Wages two-front legal campaign to stop proposed faculty housing project
By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The Princeton Battlefield Society will wage a two-front legal campaign to stop the Institute for Advanced Study from constructing 15 units of faculty housing.
In Mercer County Superior Court, the historical group on Monday appealed a decision that the Princeton Planning Board made last year in favor of the project. In particular, the board voted in November to approve lot line adjustments the Institute was seeking to avoid encroaching in a stream corridor of the Delaware River and Canal Commission.
The lawsuit, naming the Institute and the Planning Board as defendants, argues on procedural, technical legal grounds that the approval should be thrown out.
In a related step, Battlefield Society attorney Bruce I. Afran said Wednesday that the group plans to appeal, in a state appeals court, a more recent decision by the Canal Commission last month in favor of the project. Court papers in that case would be filed either this week or next, the lawyer said.
The Institute had no comment, spokeswoman Christine Ferrara said Wednesday.
The lawsuits are the latest in a running fight about plans for a “cluster development” project on 20 acres of land that the Institute owns. The Battlefield Society contends that the project would destroy a part of the battlefield where British and American forces fought in January 1777.
The fight between the Institute and the Battlefield Society has taken on nearly as many twists and turns as the actual battle 238 years ago. The latest came after a commissioner on the Canal Commission had a change of heart and decided to switch his vote in favor of the project last month.
The lawsuit against the Planning Board will be heard in front of Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobson, the assignment judge for Mercer County. The 14-year jurist has ruled in a series of high-profile cases lately, including finding that Gov. Chris Christie violated state law by withholding some contributions to the public employee pension fund.
A state appeals court will hear the challenge to the Canal Commission decision, Mr. Afran said.