By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton has no plans to offer a tax abatement to a future developer of the former University Medical Center at Princeton, Mayor Liz Lempert said Friday.
”I don’t see how that’s advantageous to the town,” said Ms. Lempert, who is on a task force looking to rezone the hospital site. She said Princeton does not need to be making deals to allow a developer to avoid paying its “full amount of taxes.”
She said tax abatements are made to entice developers to develop an “otherwise undesirable” property. She said just the opposite is true here.
Ms. Lempert’s comments come as the task force is hammering out proposed zoning changes including adding eco-friendly standards that could drive up the cost to a developer. The task force was set to meet again Tuesday, starting at noon in the former Borough Hall, to continue the conversation.
”I think whatever the zoning is going to be is something that’s going to be buildable,” Ms. Lempert said. “And I think that we recognize that it has to be something that’s financially viable, that there are people who come to develop it because we want to make sure that there is some sort of development at that site.”
Ms. Lempert said she is aware that developer AvalonBay, who wanted to construct a 280-unit apartment building at the old hospital site, has tax abatements in other communities where they have done projects.
The Princeton Planning Board, scheduled to meet Thursday, is due to vote that night to memorialize the rejection of AvalonBay’s project in December. AvalonBay would have 45 days, starting when the legal notice is published about this week’s vote, to appeal to Superior Court.
The developer has been publicly silent on its intentions, despite having its attorney sit in and observe meetings of task force.
”We don’t know what AvalonBay is going to do,” said Marvin Reed, a former borough mayor who is on the task force.
AvalonBay vice president Ronald S. Ladell did not return a phone call seeking comment Monday.
Ms. Lempert, in a phone interview, responded to a question that the task force was stacked with opponents of the AvalonBay project, including members of the Planning Board such as Mr. Reed who voted against it in December. She said the task force’s makeup included the people “who should be at the table,” including local architects, planning board members and members of municipal advisory boards.
”There was widespread opposition against Avalon,” she said.

