By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Two underused firehouses in Princeton have been identified as candidates for affordable housing sites, a report to Mayor Liz Lempert showed this week.
A task force recommended that officials “should consider the relocation of the Princeton Fire Department and other municipal functions now using the fire stations at 11 Chestnut Street and 237 North Harrison Street to other locations to make these properties available for the development of affordable housing.”
In both cases, the respective fire companies that had used those stations no longer dispatch from there, although both buildings are used for meetings and storage, said municipal emergency management director Robert Gregory on Thursday.
In a post Thursday afternoon on Twitter, Mayor Liz Lempert wrote that the task force would present its report at the council meeting Monday. She could not be reached for further comment.
Councilwoman Jo S. Butler said Thursday that this was the first time that the firehouses had been raised as potential affordable housing sites, given they are not fully available since the town still uses them. “They would be new to the conversation,” she said.
All fire companies in Princeton dispatch from the firehouse on Witherspoon Street, part of the consolidated response that has been in effect for the past four to five years.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
