By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The New Jersey Supreme Court this week refused to delay the Institute of Advanced Study from starting work on its faculty housing project, the latest setback for the Princeton Battlefield Society and its attempt to stop the 15-unit development.
The Society had gone to the high court and another state appeals court this week seeking a stay, or a hold, on the project pending its appeal of a lower court ruling in favor of the Institute. The organization is trying to prevent the development from being built on Institute-owned land that was the scene of fighting during the January 1777 battle of Princeton during the Revolutionary War.
But in both cases this week, the Society lost.
In a statement Friday, the Institute said it is “very pleased with the recent decisions by the Appellate Division and the Supreme Court of New Jersey to deny the requested stay on the faculty housing project, and we look forward to moving ahead.”
The Institute did not elaborate when asked when work might start.
The attorney for the Battlefield Society could not be reached for comment Friday.
In October, a Mercer County judge upheld the approval that the Princeton Planning Board gave the project in 2014. The Battlefield Society said then that it would appeal that ruling, the latest in a long-running fight between the Institute and the Battlefield Society.
