Council majority jumpstarts West Windsor planning

By Greg Forester / Staff Writer
Greg ForesterStaff Writer
   WEST WINDSOR — A bloc of council members, seeking to jumpstart a redevelopment process that has resulted in growing frustration among residents, have scrapped plans for another review session and instructed the RMJM Hillier firm to immediately synthesize a draft redevelopment plan.
   Having a draft plan in place for the 350-acre redevelopment zone around the Princeton Junction train station as early as October would provide an opportunity for review and revision as the township works towards having a final plan in place for the close of 2008.
   The move, coming at Monday’s Township Council meeting, is a major leap forward for a government that has held meeting after meeting during a lengthy redevelopment process that has seen accusations of deliberate inaction leveled at council by some in the community.
   Council members Will Anklowitz, George Borek and Linda Geevers led the charge by supporting a motion to turn over all redevelopment data put together by township consultants and development company InterCap Holdings to Hillier.
   The company’s architects and planners could get to work on the plan, according to the motion, with the result likely consisting of a mixed-use development of hundreds of residential units, hundreds of thousands of square feet of office and retail space, and a new road network.
   Mr. Anklowitz said discussions with residents, in which he was unable to provide substantive information due to a lack of a plan, led to a desire to jumpstart the process with a request for a plan directed at Hillier officials.
   ”It needs to move to the next step,” Mr. Anklowitz said.
   He also said that holding meeting after meeting also failed to take into account the township’s $50,000 contract with Hillier, which called for the firm’s involvement in a limited number of meetings, deemed sufficient to have a final redevelopment plan in place by the end of the 2008.
   ”We’re either going to be in breach of contract or have to pay them more,” Mr. Anklowitz said.
   Mr. Borek said recent meetings had resulted in frustration and a perception of a lack of progress.
   ”Last week we were just kind of spinning our wheels in the mud,” said Mr. Borek, referring to an inconclusive redevelopment meeting held last week. “We just need to get this out front and move on this.”
   Members of the public were becoming fed up with the endless planning and review being undertaken by the township, according to Ms. Geevers.
   ”I think the public is very frustrated,” she said. “They feel we’re going in circles with meeting after meeting.”
   Council President Charles Morgan and council member Heidi Kleinman opposed the motion, although Ms. Kleinman later voted yes, following an expression of approval from township consultants and yes votes of the council members who initially supported the motion.
   Mr. Morgan, who was the only council member to vote against the motion, said the measure was a threat to the success of redevelopment.
   ”A vote for this resolution is a vote to kill redevelopment,” he said.
   He said plans authored by Hillier officials in 2007 were unacceptable to the community, and calling for another plan at this time would again result in concepts that are unacceptable to the community.
   The latest Hillier plan would be “another huge conflagration,” and the firm “will wash their hands” of the township’s redevelopment process “no matter how well-received or not well-received” the plan is, according to Mr. Morgan.
   ”I am confident that will happen,” said Mr. Morgan, who was accused of plotting to kill redevelopment by InterCap Holdings Chairman Steve Goldin.
   Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, a big supporter of redevelopment, said he was pleased with Monday’s events.
   ”I think this a positive step in the right direction,” said Mayor Hsueh. “It is good to have tangibles for the council, Planning Board, Parking Authority, and consultants have something to look at.”
   Having a draft redevelopment plan in place would also assist in communicating with state agencies and other entities, Mayor Hsueh said.