PRINCETON: Hospital shrubs saved by a grassroots effort

Patricia Taylor could not bear the thought of all the plantings outside the former Princeton hospital being lost when the building is knocked down to make way for a residential development.

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
   Patricia Taylor could not bear the thought of all the plantings outside the former Princeton hospital being lost when the building is knocked down to make way for a residential development.
   Ms. Taylor, a garden writer from Princeton, had in mind to see as much as could be saved as possible and planted someplace else in Princeton.
   ”I’m a plant lover. And I knew that when they demolished the building, the plants were going to be destroyed,” she said Friday morning as crews removed plantings that would be going to the Princeton Housing Authority, the Suzanne Paterson Center, the Arts Council of Princeton and elsewhere around town.
   Ms. Taylor said the idea to save the plantings came to her about a year and half ago. Ultimately, there had to be approvals from Princeton HealthCare System, owner of the property, and AvalonBay, the developer intending to construct a 280-unit residential development on the site.
   Ms. Taylor said Mayor Liz Lempert had to write a letter stating the town would accept the plants.
   ”It is one of the best examples of community recycling you can think of,” said Gail Ullman, a Princeton Planning Board member who helped Ms. Taylor on the project. “This is a totally grassroots, not to make a pun, effort.”
   She and Ms. Taylor previously had walked around the site to identify what things could be saved, such as the spireas, and ornamental grasses.
   ”Everyone thought it was a very good idea from the very, very beginning,” Ms. Taylor said of saving the plants. “There was never any quibble with that.”
   Some trees will remain on the site, although others will be lost.
   ”See that tree?” Ms. Taylor asks an observer. “Gone. See these beautiful hollies. Gone.”
   During the day Friday, the town moved what things they could, as there was no limit on what the recipients could have.
   ”It’s all going to the community anyway,” municipal public works foreman Bill Urian said during a break from the work. “There’s enough here for everybody.”
   ”We’re trying to save what we can save,” he added. “We can’t save it all.”
   The demolition of the former hospital might have to wait a little bit longer. A group of residents sued last week in state Superior Court to stop AvalonBay from developing the property into five buildings.