Developer AvalonBay remains on course to go before the Princeton Planning Board June 27 with a proposal for a 280-unit residential development at the former Princeton hospital site on Witherspoon Street.
By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Developer AvalonBay remains on course to go before the Princeton Planning Board June 27 with a proposal for a 280-unit residential development at the former Princeton hospital site on Witherspoon Street.
Representatives of the firm, including company vice president Jon Vogel went before the municipal Site Plan Review Advisory Board on Wednesday, to answer questions about the project. Another meeting before the same board is scheduled for June 12 in Witherspoon Hall on Witherspoon Street.
The review board, known as SPRAB for short, will make a recommendation to the Planning Board this month on whether the project should be approved. One of the points that the board asked AvalonBay to look into is the impact on street parking by guests to the site. The project has a 686-car parking garage.
Representatives of Princeton HealthCare System, which is selling the old hospital to AvalonBay, attended the meeting but did not comment. Pam Hersh, vice president with Princeton HealthCare System, had no comment afterward.
AvalonBay is trying again to develop the property, having seen its first proposal fail in December before the Planning Board. Though the project conformed to local zoning, the board turned it down — a decision AvalonBay sued over earlier this year.
The town and AvalonBay have had talks about resolving the matter. AvalonBay last month submitted a revised project taking into account concerns raised about the first version. For example, instead of having one large residential building, AvalonBay proposed splitting the 280 units up into five buildings.
But one critic of AvalonBay said after Wednesday’s meeting that she felt the project, though an improvement, was not that much different from the old one.
”It’s still a gated community,” said Alexi Assmus of Princeton Citizens for Sustainable Neighborhoods.
Based on a consent order the sides agreed to, the project is moving at a faster pace than normal. Municipal staff already has deemed the project complete.
Hearings before the Planning Board are expected to last into July.