PRINCETON: Hospital head rebuts charges

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
   The head of University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro responded to critics this week who are unhappy with developer AvalonBay’s plans for the old Princeton hospital on Witherspoon Street.
   In an op-ed piece published in today’s Princeton Packet, Princeton Healthcare System CEO and President Barry Rabner went point by point to rebut opponents’ charges and defended the decision to select AvalonBay.
   Toward the end of his essay, Mr. Rabner addressed environmental concerns by saying there is no evidence of current contamination at the former hospital.
   ”To our knowledge, allegations that the hospital site is contaminated have no support,” he said.
   Critics of a project calling for 280 residential units have raised concern about conflicting documents dealing with the presence of underground tanks. This week, Borough Council declined to hire an environmental consultant to review all the documents, a move that the Princeton Environmental Commission, a volunteer advisory board to the Princeton Regional Planning Board criticized.
   The Planning Board was scheduled to hear the AvalonBay proposal Thursday night.
   Mr. Rabner said “relevant” documentation by the state Department of Environmental Protection “has been disclosed to those reviewing and inspecting the site.”
   Mr. Rabner addressed other issues, including why AvalonBay was chosen in the first place to develop the property.
   ”We only considered bids from developers who agreed to accept the adopted zoning and understood and accepted the community’s priorities,” he said. “After a comprehensive national search for a developer, we selected a buyer who expressed a commitment to comply with zoning that was in place and who had the experience and the financial capability to complete the project successfully.”
   Mr. Rabner said the proposed project is different from a concept plan the hospital used during discussions on rezoning the site. “It appears that both comply with the current zoning and reflect many people’s preferences, though clearly not all,” Mr. Rabner wrote.
   ”Some elected officials and community members expressed a preference for a site design with open space that was inviting to the public rather than a closed gated community,” he wrote. “The current proposal exceeds the open space requirements of the ordinance and provides for a public park as an entry element to the development.”
   In the op-ed piece, Mr. Rabner did not specify the sales price for the site, although he said the proceeds were important since the business plan for its replacement hospital “assumed revenue from the sale of the old campus.”