Politics may scuttle ambitious West Windsor train station-area project, he says
By: Greg Forester
WEST WINDSOR The Princeton Junction redevelopment project is in trouble, according to architect J. Robert Hillier, who suggested this week that his firm might resign from the planning process.
Hillier warned township officials and the public that the political atmosphere in town was harming his firm’s ability to satisfy the town’s desires for the project.
"We feel that what was a positive process has been derailed by a contentious election and an increasingly divisive political environment and we think it has jeopardized the project," Hillier said at Monday’s combined Planning Board and Township Council meeting. "We are deeply concerned that it may not be possible to deliver a plan that will satisfy all of the competing demands of an increasingly polarized client."
Mr. Hillier said the current project is definitely viable, but needs advocates and champions in the community.
"This project needs those, and right now I don’t know if there’s anybody here that wants to build a transit village," Mr. Hillier said.
Mr. Hillier suggested the possibility that his firm could resign from the project, and allow another firm to attempt to deliver what the township wanted.
"It’s clear we’re not satisfying West Windsor, and when you have a client you’re not satisfying, you are happy to step aside," Mr. Hillier said.
These warnings from Mr. Hillier come during a political climate that saw the election of Will Anklowitz, George Borek, and Charlie Morgan, who ran on a "Best 4 West Windsor" slate with a platform aligned against the inclusion of 1,000 new homes in town.
Mr. Morgan said he did not think the project was in jeopardy, and that it would be unfortunate for Hillier Architecture to withdraw from the project.
"The fact of the matter is the best answer is not for Hillier to leave, but to restart the process," said Mr. Morgan. "We need to re-engage the public the way we promised."
Mayor Shing Fu-Hsueh said he hopes Mr. Hillier and his firm would stay on with the project, warning that the project was still only in the early stages.
"Mr. Hillier has done an outstanding job up to this point, and his firm has tried to understand what the community really wanted and needed," said Mayor Hsueh. "Bob Hillier was able to bring many different ideas into one plan, and in the next phase the council and the Planning Board need to provide a more specific direction so the project can move forward."
Following Mr. Hillier’s warning to the crowd gathered at the Grover Middle School for the meeting, variations on the original plan of 1,000 residential units were introduced.
They included plans for 250, 500, and 750 residential units, along with a more detailed analysis of the original 1,000-unit plan.
The presentation displayed financial analyses by Economic Research Associates that purported decreasing financial benefits for the township with decreases in the number of residential units.
"I saw so much out there that might be outright wrong," said Mr. Morgan, of the presentations. "It was based on assumptions, and we need a process where we have access to assumptions."
Some of Hillier’s presentation included changes made to the original plan that seemed to satisfy the demands of resident’s identified in earlier portions of the process.
These included the addition of a pedestrian walkway connecting parking decks on the west side of the tracks and the New York-bound platform on the east and the removal of a roadway connecting Alexander Road and the Sherbrook Estates neighborhood, which pleased Councilman Will Anklowitz.
"Mr. Hillier did the right thing about the realignment of Sherbrook Drive with Alexander Road," said Mr. Anklowitz. "I look forward to discussing other details and concerns with Mr. Hillier."
The audience of residents and township officials were also treated to artists’ renderings of what the downtown area near the train station and along Route 571 would look like as a mixed-use town center.
There has been discussion of a second joint meeting of the Planning Board and Township Council at Grover Middle School for June 18, but that meeting date is expected to be rescheduled according to officials from Hillier.

