Wendy Mager,President
To the editor:
On behalf of the board of Friends of Princeton Open Space, a nonprofit organization established in 1969, I write to express our concerns about aspects of the development proposed by the AvalonBay Company for the Medical Center site.
AvalonBay submitted draft site plans in connection with its request that the site zoning be changed to allow more density and different affordable housing obligations with respect to that additional density. Despite the careful consideration that was given to design standards when the medical center site was re-zoned, AvalonBay’s draft site plans appear to ignore in large part the criteria applicable to open space.
Those criteria require 20 percent of a 5.6-acre site, or 1.12 acres, to be open space with at least 20 percent of that along Witherspoon Street. Our focus, however, is on the requirement that the open space should “serve as a connection between the surrounding neighborhood and any new development.” (Code Sec. 17A-193B(c)(6)) It “should be adequately connected to the public walkway system surrounding and crossing the site and directly accessible from public streets,” and “designed to encourage the interaction of people living within the new development and the neighborhood.” (Code Secs. 17A-193B(d)(1) and (4)) Instead, AvalonBay’s proposed treatment of interior open space more closely resembles a gated community, as the Princeton Environmental Commission has observed; whereas the open space along Witherspoon is situated right next to the main vehicular entrance/exit, and does not appear (in an artist’s rendering) to be screened from it.
The hospital’s departure, though regretted by many, was seen as an opportunity to re-link neighborhood areas that were cut off from each other by the large, much taller building and to open up pathways through the enclosed site that would enhance a sense of community. AvalonBay’s current draft plan is a wide miss of these goals. We urge them to rethink this aspect of their project and offer a plan for open space that really will encourage a sense of community with the neighboring areas. The result will be much more appealing both to Princeton residents and, likely, to AvalonBay’s prospective customers.
Wendy Mager
President
