a town center that gave a sense of identity and community to West Windsor had never been realized. Today that potential is closer to being realized, with 17 proposals to redevelop the train station submitted and under consideration, he said. "Hopefully this will become an engine to bring in more businesses," to his municipality, Mayor Hsueh said.
Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand said the township is "very friendly and welcoming to businesses," and offers businesses the ability to meet with township officials privately before seeking approvals in order to streamline the process, as well as give businesses the ability to obtain certain permits for non-major work, such as systems upgrades or new windows, without the need to come before the Planning Board.
This business-friendly approach even extends to road improvements and traffic management, Mayor Marchand said. If a road improvement out front of a business’s premises will inconvenience it, or come at a particularly busy season, township officials will schedule the road work into the calendar differently so as to help that business, she said. "We try to coordinate any road construction projects we may be having with the business itself," she said.
When it comes to attracting businesses, the mayors said they consider their economic fortunes to be linked.
"As competitive as I am, I do think it is incumbent upon us to work together and I do think we work well together," said Mayor Trotman. "I look at the whole area as a region," said Mayor Hsueh. "If one of us goes down, we all go down together."