Architects to seek public comment at Wednesday evening session
By: Hilary Parker
KSS Architects of Princeton will solicit information from residents and local business owners on the current and future uses of the Valley Road building at a public forum 7 p.m. Wednesday in the John Witherspoon Middle School cafeteria.
In June, KSS Architects the firm that designed the Princeton Township municipal complex was awarded a contract from Princeton Regional Schools to study the building, where the district’s administrative offices are located.
Given the site’s prominence and importance in the community until 2002, it held the Princeton Township municipal offices the Board of Education stipulated that the needs and opinions of community members be taken into account as the future of the building is considered.
"We will be presenting some initial analyses that we’ve done of the site," said Ed Klimek, KSS partner in charge of the project, of the upcoming meeting. "We will show its position both in the context of its immediate surroundings and the overall town. Our purpose is to get input back from the public so that we can hear from the neighborhood about thoughts they may have" on the use of the building.
At this point, the architects are still largely in the data collection phase, Mr. Klimek said. On Wednesday, he and his colleagues associate Merilee Meacock, who heads the firm’s school projects, and partner Allan Kehrt will present information they’ve gathered to date, including the current availability of parking and the amount of open space at the site. Beyond that, Mr. Klimek said the architects intend to use the forum to gather more information for use in future analyses such as the local reaction to, and concerns about, the site.
The school district’s stated goals in commissioning KSS for the study of the facility were to assess low-cost improvements that might be made to the facility and consider ways the vacant space in the building might be used to generate revenue. KSS’s offices are themselves located just one block away from the Valley Road building on Witherspoon Street.
The district and KSS invite all members of the community, particularly neighbors and business owners, to attend the open discussion.

