PRINCETON: Council votes for historic district

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
   The “Western section” of the borough is in line to become a protected historic district, despite objections from most of the impacted residents.
   Borough Council voted, 4-0, on Tuesday to introduce an ordinance creating the “Morven Tract” historic district that would span Stockton Street to Hodge Road, including parts of Library Place and Bayard Lane.
   Two members of the council, Kevin Wilkes and Roger Martindell, recused themselves from voting.
   The ordinance, creating the fifth historic district in the Borough, next goes to the Regional Planning Board for its review.
   The council vote came after residents opposed a designation they say will impinge their property rights; 49 out of the 52 “principal properties” in the proposed district are single-family homes, according to borough records. If approved, residents either would need to go before the local historic preservation review board or seek an administrative waiver to alter any exterior part of their house that is visible from the street.
   Residents are concerned about the costs and time involved in going through that process”We do not want this,” said Kim Pimley, a resident of Library Place who ran for mayor in 2007. More than half of the 49 homeowners are against the designation and signed a petition to that effect, she said.
   Resident Laura Todd asked council members how they could possibly pass something that “everybody” is against.
   ”What problem are you trying to solve?” asked Hodge Road resident Scott Sipprelle. “We are overwhelmingly opposed.”
   Even state treasurer and Princeton resident Andrew P. Sidamon-Eristoff came to the meeting to call it a “divisive proposal.”
   The proposal had its supporters in Borough Hall, few that they were.
   Library Place resident John Heilner, one of the leading advocates for the designation, has maintained that the critics exaggerate the extent of the opposition. He said at least half of the ones who spoke Tuesday night, including Mr. Sipprelle, do not even live within the proposed district.
   After the lengthy public comment ended, Councilwoman Barbara Trelstad said she would vote for the measure and cited concerns about old houses being torn down.
   The unanimous vote upset critics, with the four council members and Mayor Yina Moore waiting before leaving the council meeting room until the opponents cleared the area.
   Earlier in the meeting, Councilmen Wilkes and Martindell recused themselves due to conflicts of interest. Mr. Wilkes has a business client who lives in the proposed district, while Mr. Martindell has done legal work for the principal of the firm that drafted a report on behalf of supporters of the proposal. The issue about the designation has polarized the neighborhood, one that used to be farmland land that turned into a residential developmentThe “Western section” was land that once belonged to William Penn and later Richard Stockton, who owned an estate called Morven, according to a study of the area. The property stayed in the Stockton family until it was sub-divided in the late 19th century; home construction followed. Some older homes located in the community later were moved into the Morven tract area.
   All this came around when the College of New Jersey evolved into Princeton University, with faculty members moving into the neighborhood. Today, tourists visit to look at the old homes, including one that former President Woodrow Wilson occupied on Library Place.
   Efforts to preserve the neighborhood started informally in 2006 with Mr. Heilner and others.In 2010, the borough Historic Preservation Review Committee considered an application by a group that included Mr. Heilner and others to have the area designated as a historic district. There were hearings two years ago, although the matter was delayed because the town needed to update the historic preservation element of its master plan.
   Last month, after a raucous hearing, the historic preservation review committee found that the area met the criteria for being designated a historic district. But the committee suggested the borough poll the impacted residents.
   For his part, Mr. Heilner rejected the idea of a doing such a survey.
   ”We don’t take polls to decide what zoning we have,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday. “Land use decisions are not based on polling, they’re based on what’s best for the town as a whole.”