By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
The Borough Council is going to keep chugging along in its perseverance to have New Jersey Transit hold a public hearing about moving the Dinky station and the abandonment of the transit easement on the track’s property.
In correspondence dated June 11, NJ Transit states it is not obligated to hold “a stand-alone public hearing on the station relocation because the service is not being eliminated.”
”I would like to appeal that decision,” said Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller. “It’s inappropriate for a government to make such a momentous decision that affects our citizens and transfers a huge value from the public sector to the private sector without a public hearing. I think we should appeal that decision and request in stronger terms that we should have a public hearing.”
There have been numerous hearings on the issue, both at the local level in the Regional Planning Board and the local governments and at the state level at the Historic Sites Council of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
”What can a public hearing hurt?” added Ms. Crumiller, saying the public benefit, the right of way, is being given away by the state to the university.
”I’d like to see us continue to pursue it,” said Jo Butler, who said people still believe the elected officials can do something about moving the station. “This is NJ Transit, they should come and be responsive to the citizens … I would like to press them on this. Have them come, make a presentation and speak to the public.”
The Historic Sites Council found that the 1984 contract of sale between Princeton University and NJ Transit was valid and included the right of way and easement, as long as the university pays all expenses relating to the move of the station.
Another letter from the Natural & Historic Resources office of the DEP informed the borough that the council would authorize the abandonment of the 460-foot transportation easement with several mitigating conditions after two hearings in Trenton earlier this year.
NJ Transit asserts the station’s location is being “slightly adjusted.” This slight adjustment is 460 feet to accommodate a $300 million arts and transit project Princeton University has proposed for the area.
”The relocation is being described as insignificant when it’s not,” said Ms. Crumiller.
The university is standing by its contract with NJ Transit and said there have been plenty of public hearings on the issue.
”I thought the NJ Transit letter was clear and compelling there is no requirement for an additional public hearing because service is not being eliminated; the station is merely being relocated, and as part of the relocation there will be a number of improvements, which are enumerated in the letter,” said Robert Durkee, vice president and secretary of Princeton University on Wednesday afternoon.
”The letter also makes clear that NJ Transit’s legal obligation to relocate the station has been deemed valid and binding by the state Attorney General’s office, and that this topic has been discussed at multiple public meetings in the community (including Borough Council meetings) and before the state Historic Sites Council,” he said. “At a time when everyone is focused on the costs of consolidation, it is troubling that council apparently is considering the expenditure of additional taxpayer dollars on legal fees to ask, yet again, a question that has now been asked and answered definitively more than once.”
When Ms. Crumiller read the 1984 contract, she said she did not interpret it as the university has the right to move the station indefinitely, as university officials are insisting.
She is also requesting the attorney general opinion. “Why not have it in writing?” she said.
The council requested the special transit attorney to give an opinion on whether the relocation of the station and the abandonment of the easement requires a public hearing.
