Princeton Master Plan re-examination to include university focus

A long campus shadow is cast over review process

By: Courtney Gross
   An age-old question is about to be revisited in Princeton: Is this a university town or a town with a university?
   That concept will be kicked around as members of the Regional Planning Board of Princeton gear up to revisit and revise the Princeton Community Master Plan.
   Last revised in its entirety in 2001 and originally drawn in 1996, the Master Plan must be re-examined every six years under state statute. Although Princeton has revisited its Master Plan on a more frequent basis, according to Princeton Planning Director Lee Solow, this year’s re-examination could tackle much larger issues, including an expansion by Princeton University.
   What some refer to as the quintessential intersection of town and gown, others have called the "proverbial gorilla" ready to turn a community into a campus.
   Members of a Planning Board subcommittee, who are charged with revising the Master Plan, are hoping to address these concerns to determine how much gown should cover the town.
   The Master Plan re-examination report is due in October. Though there is no definite penalty for failing to complete the Master Plan report, the update does provide municipalities with an extra layer of defense if involved in a developer lawsuit.
   Although the report can lead to a thorough Master Plan revision, it is not required to explicitly outline the changes Princeton would like to tackle, Mr. Solow said at a subcommittee meeting Thursday evening. If in the past six years little has changed here, then that would be reflected in the report.
   In Princeton, it is unlikely that would be the case.
   From the rezoning of the University Medical Center at Princeton to the expansion of Princeton University, it is likely the Master Plan will be covered in red-inked revisions.
   As the borough and township plan their Master Plan evaluation, Princeton University is coincidentally rounding up its own 10-year campus plan — a review that has been in the making for approximately the last two years.
   University Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee called the coincidence "fortuitous," allowing both municipalities and the university to work together on overlapping community goals.
   "We hope as the Planning Board develops the Master Plan it will take into account what we are trying to accomplish just as we take into account the community’s goals," Mr. Durkee said.
   But even at the onset of the Master Plan re-examination, residents have already raised concerns over the university’s 10-year proposal and its plan to develop parts of Princeton on the "other side" of Nassau Street — a section typically devoted to town instead of gown.
   "I am concerned that the university has now stepped across the street," said Pierina Thayer at Thursday’s subcommittee meeting. "My borough community is gradually becoming the Princeton University campus," the 50-year borough resident added.
   Calling the university an "enterprise," Ms. Thayer said the university’s plan to bring in Labyrinth Books to take over Nassau Street-staple Micawber Books is an example of the damage it has done.
   Mr. Durkee explained much of the university’s property acquisition on the other side of Nassau Street — which includes plans to purchase medical center properties and convert them into university housing as well as affordable housing — are not for academic uses but are instead responses to the community’s needs.
   "What we’re doing across the street is responding to priority goals of the community," Mr. Durkee said, "that is strengthening retail (and) strengthening housing."
   For the most part, Mr. Solow noted, the university has expanded or developed land over the years in accordance with the Princeton Community Master Plan.
   But that could soon change. A plan to develop the University Place area surrounding the Dinky station and morph the site into an arts neighborhood will offer interesting challenges. The site straddles both municipalities, is on major corridors and must address parking and public transit.
   Mr. Durkee said the university would be working with the neighborhood and Princeton’s officials to ensure its plans are attractive for the community and the campus.
   In the current Master Plan, references to the university, such as its effect on circulation or land use, are interspersed throughout the document. Members of the subcommittee Thursday suggested creating an entire section devoted to the university’s influence on the borough and the township.
   Whether that is how the Planning Board will tackle the issue is yet to be determined.