Bond ordinance to end West Windsor planning stalemate

$200,000 measure would continue process for train station redevelopment area

By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
   WEST WINDSOR — A $200,000 bond ordinance will be introduced at the Township Council’s Monday meeting that should provide the remainder of the funding necessary to develop a viable plan for the 350-acre redevelopment zone around the Princeton Junction train station.
   Following its Monday introduction, the measure would be up for vote at the council’s Dec. 17 meeting, according to township officials, who said it is their hope this new and final appropriation would see West Windsor to the end of what has been a contentious and divisive planning process.
   ”I don’t expect the process to exceed this $200,000,” said Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh. “That is the cap and we are not going to go over that.”
   The bond moneys would be earmarked to pay Township Planner John Madden, traffic consultant Gary Davies, Planning Board Attorney Gerald Muller, and a real estate and financial advisor to be named later.
   The ordinance also has funds for the hiring of a redevelopment attorney that would serve for the remainder of the process, which is something the council has been pushing for since the summer.
   This past month, Mr. Madden and Mr. Davies proposed $105,000 in funding for a process to the Planning Board — which has been tasked with planning the redevelopment zone — that could generate a viable plan for the redevelopment zone, according to the consultants.
   It involved selecting various levels of development, which would allow the two consultants to analyze what the zone would need, in terms of roads, infrastructure and potential amenities for the township.
   The bond ordinance would go directly to funding this renewed process.
   The bond would be introduced on Monday with the hope of passage during the Dec. 17 meeting. Without a Monday introduction the township would have had to follow bond rules and wait until next year’s budget for inclusion — a delay that Mayor Hsueh said could set back the process until mid-2008.
   None of the new bond moneys will be going to planning firm RMJM Hillier, officials said, pointing to funding remaining in the bonds that were originally passed to pay for the firm’s work in 2006.
   ”Based upon preliminary discussions it seems RMJM Hillier is open to working within the old contract,” Mayor Hsueh said.
   This should not be a problem, with the planning firm only having billed about half of the original $330,000 bond ordinance passed to pay Hillier, approximately $165,000, officials said.
   ”In ongoing negotiations with Hillier representatives, it seems the goal is to have Hillier stay within the $330,000 number,” Business Administrator Chris Marion said.
   Council members at Monday’s special redevelopment meeting noted the importance of the ordinance, and what a failure of passage could do to the ongoing redevelopment planning.
   ”A decision to turn the bond down is a decision to stop redevelopment,” said Councilman Charles Morgan. “It would either delay the process for a year or kill it.”
   Council President Will Anklowitz noted the relationship between evaluating larger numbers of possible plans and the increased costs incurred by the township.
   ”We should select a single plan and examine variables,” said Mr. Anklowitz, who noted the number of housing units would be the most difficult plan variable to deal with.
   Some moneys from the new bond ordinance could be used for the renting of facilities, the creation of educational materials, and other uses associated with public outreach, Mayor Hsueh said.
   ”We could even use it for modifications to the township’s Web site during the process,” he said.