CRANBURY: Residents opposed to PNC plan hire attorney, planner

Natalia Knochowski, Staff Writer
   CRANBURY — Residents opposed to the Sweetwater Construction Corp. project at 32 N. Main St. now have legal representation and a professional planner to plead their case.
   According to Sean Deverin, he and other residents of Maplewood Drive — a narrow street at the rear of the property — are “prepared and have representation.”
   They have retained attorney John Pidgeon, of Princeton’s Pidgeon and Pidgeon P.C., and Peter Steck, a professional planner, who both will be present at the hearing on the project that will be continued Aug. 19 at the Planning Board meeting.
   Sweetwater wants to renovate the former PNC Bank property at 32 N. Main St. as an office for its daily operations and also build a residence for its owners, Ronald and Nancy Witt.
   But residents of Maplewood Drive are concerned that, if the project is approved, it would eliminate the three-way Main Street driveway the bank used and, instead, direct traffic in and out through Maplewood.
   Mr. Deverin said a letter from the residents already has been sent to the township. The letter states the residents now have representation and requests that the project be evaluated by the Zoning Board of Adjustment instead of the Planning Board.
   The request was made because the project is planned for a lot that is both residential and commercial and would be an “intensification of the commercial usage of the existing property in a residential zone, and that is why we believe that it is being seen in front of the wrong board,” Mr. Deverin said.
   After the last meeting, Mr. Deverin said that with the help of a professional planner, he and the residents have sat down with the applicants in order to reach a settlement.
   One concession made by the applicants, according to Mr. Deverin, will be to allow residents the use of six parking spaces in the lot, if available, and if the project is approved. Another concession the applicants made will be to create a narrow entrance to the parking lot on Main Street, which could be closed off, however, at the owners’ discretion.
   The lot now is closed to the public.
   ”They’re good people,” Mr. Deverin said. “They did make concessions, but they don’t address our main concern, which is the ingress and egress of the commercial parking lot.”
   The residents are vowing to appeal if the Planning Board votes against them.
   Sweetwater was ordered to do a traffic impact study, which has been submitted to the township. Planning Board Chairman James Golubieski said Wednesday that he had not seen the results of the study.