Senior housing in Princeton

Jerry Berkelhammer of Princeton
    The apartments and common areas of Stonebridge and Windrows are filled with former Princeton residents who would have elected to remain in town had suitable housing been available to them. Every nearby town has provided market-rate senior housing to their residents. Our governing bodies and zoning and planning boards have recognized the need through the provision of overlay ordinances. In 2008 the oldest baby boomers will be 62; a need today merely recognized will in a very few years become a critical necessity.
   Seemingly suitable sites for senior housing, such as the shopping center, are unavailable or, in the case of the hospital properties, far-off possibilities. Much of the remaining available land comes with legitimate environmental concerns attached. In particular, Pinceton Ridge engenders solicitude and has become an almost sacred part of our landscape. Yet this ridge was not so sacred when PDS and Stuart were built on it, it was not so sacred when the Campbell Woods townhouses were built on it, it was not so sacred when hundreds of single-family houses, some of them of remarkable dimensions, were and are still being built on it.
   We hear of the “sensitivity” of the ridge. Many former Princeton residents who have been very active in serving this community are sensitive to the fact that they have been or soon will be forced to remove themselves from it because they no longer wish to bear the responsibility of a large house and yard.
   Mr. Hillier is a busy and successful architect. It is to his credit that he is willing to devote as much time as he has to the betterment of the community in which he was raised. He has shown an awareness of environmental issues, and I believe he has the desire and resources to create a development with minimal impact on the environment and surrounding area.
   Cities and towns are established by people for people. Protected lands can add to their quality of life and serve other important purposes. We have done well by nature in the Princetons; the list of preserved lands is a long one. Now is the time to preserve the ability of senior residents, many of whom have lived the greater part of their lives in this town, to remain a part of their community.
Jerry Berkelhammer
Allison Road
Princeton