Daniel A. Harris, Princeton
To the editor:
To the Editor: Princetonians need to know what is really happening with the Borough Ordinance to permit any builder to develop the hospital site.
Background: on 19 April 2012 the Planning Board passed a motion (9-1) recommending that Borough Council “quantify” Design Standards in Borough Code to the greatest extent possible, so that they could then, being “measurable” (20 feet vs. 25 feet), be “embedded” into “Bulk Regulations” in Borough Code and thereby be “legally enforceable.” The groundwork for this motion was originally laid by the Site Plan Review Advisory Board proposed by SPRAB in its thorough and meticulous evaluation of draft plans submitted by AvalonBay, whose designers chose to ignore altogether both the 2006 Master Plan for the Witherspoon/Franklin Site and the Design Standards in Borough Code. The SPRAB report notes that “The design standards contain many specific directions concerning the scale, and public permeability of development” in the Mixed Residential Retail Office zone (p. 1); quantifying substantial portions of Design Standards does not require major adjustments.
Borough Council, meeting 24 April, has chosenstunningly-to disregard the Planning Board’s motion altogether and, so far as I can tell, will not provide written comment to the Planning Board (as required) giving reasons for overriding the motion (in this respect, BC was aided by poor or slack advice from Borough counsel). Instead, get this! Borough Council will set up an ad hoc subcommittee to deal with design Standards, and the representative for the potential buyer, Ron Ladell, will be part of the subcommittee. Borough Council has simply abdicated its responsibility to revise its own Borough Code (parts of which will govern all of consolidated Princeton), has foresworn the Planning Board invitation to strengthen the Bulk Standards so that they are legally enforceable, andshould AvalonBay vanish, as did Hovnanian on the Princeton Ridgeleft the Borough vulnerable with weak, weak, weak Bulk Standards that can be exploited by any subsequent developer.
Will any independent professional planner, whether or not from SPRAB, be lucky enough to be included in the cozy subcommittee? Will Princeton be lucky enough? In truth, Mayor Moore indicated some areas of concern for the subcommittee to considerheight of buildings, walkways/passageways, public vs. open space, and porches/setbacks. But who will deal with the big losses not on her scattershot list, which was not even put to a vote?-1) the disgraceful failure to deal adequately with energy and environmental standards, and 2) the utter loss of “mixed uses” in the Mixed Use area that the Task Force on the Witherspoon/Hospital area spent two years developing, in conjunction with hospital representatives deeply concerned to ensure that a genuinely viable neighborhood be fostered when the hospital vacated?
Why has Borough Council relinquished legal control over its own Zoning Code?
Daniel A. Harris
Princeton
