PRINCETON: 2 residents want Dinky in preservation plans

By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
   Two residents of Princeton have nominated the Dinky station to be included in the borough’s historic preservation plans.
   Anne Neumann, a borough resident, and Kip Cherry, a township resident, made the request at the March 13 Borough Council meeting.
   The request comes months after a zoning change was approved for the area that would allow for the construction of Princeton University’s $300 million arts and transit neighborhood.
   The project will move the station 460 feet and terminate the transit right of way on the rail line five years after the property is no longer being used for transit purposes.
   Ms. Neumann nominated the station with the accompanying freight buildings, platform, canopy and historic infrastructure “as a protected historical site.” She said it was put on the state Register of Historic Places because it was operating in “virtually original” condition. It still serves that historic function, she added.
   ”I want to I want to support the nomination of the Dinky train station area for consideration by the Historic Preservation Committee as a Historic District,” said Ms. Cherry in a statement before Borough Council last Tuesday. “This includes the freight station, platform, canopy, catenary and the associated tracks – with a focus on the fact that this is an operating station. I should add that this station anchors what I understand is the shortest scheduled train line in the U.S.”
   The Dinky is moving along in Master Plan Subcommittee’s plan to bring the borough’s proposed historic districts into compliance with municipal land use law, said Henry Chou, assistant municipal attorney who specializes in land use. The train station is listed as a historic site in the list of designated sites that will be going before the Regional Planning Board later this year.
   The train station has been listed in the national and state Registers of Historic Places since 1984.
   ”The state and national Historic Register designations include the entire operating complex of the Dinky train station,” said Ms. Cherry on Tuesday night.
   Princeton University owns the land on which the Dinky station is located.
   The property owners are “a little disconcerted to hear that a letter was submitted today. We didn’t get the courtesy of a copy of that letter,” said Richard Goldman, a lawyer with Drinker, Biddle & Reath, Princeton University’s attorney.
   Mr. Goldman also pointed out that Ms. Neumann is a plaintiff in two lawsuits against the university and one against the borough, which have not been served to them yet.
   ”The record of getting copies of things is difficult,” he said. “It is being proposed to you by people who are litigating both the university and the borough to try and block the implementation of the zoning that you adopted. It seems you ought not to be in such a hurry.”
   He said the procedure the borough was about to begin is flawed.
   A resolution was passed to send the proposal to the Historic Preservation Committee.