Council set to rezone medical center site

Three ordinances scheduled to be introduced tonight

By: Courtney Gross
   After months of discussion, multiple revisions and considerable deliberation, the Princeton Borough Council is poised to introduce three ordinances tonight that would revise the zoning on and around the site where the University Medical Center at Princeton currently stands.
   Anticipating that the medical center will move to Plainsboro in 2010, the Borough Council intends to create a mix of residential, retail and affordable housing on the current hospital site, which is bordered by Witherspoon Street and Franklin Avenue and Henry Avenue. The ordinances have been discussed at meetings this month and during the summer.
   Earlier in September, council members had not felt comfortable introducing the ordinances after considerable deliberation resulted in several revisions. The council decided reviewing a clean draft of the ordinances with the changes would be wise.
   Councilman Roger Martindell said the governing body is approaching the hospital zoning ordinances conservatively by taking its time. If the hospital has trouble selling the property with the proposed development restrictions, he added, it can always ask that the zoning be liberalized.
   "I think we want to change the zoning slowly and only after there has been sufficient community input," Mr. Martindell said.
   One of the ordinances slated for introduction this evening would change 5.6 acres of the medical center’s main campus from strictly medical use to mixed residential, retail and office space. At a previous meeting, the council eliminated language from the ordinance that provided criteria if the land was subdivided — a decision the council made with the intention of having the property developed as one entity.
   Also after discussion earlier this month, language was added in the mixed-use ordinance that requires the majority of on-site parking be housed in the current parking garage and that no more than 10 percent of total parking on site be on the surface.
   In addition to parking, the mixed-use zoning ordinance would mandate any nonresidential uses be on the first floor and along 180 feet of Witherspoon Street.
   The second ordinance set for introduction would provide design standards for the development of the property, including traffic, open space and aesthetic characteristics of building facades.
   Following the council’s previous discussion on public access to open space within the area, language was added to encourage interaction, providing public spaces for any residents of the new development and current residents of the neighborhood.
   Other revisions are the inclusion of a traffic study to ensure safe and efficient circulation, as well as the council’s vision of a new neighborhood street within the area.
   The third ordinance set for introduction would create a new residential zone for the area surrounding the hospital’s surface parking lot on Franklin Avenue, of which 20 percent is slated for affordable housing. References to the possible integration of affordable housing in current developments in the area, specifically Franklin Terrace and Maple Terrace, is also included.
   To protect existing homes from future development, the ordinance was revised to include a 35-foot buffer between new residences and adjacent properties.
   In other business, the council will hear an appeal tonight from the Christ Congregation Church on Walnut Lane in regard to an application for tree removal that was twice recommended for denial by the borough’s Shade Tree Commission.
   The church applied to remove a large pin oak from the property for the installation of solar panels. The tree shaded sections of the roof where the panels are proposed.