By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The town of Princeton should spend around $4.5 million to build a storage garage for vehicles and equipment and renovate two public works facilities on John and Harrison streets, a council committee has recommended.
Both projects would address what officials have said are pressing and long-standing needs that have been discussed for years and even decades. They said vehicles are exposed to the elements when they should be kept indoors, while employees have to work out of trailers.
Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller, a member of the public works committee that had made the recommendation, said Tuesday that there is “a dire need for improvements at those facilities” in expressing concern for the employees who work there.
Likewise, the town has been talking about building a so-called “cold storage facility” to house vehicles and equipment on town-owned land on River Road. Municipal director of infrastructure and operations Robert Hough said Tuesday that there has been an obvious need for a facility that also would need to be partially heated for some town trucks.
He has told council, as recently as earlier this month, that the John and Harrison street facilities “need repair.”
Ms. Crumiller said that in her view, it is not a question of “if” the town builds the garage and renovates the facilities but “when.” The full Princeton Council will have to decide whether to follow the recommendation of the committee, with a decision expected in the early part of next year, she said.
The projects have a combined price tag of nearly $4.5 million. The garage would cost $2.6 million, while the renovations would cost roughly $1.7 million, said Councilman and committee member Bernard P. Miller on Tuesday.
Ms. Crumiller said the town would pay for them through bonding, a move that increases the municipal debt.
The decision to renovate the facilities means officials will not build a new, centralized public works facility. That project would have had a much bigger price tag, of as much as $12 million. But Mr. Miller said it was “unlikely” the town would find a “suitable site close to town” in the next decade.
The municipality had considered trying to acquire the former Princeton Packet building on Witherspoon Street, located next to the John Street facility. But the land was sold by former Packet Publisher James Kilgore to businesswoman Helena May.
Mayor Liz Lempert had said the town needs to decide what to do with its public works facilities, either building new or renovating what are there today. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Officials have acknowledged that they need to make a decision on public works facilities.
