PRINCETON: Crumiller advised to skip university hearing

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
   Borough councilwoman and Regional Planning Board member Jenny Crumiller, an advocate in the save the Dinky effort, might have to sit out the board’s hearing next week on Princeton University’s $300 million arts and transit project that involves moving the train line.
   Ms. Crumiller said in a phone interview Wednesday that she had received legal advice to recuse herself from the matter, scheduled for Oct. 18. She declined to elaborate.
   She said she would be disappointed if she could not sit on the case, given its importance to the future of the town. She said that she intended to speak with board attorney Allen D. Porter to discuss the issue, one she said she hopes to resolve quickly. Mr. Porter could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
   Ms. Crumiller, a Democrat, has made no secret about her feelings about the Dinky.In 2011, she voted for a Borough Council resolution opposing the university’s plan to move the station. She has also gone to board meetings of NJ Transit to press the issue.On her website, Ms. Crumiller has expounded on her views.
   ”First and foremost, many people don’t understand that the university could build the arts campus and accommodate the Dinky station and railroad tracks but it chooses not to,” she wrote in a June 28, 2012, posting. “I believe the convenience that the Dinky provides us in its present location, both for present commuters and for the purpose of a possible future light-rail connection to Nassau Street, is an asset to Princeton residents that shouldn’t be given up merely for the convenience of Princeton University.”
   University vice president Robert K. Durkee had no comment Thursday. He noted that the planning board is not being asked to approve the relocation of the Dinky.The terminus of the track, which is on university property, would be moved 460 feet south and a new station constructed. The university bought the station from NJ Transit in 1984, although the agency has a right of way to run train service there. Part of the sale says the university can move the track line.
   The university wants to be able to construct a road from Alexander Street to make it easier for its employees to get to a university owned garage.
   Even if Ms. Crumiller is absent, the board would still be able to hear the proposal. The school plans to construct the Lewis Center for the Arts, a new Dinky station and Wawa convenience store and turning the current station into a restaurant and café.