PU Campus Plan draws a not-so-fast from Princeton Borough

By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
   The Princeton University Campus Plan, which was presented to an international audience during an all-day university architecture symposium Wednesday, remains a topic of concern among some Princeton Borough officials.
   Over 2 million square feet of new space and 1 million square feet of refurbished space are in play in this plan, the university’s long-term campus blueprint. With its total implementation, the university will have grown to 12 million total square feet, to be used by about 12,000 students, according to officials making Wednesday’s presentation.
   On the western side of campus the focus remains on the area of the Dinky train station.
   There, the university proposes to move the station some 500 feet south, to make room for a new Arts and Transit Neighborhood that will include the 130,000-square-foot Lewis Center for the Arts.
   But borough officials remain concerned that the Dinky station relocation is unnecessary and that university plans fail to adequately address parking and traffic issues. These concerns represent a potential roadblock for the university, according to Marvin Reed, a former borough mayor and current Princeton Regional Planning Board member.
   ”Any forecasts of its inevitability are premature,” said Mr. Reed, when told of the university’s presentations.
   He said members of Borough Council were not prepared to sign off on the Dinky relocation and support other action necessary for the university Campus Plan to move forward, like zoning changes requiring a Borough Council vote.
   Councilman Kevin Wilkes, a local architect who has offered alternatives to moving the Dinky, confirmed the lack of support.
   ”I have been out pushing the issue, both talking to university officials and talking to my colleagues,” said Mr. Wilkes. “I don’t see any support amongst my colleagues to move the Dinky out of Princeton Borough.” The proposed site for the relocation is in Princeton Township.
   University planners are moving ahead with refining concept plans for certain arts structures which that occupy space made available through the relocation of the train station and infrastructure, said University architect Ron McCoy, during Wednesday’s symposium.
   ”You avail yourself to a site that you can work on,” said Mr. McCoy, referring to the benefits of a Dinky move.
   The nearby Wawa convenience store, which Mr. McCoy jokingly called “the first gateway to Princeton,” would also be moved to the new station area. Along with the Dinky relocation, such a move would concentrate transit-related uses in the new, indoor Dinky transit area, according to Mr. McCoy.
   Also causing concern among some borough residents are plans to build a large parking facility on the eastern side of Princeton Stadium. Borough officials said plans called for a facility with as many as 1,300 parking spaces.
   During Wednesday’s presentation university representatives said the garage would be set into natural slope of the land and topped with new athletic fields and landscaping.
   Landscaped paths would lead persons using the facility to and from campus, according to presenters.
   Campus Plan areas of focus include maintaining a pedestrian-friendly campus, preserving its park-like appearance, maintaining the various campus “neighborhoods,” and sustaining strong community relations, through the holding of additional community forums like those held for Dinky relocation plans, according to officials.
   Mark Burstein, university executive vice president, said the university was focusing on creating a southern gateway area in the vicinity of Washington Road. He noted that the university had developed from Nassau Street south, resulting in an alignment where most students, faculty, and visitors drove in through the less scenic southern area of campus.
   Groups working on the plan told officials that “we have a ‘back-to-front’ problem,” Mr. Burstein said.
   In response, the Campus Plan calls for constructing an aesthetically pleasing pedestrian bridge over Washington Road, and landscaping that portion of the campus with additional tree cover.
   Other portions of the campus will also be receiving more fully-grown trees, creating a “woodland experience,” and “softening the massing” of structures on campus, officials said.
   Mr. Burstein said that even he was skeptical of the woodland scheme.
   ”My first reaction was ‘how the hell is that going to work?’” he said.
   Other environmentally friendly university efforts call for a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The university also plans on expand the number of “green roofs,” which entail covering the roofs of structures with energy saving plants.
   Mr. Burstein discussed the university’s future, specifically when the current campus reaches build-out, at approximately 15 million square feet.
   At that point, the university will consider expanding across Lake Carnegie to university-owned property in West Windsor Township, or even developing the 160 acres currently occupied by the Springdale Golf Course.