By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
A buyer has emerged to acquire the three-acre-property of SAVE A Friend to Homeless Animals on Herrontown Road in Princeton for $800,000, in a deal potentially leading to a residential or commercial development going there.
SAVE executive director Piper H. Burrows declined this week to identify the buyer, saying only that the transaction is expected to be finalized in the next few weeks. SAVE is leaving its home since the organization was created in 1941, for a new shelter that is being built in on Blawenburg Road in Skillman.
At the moment, the SAVE property is zoned to allow office and retail space, not residences, said municipal planning director Lee O. Solow by phone Wednesday. The land is located near a town house complex, so a residential development could fit into the character of what’s in that part of town.
Princeton Council members, interested in having affordable housing in the community would have to vote to change the zoning to permit that use on the SAVE land. Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller said Wednesday the future of the property had not been on her “radar,” and that she did not know what land uses the current zoning allows.
Fellow Councilwoman Jo S. Butler said Wednesday that she knows the buyer, a person she refused to identify. Pressed on the subject, she said the buyer is “not anyone related to me.”
She said she would have to consult with municipal attorney Trishka W. Cecil on whether she has a conflict of interest that would prevent her from participating in any council action on the property.
Town officials have said that it is important for Princeton to be a diverse community, and have talked of how important to affordable housing is to them. Officials have talked of having affordable housing in other parts of the community, including on Franklin Avenue parking lot the town will acquire from Princeton University.
As for SAVE, the organization plans to move all the cats and dogs during the span of one day in January to the new building, Ms. Burrows said. The shelter there will have a capacity for 75 cats and 25 dogs, she said.
