by Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
Democratic incumbents and their Republican rivals for Township Council differ on their support for a potential train station in South Brunswick.
Republican candidates say they would support the construction of a train station, but not of a transit village, such as the ones being proposed in North Brunswick and around the Princeton Junction station. The village would surround the station with residential housing, offices and retail.
Democrats say the station itself would create traffic and accessibility problems, and that it is unlikely that a station would be built by NJ Transit without the creation of a transit village.
Three Democrats — Councilwoman Carol Barrett, Councilman Joe Camarota and Councilman Charles Carley — are running against Republican candidates John O’Sullivan and Steven Waldrond in the Nov. 4 election. There are three four-year seats on the ballot.
Talk of building a train station in South Brunswick dates to the mid-1970s, when township officials began to develop plans for a “town center.” Trains had stopped in Monmouth Junction at a small depot until 1971, when service was discontinued. In 1974, the town center concept was added to the Master Plan, and an area was zoned for high-density residential use, retail space, dining and a train station.
The township spent much of the next 15 years grappling with the state, the Department of Environmental Protection, and developers over the creation of necessary infrastructure to support the town-center concept, such as the widening and extension of Route 522 and the creation of several other roads. During the early 1980s, a developer proposed a station as part of corporate park between Deans Lane and Major Road, on the site that eventually came to be known as Metroplex.
In 1989 developer Sam Rieder & Sons unveiled plans for Metroplex, a 7.8-million-square-foot development. Metroplex would have been a downtown district bounded by Major Road, Route 1, Deans Lane and the Northeast Corridor rail line. Plans for the site at different points included high-rise office buildings, retail space, extensive apartment housing, and a movie theater.
The plans quickly angered residents, and Citizens Against Metroplex was formed to lobby against the project. A rancorous legal battle ensued involving height variances granted for the buildings and wetlands on the property, and the Rieders ended up abandoning the project in 1992.
Since then there have been plans floated from NJ Transit to add a station in South Brunswick as part of the proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex line that would connect Lakewood to the Northeast Corridor line through South Brunswick. The MOM line is opposed strongly by both local Democrats and Republicans and Gov. Jon Corzine came out against the line earlier this year.
Democrats say it is unlikely that NJ Transit or a developer would pay for a station or the needed infrastructure improvements unless the there was a transit village such as Metroplex created around it.
”I’ve always said that, done properly, a train station could be an asset for the town, if it somehow could exist in a vacuum,” Mr. Camarota said. “The problem isn’t the station itself, it’s what it comes with. Right now, in the current environment, I cannot support it.”
Mr. Camarota said the addition of residential units called for by a transit village would strain the school system and taxpayers, as well as the roads.
Mr. Walrond said it would be a good idea to build a smaller train station, but that roads would have to be expanded to accommodate the extra traffic that it would attract. He said that he thought that Route 1 and Northumberland Way would be a good location, or near the S-curve on Ridge Road in Monmouth Junction.
”I think it would be a good thing with the amount of traffic going into the city and out,” Mr. Walrond said. “We have to also consider expanding the roadways to handle such traffic. We would need to relieve the Route 1 bottleneck and would also have to work with NJ Transit to get more police officers around the area.”
Ms. Barrett said that such a station likely would not be built.
”They aren’t going to build a smaller train station, they aren’t going to sink the money in without all the other stuff,” Ms. Barrett said. “When people hear ‘transit village’ they think of cute little cobblestone roads and street lights and shops. In reality it will look like Metropark in Edison.”
Ms. Barrett said that the town’s priority is widening Route 1 to six lanes. She said that a train station would only add to congestion by bringing people from Plainsboro, Princeton and Monroe onto Route 1 and clogging traffic. She said that some possible mass transit alternatives were the continued expansion of the South Brunswick Municipal Area Residential Transit bus system, which is set to launch its first commuter routes next year. She said the township could create new park-and-rides and encourage car pooling through meetings and fliers, as well.
Mr. O’Sullivan, who was a member of Citizens Against Metroplex, said that he was always in favor of a train station. He said he would like to see it near Northumberland Way, along Route 1. He said that to make it work though, there would need to be improvements done to Route 1, Route 27 and Route 130, as well as thoroughfares between the roads. He said that if North Brunswick follows through on plans to create a new station, it would not be necessary to create one in South Brunswick.
”If North Brunswick wants it, I would be happy to let them have it,” Mr. O’Sullivan said.
Mr. Carley shared the views of his fellow Democrats. He said that the town has successfully expanded without having the station.
”I am one of those people that is not overly enthusiastic about a train station,” he said. “Somehow, we have gotten to a point where we have 40,000 people without the station. When I think a train station, I think about Princeton Junction or Metropark. These aren’t benign structures, they’re more like hand grenades in the gut. They wipe out whole central portions of the town.”
The candidates agreed on the MOM line, with all five saying they opposed it.
”I don’t think it would be beneficial to the residents of South Brunswick,” Mr. Walrond said.
”MOM is just silly, and counterintuitive,” Mr. Carley said. “It’s a zombie project. It doesn’t have an impact on anyone’s lives, other than to make them fearful. It never comes alive, but never really dies. It just continues to eat up government spending.”
