Vote expected after details are resolved
By: Courtney Gross
While rehashing several issues that have arisen over rezoning the University Medical Center at Princeton’s main campus and its adjacent parking lot, the Borough Council decided Tuesday to table three ordinances slated for introduction to ensure its concerns will be addressed.
The ordinances are intended to provide an outline of the kind of development the borough would encourage when the medical center’s proposed move to Plainsboro occurs in approximately 2010, borough officials said.
Because the council revised some of the ordinances’ language during its Tuesday meeting wording that had previously been discussed in July the governing body decided to postpone introduction so a review of new drafts could occur. The ordinances could then be introduced at the council’s next meeting on Sept. 26.
The first of three ordinances reviewed Tuesday would change the 5.6-acre hospital site bordered by Witherspoon Street, Franklin Avenue and Henry Avenue from medical use alone into a residential, nonresidential and medical zone.
Much of the council’s discussion centered on whether this ordinance would permit subdivision of the property that could create several residential neighborhoods.
After a lengthy discussion among council members and attendees, the council decided to delete language in the proposed ordinance that would allow the property to be broken apart.
Council President Peggy Karcher said the governing body would like to encourage potential purchasers or developers of the property to consider the 5.6 acres as one entity.
"We shouldn’t inadvertently allow something that is very different from what we had in mind," agreed Councilman David Goldfarb.
The proposed ordinance as it now stands would allow a maximum of 280 residential units. Retail or office space could occupy 4 to 6 percent of the total site. Nonresidential uses would also have to front Witherspoon Street and occupy 180 feet along the corridor.
The council also discussed raising the maximum area allotted for retail spaces on Witherspoon Street currently capped at 3,000 square feet except for restaurants as well as the distribution and accessibility of mandatory open space within the property.
All council members agreed to table the first ordinance with the exception of Councilman Andrew Koontz. The two voice votes to postpone introduction of the remaining ordinances dealing with design standards for development and zoning for the adjacent surface parking lot on Franklin Avenue were unanimous.
By incorporating design standards in a separate ordinance, borough officials said they can attempt to keep the development in tune aesthetically with the surrounding neighborhood and retain the majority of Princeton’s density downtown.
But the design ordinance’s introduction was also postponed, because language regarding parking the majority planned for the medical center’s garage needs to be strengthened, council members said.
Reviewing the third ordinance up for introduction, regarding the use of the hospital’s Franklin Avenue parking lot, the council also debated whether the Maple Terrace and Franklin Terrace housing projects affordable residences near Witherspoon Street should be incorporated into the new residential zoning set for the parking lot.
The council and several members of the Planning Board in attendance Tuesday agreed grouping the sites together would demonstrate to developers the borough’s intention for the entire area a zone set to include 20 percent low-income housing.
Because negotiations over redeveloping the area in conjunction with the Franklin Terrace and Maple Terrace affordable-housing projects have begun recently talks involving the borough, the Borough Housing Authority, the medical center and Princeton University detailing a specific plan for the area within the ordinance would be presumptuous, officials said Tuesday.
"It’s a good-faith motion that you’re open to considering the area as one," said Marvin Reed, a Planning Board member and former borough mayor.
Martha Friedman, a resident of Jefferson Road whose property could abut future development near the surface parking lot, said the neighborhood would discourage the development of taller residential buildings that could possibly tower over the typical two-story homes.
"To have the density you’re talking about adjacent to that property is not fair," Ms. Friedman said.
In response, the council moved to table the new residential zoning to ensure the character of the neighborhood would not be tarnished and to provide a buffer between new development and current residents.
Officials also said Tuesday evening the Borough Council must trust the Regional Planning Board, which will also be reviewing the ordinances following introduction, to approve projects for the redeveloped area that will fit within this community’s character.
Mark A. Solomon, an attorney who represents the medical center’s parent Princeton HealthCare System, said the discussion among the public and the council had been productive, but urged the council to allow for flexibility within the ordinances.