By: centraljersey.com
Like the crocuses and tulips, relations between municipal officials and Princeton University may be slowly springing to life after a chilly winter.
Princeton University officials appeared before the Borough Council last week to explain zoning changes it will be requesting to construct its proposed $300 million Arts and Transit neighborhood in a much friendlier meeting of the minds than the last time they were all in the same room.
"This is a very different conversation we had on January 31," said Councilman Roger Martindell, referring to a joint municipal and planning board meeting that ended with the university pulling the plug on the plan because municipal officials did not give any indication of plans for advancing the zoning changes and were not fond of the transit portion of the plan.
"We’re a long way from the kumbaya meeting," said Kevin Wilkes, council president, afterward.
This meeting was another step toward getting the derailed project back on track. Last month a committee was formed to meet with the university to bridge the gap on transit issues that drove the parties apart to the point where university officials said they were taking their project elsewhere.
"We remain interested in trying to get the Arts and Transit project back on track, but that still depends on being able to get the necessary zoning in place in both the borough and the township," said Robert Durkee, vice president and secretary of Princeton University, in a statement yesterday.
"We were pleased to have an opportunity to discuss zoning issues last week with both Borough Council and Township Committee and we hope that they will be introducing the necessary ordinances in time to complete the zoning process by the end of April," he said. "Until we have further clarity about the outcome of the zoning issues, we are continuing to explore a number of other possible locations to expand our capacity to support the arts."
The project would create a new Lewis Center for the Arts, add instructional and rehearsal spaces, and build a new train station that would move the existing train station and train, known as the Dinky, some 460 feet to the south.
The first phase of construction would yield about 130,000 square feet and include a black box the that would accommodate 150 and a dance theater with a similar capacity. An instrumental space would hold about 100, and a flex space could accommodate 75 to 100 people, said Jane Curry, an architect planner at Princeton University.
"This is an area we have been thinking about sine the early 1980s when we purchased the Dinky buildings and other surrounding lands," said Mr. Durkee.
He said this is an opportunity to clean up the area in a way that reflects the way it’s evolved over time and the way it’s likely to evolve into the future.
The current site, which straddles the borough and township, has six zones within it. University officials are proposing a single new zone called "Arts, Education and Transit" in both municipalities.
Rather than seeing it as an educational zone, the proposed zone recognizes the area is a place for transit and retail.
"Our thought was to think through those issues and create zoning that would reflect both what’s happened over time and likely to happen in the future," said Mr. Durkee.
Changing zoning to E2 could also allow the Lewis Center to be built. A variance could also be an option, although not an attractive one for university officials.
"A variance permits a deviation in a modest way from the zoning ordinance," said Richard Goldman, the university’s outside counsel. "It’s not really intended to permit you to take a section of a town and have the zoning board decide we don’t care what this is zoned, we’re going to allow for a massive change."
Under the proposal, buildings would follow existing scale, setback and amassing that currently exists, said Ron McCoy, university architect.
"It is our intention to establish a scale of design that is complementary to the adjacent McCarter Theater center and provides a transition from this edge zone of institutional uses to the adjacent districts and reinforces the desire to create a gateway experience," he said.
The university is recommending specific regulations for the properties in the development area. For lots that are less than one acre, buildings would have a maximum height of 50 feet, a setback of 10 feet and cover only 30 percent of the lot. Lots of more than one acre would have a slight increase in allowable height and a tower setback provision of 130 feet, which would allow the tower at McCarter to remain in compliance, said Mr. McCoy.
The six or seven less than one acre properties are north of where Alexander and University Place meet. Lots larger than one acre are south of University Place, east of McCarter Theater and include the theater.

