The public hearing on an application to develop a 90.6-acre parcel into a clustered housing development on Herrontown Road and Mount Lucas Road has been rescheduled to the Princeton Planning Board’s April 4 meeting.
The postponement was made at the request of applicant Lanwin Development Corp. The public hearing initially was set for the Planning Board’s Feb. 7 meeting, and then postponed until the board’s March 7 meeting. Now, it has been carried to the April 4 meeting.
Lanwin Development Corp. is seeking preliminary and final major subdivision and site plan approval to develop the property at 725 and 823 Herrontown Road and 915 Mount Lucas Road.
The plan calls for subdividing the land into 30 building lots of about a half-acre each. A 3-acre lot on Mount Lucas Road would be set aside and dedicated to the Town of Princeton, and earmarked for affordable housing. The remaining 67.4 acres of the 90.6-acre tract would remain as open space.
The 90.6-acre parcel is located on the north side of Herrontown Road. It is bordered by Herrontown Road, Herrontown Lane and Mount Lucas Road in Princeton, and the Montgomery Walk development in Montgomery Township. The entire parcel is located in Princeton.
Lanwin Development Corp. could have applied for permission to develop 20 building lots on minimum lot sizes of 4 acres each, which would have consumed most of the 90.6-acre parcel. It chose to use the cluster option instead.
The cluster option will limit the scope and footprint of the project in an environmentally sensitive area on what is known as the Princeton Ridge, according to a report prepared by Princeton Land Use Engineer John West and and Zoning Officer Derek Bridger.
A residential cluster development creates smaller lots that allow for conservation, lower costs, more efficient delivery of services, a reduced need for blasting, convenient recreation, and integrated pedestrian and bicycle circulation, according to Princeton landscape consultant Daniel Dobromilsky.
The applicant has proposed a cluster subdivision design to avoid disturbing major portions of the environmentally constrained and sensitive areas to be preserved as open space, Dobromilsky wrote. The houses will be built on about 18.5 acres of land that had formerly been farmed.
Princeton’s zoning ordinance allows for density bonuses for providing more than 70 percent of the parcel as common open space; for providing more than 1,000 linear feet of walking paths; and for dedicating the 3-acre parcel on Mount Lucas Road for affordable housing. This nets the developer an additional 10 building lots over the 20 building lots that could have been created under a conventional subdivision plan.
About 1,900 trees are located within or near the areas where the road and utilities will be installed, according to the report prepared by West and Bridger. Of those trees, 682 will be removed to build the road and detention basins. Additional trees will be removed with the development of the individual home sites.