WEST WINDSOR In order to send a strong message to both state and municipal officials, the Township Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday night saying it will not consider rezoning the west side of the Princeton Junction train station to allow for a town center.
By: Gwen Runkle
The resolution also called for Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh and the Planning Board to change the focus of the Town Center Designation Task Force, a subcommittee of the Planning Board, from achieving center designation to forming a plan for the Princeton Junction area that preserves and enhances local aesthetics and amenities.
The resolution was approved by a 4-0 vote with council member Charles Morgan absent.
For the past two months the task force has been considering what a center around the Princeton Junction train station might look like and so far the group has come up with a two-part plan.
Most members agree the east side of the train station should be more like a village center, with a focus on beautification and limited redevelopment of the Acme shopping center. But not everyone on the task force likes the idea of making the west side a town center, with development of retail and office uses, decked parking and a bus rapid transit station. Some members have voiced reservations because of the possible need to include high-density housing.
Several guest speakers have told the task force it would need to include high-density housing in its town center plan in order to conform to what is outlined in the State Development and Redevelopment Plan.
But currently, the land west of the train station is zoned for research, office and manufacturing, not residential.
Council members said they would support a village center designation for the west side of the railroad tracks, matching a village center designation to the east of the tracks. But opposition to a town center was strong.
"The state of New Jersey and the Office of State Planning feel the township is willing to discuss a town center and under their criteria add significantly more people to the area," Councilwoman Rae Roeder told the task force Thursday. "We want to make it unequivocally clear that we will not even consider rezoning."
And the council did not hear much opposition from the task force.
"The perception that we are looking for a state-defined town center is incorrect," subcommittee Chairman Bill Benfer said Thursday. "That was never part of our discussion. The township would never accept those standards, but there is a sufficient level of interest here to provide some retail services for people on the west side."
"And we have never indicated we definitely want a town center," said Steve Decter, a Planning Board member.