Foes of project on Bunn Drive shifting their strategy
By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
Despite a lengthy debate at Monday’s Princeton Township Committee meeting between advocates and opponents of a proposed age-restricted housing project on Bunn Drive, members of the Princeton Environmental Commission referred to the age change requested for the project as a “done deal” at their meeting Wednesday.
In August, architect and developer J. Robert Hillier made a pitch to the Township Committee for an age-restricted housing project on the Bunn Drive senior overlay zone that would cover much less land than the K. Hovnanian project that was abandoned in 2005.
However, he said the project would only be economically feasible if the age restriction on the site — known as the Lowe tract, after its owners — was lowered from 62-and-over to 55-and-over.
The age change is opposed by the Environmental Commission but its chairman David Breithaupt and member Grace Sinden told a committee meeting Wednesday that they believe it is well on its way to being enacted.
”This is a speeding train,” said Ms. Sinden. She told her fellow commission members that their focus should now be on attempting to include conditions for the age change in the ordinance.
To that end, the board decided to spend a portion of its meeting drafting another letter intended to create the possibility of adding such environmentally geared conditions.
Although Environmental Commission member Lexi Gelperin called Mr. Hillier’s proposal, which includes a number of environmentally friendly features, a “gesture to appease environmentalists” — and recommended added environmental safeguards — Mr. Breithaupt warned the members about focusing too much on the site plan, which is simply a tentative concept plan presented by Mr. Hillier.
After a discussion, the board voted to have a draft of the letter sent to each member Thursday for further revisions, after which it would to be sent to the Township Committee and other officials.
”We’ve raised the issues we had to raise,” Ms. Sinden said.
Among those are concerns that other developers pursuing senior housing — such as Princeton Senior Townhomes — will request the same age change.
Township Attorney Ed Schmierer has said those requests, if they come, will be dealt with separately.
After Mr. Hillier presented his plan for approximately 140 units on less than half the land that would be developed under the Hovnanian plan, he noted that he appreciates the concerns about developing the Princeton Ridge, which many have called “environmentally sensitive.”
He added, “In our design, from the beginning, we’ve tried to respect that. I also appreciate that there is a need in Princeton for a place for people to downsize to and still remain members of the community.”
Later, Regional Planning Director Lee Solow stated that the consideration of the zoning changes was the result of “a desire to address three public policies” — senior housing, affordable housing, and a desire to protect the environment.
”You can see by the size of the crowd here, it is a difficult choice,” he said.
Township resident Chuck DeSanto, who lives on Mount Lucas Road, near the proposed development site, said that while the Hillier proposal is preferable to the Hovnanian plan, it’s “not without serious concerns.”
And he said changing the age requirement from 62 to 55 wouldn’t meet the issue intended to be addressed with the senior overlay — affordable housing for senior who are looking to downsize.
Though others criticized the proposed development for not being closer to the center of town — where seniors can get around more easily — township resident Shirley Dwork said that’s not what she wants in such a facility.
”This seems to me a perfect area,” she said. “It’s very pretty up there.”
But for some, that natural beauty is the entire reason to preserve the plot.
Township resident Daniel Harris said the proposal “abuses Princeton Ridge.”
Other residents said any development will increase the already problematic flooding in the area, and yet others said lowering the age requirement to 55 would work against older seniors by opening up the market to more buyers.
Lawrence Township resident Laura Lynch, representing the environmental group The Sierra Club, called Mr. Hillier’s proposal “amazing” but added, “not on the ridge. Please.”
However, Township resident Sandra Persichetti said, “Let’s not lose another generation of active adults,” referring to argument that seniors who could still contribute to the community need housing alternatives.
Reading a letter from the Shade Tree Commission, its chairwoman, Lily Krauss, said that although Mr. Hillier’s plan is not “ideal,” it would be preferable to a commercial building.
”We are pragmatists,” she said.
Mr. Breithaupt urged the committee Monday to find “some other location” for senior housing.
But former township resident and senior housing advocate Eleanor Angoff, who now lives in the Stonebridge at Montgomery senior community, said “there is no place to go,” ruling out the locations suggested by Mr. Breithaupt.
Mayor Phyllis Marchand agreed.
”It’s not that we have not looked,” she said.
”We all respect the environment here, but we also see a need for something that has been crying for it for many, many decades,” the mayor said. “No one is ever going to say that we haven’t tried to balance the needs here.”
A draft ordinance is now expected to be completed by the committee in time for introduction at the Nov. 26 committee meeting, after which it would be sent to the Regional Planning Board of Princeton for review at its Dec. 6 meeting.

