Princeton officials are making progress in implementing recommendations stemming from a recent study of the Princeton municipal fueling station on Mount Lucas Road.
The town’s Public Works Committee had been asked by Princeton officials to undertake the study in response to residents’ objections to the fueling station’s location.
The recommendations range from removing the canopy over the fueling station gasoline and diesel fuel pumps, to requiring municipal diesel trucks to fill their tanks at the former Princeton Bough Department of Public Works garage on Harrison Street, and removing an emergency generator.
“We are looking to move ahead with what we can, as quick as we can,” Municipal Engineer Deanna Stockton said.
Running down the list of recommendations, Stockton said some of the Department of Public Works diesel trucks are now getting diesel fuel at the Department of Public Works garage on Harrison Street.
The emergency generator, which drew objections from neighbors for aesthetic reasons, has been removed, Stockton said.
The canopy over the fueling station will be removed, but it is not known when it will occur, Stockton said. The job will take two or three days.
Once the canopy has been removed, it will be necessary to install lighting so the drivers of the vehicles in the municipal fleet – from police cars to ambulances and fire trucks – can see at night when they refuel their vehicles, she said. The motion-activated lighting will be reviewed for its effectiveness and for neighborhood sensitivity.
Stockton said the town is exploring making repairs to the River Road convenience center, which has a non-functioning fueling station. If repairs are feasible, it would likely take several months for new equipment to be ordered and to arrive on site for installation, she said.
Meanwhile, some of the recommendations on the list have been put on hold for further consideration.
Those recommendations include landscaping plans for the fueling station, plus raising the height of the screening wall and adding brick veneer to the wall to make its appearance more consistent with the new Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad building.
The town’s Site Plan Review Advisory Board will review the entire area, which is bordered by Route 206, Cherry Hill Road, Mount Lucas Road and Valley Road.
“It is the gateway to this part of town,” Stockton said.
There has been a municipal fueling station on the property at the corner of Valley Road and Mount Lucas Road since at least the early 1980s, Princeton officials said. It served the former Princeton Township and then became the consolidated Princeton’s fueling station for its police cars, ambulances, fire trucks and for the Princeton Public Schools’ buses.
The Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad outgrew its headquarters on Harrison Street, next to the Princeton Shopping Center. The town agreed to allow the squad to build a new headquarters on the property at the corner of Valley Road and Mount Lucas Road, but it also meant relocating the fueling station.
Former Municipal Engineer Robert Kiser and former Director of Infrastructure and Operations Robert Hough reviewed potential locations for the fueling station, and decided to keep it on the same site but in a different location.
The town’s decision to increase the storage capacity from 4,000 gallons to 6,000 gallons was a result of the town’s need to increase its resiliency and to improve preparedness during weather emergencies, Princeton officials said. A canopy was included to protect the equipment and the drivers from the weather.
Shocked at the size of the fueling station and its industrial look, residents raised concerns that it was out of character with the neighborhood. Town officials agreed to remove the canopy and to provide landscaping to screen the above-ground fuel storage tank.
But residents continued to voice objections, so the Public Works Committee was asked to take another look at the site.