By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Nassau Hall shed no new light this week on its plan to grow the Princeton University campus, even as the university reiterated its desire to, eventually, develop the Springdale golf course., University officials, appearing in the Witherspoon Hall municipal building Monday night for a public forum, updated the community on its campus planning, mostly rehashing information the university already had released. Nassau Hall is in the midst of mapping its growth, to expand into the roughly 400 acres that it owns on the other side of Lake Carnegie, in West Windsor, construct a new residential dormitory, among other things., “Our current planning process is expected to continue through next fall, and there are some components of the plan that we won’t be able to say much about until then,” university Vice President and Secretary Robert K. Durkee said at the forum that members of the Princeton Council and the town planning board also attended., He said the university “is trying to look 10 years ahead but in a 30-year-context.” The school wants to grow smartly, so that it acts in a way that does not handcuff university decision-makers in the future on how to use its real estate., “Although we are focused on planning in the next 10 years,” said university architect Ron McCoy, “our recommendations are going to be stronger … if they anticipate a longer time frame.”, In terms of some major projects, the university is looking to build housing for faculty, staff, graduate students and post-docs at the Butler tract, and considering what Durkee called the “long-term use of the Springdale lands to support the university’s educational mission.” In both cases, there are no immediate plans to develop those sites, he said., “We don’t have any timetable in mind, at this point, for Butler,” Durkee said later in the meeting., Earlier, in reference to Springdale, he said the university “will abide by the existing contract with the golf course so there will be no development there for at least 10 years.”, “And we have no specific plan beyond then,” he continued. “At the same time, as we have said on a number of occasions, when we do think about future uses of that site, we will do so while being sensitive to potential impacts on the adjacent neighborhood, respectful of the historic attributes of that property and supportive of efforts to enhance the stream corridor through the lands and improve public access to open space on the site.”, He also said the university has no plans to open a West Drive connection to Springdale., Of growth in West Windsor, Durkee said the university has known that it would eventually “make more active use” of its land holdings in the neighboring community. Princeton has talked of using the land for athletic facilities, administrative needs, housing and parking, along with having a pedestrian, bike and light vehicle bridge across the lake., “Such a bridge would facilitate movement back and forth, not only for folks living, working or visiting the university,” Durkee said, “but for members of the community who would like easier access to the lands and walkways on both sides of the lake and along the canal.”, Mayor Liz Lempert, who attended the forum, said there were no “major surprises from what’s already been reported.” It is unclear, at this stage, to what degree she will have a voice in helping influence the campus plan, given she is conflicted out of land-use decisions involving the university because her husband, Ken Norman, is a professor there., Asked if there will be eventual public acceptance of the golf course being developed, she replied: “I don’t know. I don’t think there’s been a clear vision put forward as to what would be there. So I think it’s difficult for people to have any strong reaction …, at this point, until there’s a better sense of what might go there.”
