Once again the Planning Board has an important decision to make that will greatly affect our town.
Harriet Bryan, Skillman
Once again the Planning Board has an important decision to make that will greatly affect our town.
AvalonBay proposes to replace the empty hospital site with residences. It will cost them a tremendous amount to take down the old buildings . Few developers would be willing to consider it.
The plan they propose conforms with the zoning for the site. It will include 56 affordable units. The people lucky enough to get one of these will pay 30 percent of their income in rent. This is a tremendous help to these people, and a help to the town which needs this type of housing badly.
Princeton Community Housing operates 465 affordable rentals in town. Sounds like a lot? The waiting list has 900 names! Many do not even apply as they know it would take too long to get in. They are the people who are commuting into town, adding to our traffic every day, and using too much of their already low income for transportation. New Jersey has a huge shortage of affordable housing. Weshould be thrilled to have these 56 units available to us!
The neighbors would like to see just some two-story row houses, with a park which they could enjoy. We can all understand that, but one has to be realistic. The old hospital is a menace and a hazard, standing there, gradually deteriorating. It needs to be gone. AvalonBay should be supported as they plan to do exactly that.
Harriet Bryan
Skillman