By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — It was a year of preparing for new development for Montgomery, with the township’s purchase of the former North Princeton Development Center — a 260-acre former state institution the township has had its eye on for more than a decade — kicking off 2007.
The demolition of 92 of the site’s buildings was completed over the summer and asbestos-covered steam-pipe removal work was started, which will resume this year. Currently, the township is working on a redevelopment master plan for the site, which it has renamed Skillman Village.
”In May the township completed a community-wide survey for the redevelopment project,” said Mayor Cecilia Birge, “which made it clear that the community places a high priority on open space preservation, recreational use of the site and economic viability, so that it does not become an economic burden on residents.”
Earlier in the year, the township narrowed down its request for qualifications responses from 14 to six developers. In December, it issued a second round of RFQs, which could shorten or lengthen the list.
”The main purpose is to ask all the short-listed developers to provide an update of their proposal since the market condition we are in today is drastically different from the time we received those proposals,” Mayor Birge said. “The township continues to receive requests about the site, so we know that developers are still interested in the site, but we will not know the number of responses until the deadline in early first quarter of 2008.”
She added that the township is looking to issue requests for proposals from redevelopers during the first quarter of 2008.
During a Nov. 28 special Township Committee meeting, adding a cemetery to Skillman Village and concentrating retail and residential development to the west of the Village Elementary School, which is surrounded by the more recently purchased property, were discussed.
In another major development project in the township, the Planning Board granted final approvals for several aspects of the Montgomery Promenade, which is to be a “pedestrian-friendly” center with approximately 340,000 square feet of retail space and some residential components.
The developer and township officials broke ground on the center in May. The first phase of construction will involve building loop roads, which have been designed to alleviate traffic at the already busy intersection of Route 206 and Route 518.
The shopping center will occupy the 50-acre area north of Princeton Airport, near the southwest corner of Route 206 and Route 518.
Madison Marquette, the center’s Washington D.C.-based developer, has received approvals for various aspects of the site, despite having met opposition from several neighboring businesses through an anonymously funded lawsuit. At the request of the last remaining plaintiff, the suit was dismissed in late November.
The most recent approvals granted to Madison Marquette by the Planning Board were for final plans for the center’s central gathering place and lighting of the retail store facades.
In mid-July, Madison Marquette received final approval for several anchor stores and on Sept. 10, the developer received final approval for a Stop & Shop supermarket. Final approvals for the residential and freestanding business sites will be sought early this year, according to Tom Hall, Madison Marquette’s attorney.
Another Montgomery project that made more than one headline this year was 3M’s quarry and roofing granule production plant.
In mid-June, 3M announced it would be selling its property, which straddles the Hillsborough border, but declined to describe what kind of future use could occur on the site.
Over the past four years the township has expressed its dissatisfaction with how 3M’s operations have affected water and air quality in surrounding areas. The announcement of 3M’s closure has heightened township officials’ concerns about the water quality issue, which were described in a letter sent to the state Department of Environmental Protection in August.
In other 2007 Montgomery developments, the township purchased 69 acres of development rights to the Johnson Farm, located at the corner of Mill Pond and Bridgepoint roads in July. The 64-acre Drake Farm, located off Route 518, was also purchased by the township, in June.
Democrats were three for three in this year’s Township Committee elections, with two first-time candidates elected.
Brad Fay, who was appointed to the committee in December 2006, was elected to serve a three-year term. Mr. Fay is chief operating officer of the Keller Fay Group, a market research company that he co-founded.
Mike Joye, an attorney who recently was with the New York law firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Green & MacRae, and currently maintains a general practice in Princeton, was elected to a one-year term.
Their Democratic running mate Deputy Mayor Louise Wilson was elected to the other three-year term.
