By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
The Women’s College Club of Princeton went from Princeton to Dubai and back on Monday, with architect and developer J. Robert Hillier as the tour guide.
Unlike Mr. Hillier’s consultations with sultans and corporate CEOs, there was no jet-setting required.
His lecture Monday at All Saints Church — “Smart growth in Princeton and dumb growth in Dubai” — offered club members a globetrotting slideshow on international development trends.
“There is a huge explosion of building going on,” said Mr. Hillier. In China, “it’s like marching giants coming in and taking over these quaint little neighborhoods.”
So how is that different from New Jersey?
”Princeton is very careful, which is why it takes time to get things done in Princeton. In Dubai, it’s the Wild West,” said Mr. Hillier, whose Hillier Architecture recently merged with the Scottish company RMJM to form a 1,200-employee design firm, the third largest “pure architecture” firm in the world.
The explosion of development that the different branches of his firm have witnessed in Asia and the Middle East isn’t always smart, he said. In places where projects are rushed — mostly because of government rubber-stamping — development can be “a little chaotic and not thought through well,” he said.
It’s different in Princeton, where the vetting process ultimately results in smarter growth, he said.
”I think it’s very valuable. That’s what I like most — is the engagement with the public,” he said. “I want to know what they’re about.”
He hasn’t had any shortage of opinions on his latest proposal, he told the audience Monday, referring to “the reason a lot of you came” — his senior housing proposal for Princeton Ridge.
”This is the plan that everyone has been screaming at me about,” he said.
Before the lecture, Club Publicity Chairwoman Mary Laity said it would include discussion of “smart growth in-fill projects in Princeton,” especially the senior housing project proposed by Mr. Hillier that precipitated the Township Committee’s change of the age restriction on the Bunn Drive Senior Housing Overlay zone from 62-and-over to 55-and-over.
Though Ms. Laity said she anticipated that the topic would lead to several queries during the question and answer session that followed, it was ultimately she who asked Mr. Hillier why the much-debated proposal has caused so much controversy.
”It is all a little bit if a compromise,” he said. “But at the end of the day you’ll have a design that answers everybody’s issue, and you’ll have a design that, frankly, most of the people will buy into.”
Still, Mr. Hillier admitted he doesn’t quite understand the opposition to his proposal for the ridge.
Though he acknowledged that the tract is loaded with beautiful beech trees and said there’s “no question that it’s a spectacular site,” he said his proposal is definitely “more benign” — and would cause significantly less site disturbance — than the K. Hovnanian plan that received approval in 2005. It would also cause less impact than an office building that could be built under the current zoning, he said.
Throughout the process, the amendments to the overlay zone ordinance were met with opposition by residents who said that encouragement of development on the ridge is inconsistent with the Master Plan and who said Mr. Hillier’s proposal wouldn’t provide true senior housing.
The membership of the Women’s College Club closely matches the demographic supporting Mr. Hillier’s plan to bring market-rate senior housing to Princeton.
Though Ms. Laity said she would have found Mr. Hillier’s proposal “very desirable” had it been built when she was looking to downsize, club member and Princeton Windrows resident Rita Hill said her choice would have depended on the price range.
Although Mr. Hillier said he’s still unsure of what the range will be, Ms. Hill asked him if he thinks there is “a market for new, high-end units.”
”I think there will be,” he said.
