Assemblyman weighs in on Institute for Advanced Study housing plan
By: Courtney Gross
Where George Washington battled the British and the first U.S. Marine was killed in action is the site of proposed faculty housing for the Institute for Advanced Study, to the displeasure of history buffs and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton Borough).
The proposed development, which would include 15 single family homes on a 25-acre tract adjacent to the Princeton Battlefield State Park, has been a point of contention for years.
Although the institute has widened a buffer that would separate the housing and the park, members of a nonprofit group dedicated to the battlefield’s preservation the Princeton Battlefield Society are attempting to persuade the world-renowned institution to construct its housing elsewhere.
"We don’t oppose them building houses," said the society’s vice president of community relations, Laura Crockett. "Just not there, please."
Since going before the Regional Planning Board of Princeton in 2003 with conceptual plans for faculty housing, the institute has not submitted anything more specific, officials at Princeton’s planning office said.
After the institute unveiled its development, Ms. Crockett said the society and representatives from the institute have been meeting to hash out a compromise. Now, she said, the society is attempting to get state representatives involved, including Mr. Gusciora.
Mr. Gusciora has sent a letter to the institute’s director, Peter Goddard, urging the think tank to consider other sites for the residences. According to the letter, the property was the site of a major counterattack against British regulars during the Battle of Princeton in 1777 and was the first major land engagement by the U.S. Marine Corps.
At the site, which is off of Mercer Road, U.S. Marine Capt. William Shippin of Pennsylvania was the first of his group to die during the American Revolution, the letter states.
Although the institute has steadfastly preserved a large amount of historic property in the past, Mr. Gusciora said this particular land is too important to the community, the state and the nation to be developed.
"The institute has done a great job at helping to preserve open space, but at the same time this is a significant piece in America’s history," Mr. Gusciora said. "If there is something that can be done, whether through the state or the federal government to offer them an alternative, we should explore those options."
According to the Princeton Battlefield Society, the Battle of Princeton spread over a mile and a half, with most of the battle area since being developed. The remaining vacant lands, according to the society, are the 85-acre state park and 35 acres owned by the institute.
The institute has had a long history of open space preservation within and on the outskirts of the state park. According to a statement from the institute in response to opposition of its proposed development, the institute relinquished 75 percent of its development rights in 1997 that went to preserving 589 acres of the Institute Woods and farmland contiguous to the state park.
Prior to that, the institute sold 32 acres to the state that increased the size of the Princeton Battlefield State Park by 60 percent, according to the statement.
The proposed faculty housing, according to the institute, would not be located adjacent to the state park nor would it be visible from it. In addition, the housing would be "low profile," and a 200-foot buffer with a "dense hedgerow of trees and vegetation" will separate the park and the housing.
In its conceptual plans, the buffer was first proposed as 100 feet.
"We are equally committed to sustaining the Institute Woods and farmlands for generations to come and to preserving the integrity of the battlefield, which the institute, in fact, helped create and continues to honor," the institute statement reads.
Mr. Gusciora hoped all of the parties could discuss further how the institute can meet its need for expansion, but protect historic property at the same time.