Princeton council discusses Nassau Street revamp

Mayor Liz Lempert and the council of Princeton discussed the proposed Streetscape Design Standards for Nassau Street, as well as accepted a Mercer County body camera grant in the Oct. 10 open meeting.

While the council seemed enthusiastic about the proposed ideas in the draft, some members expressed concerns about the cost associated with the proposed project.

“It's not gonna be free and I don’t know whether to think in terms of three hundred thousand dollars, or one million dollars, or sky’s the limit. Right? It makes a big difference to me in terms of how enthusiastic I wanna be about it," councilman Patrick Simon said during the meeting.

Among the project goals is to “enhance the appearance, safety, and pedestrian-friendly experience along the Business-District of Nassau Street," according to the draft proposal.

New ladder crosswalks have been proposed for the intersections at Witherspoon Street, Washington Street, and University Place. Such changes would directly affect University students who frequently use businesses on Nassau Street. Among the proposed changes to the road are “no-parking areas” where there will be on-road space to park between four and five bicycles instead of cars.

There are also proposed changes to lampposts and street lights. The draft outlines how the preferred lamppost is in the Victorian style. To maximize available space on the sidewalk, streetlights will be combined with traffic lights when possible.

This same space maximization would be applied to street signs, where multiple signs will be consolidated into one sign when possible. The draft proposes that signs be given a uniform look by using a black and white color.

The proposal also emphasized greenery, including a proposed increase in trees lining the sidewalk, in an attempt to “provide for biodiversity, drought and salt tolerance, and maintain a broad canopy of shade for pedestrians.”

Public benches will be turned perpendicular to the curb, in order to allow space for more benches. Jim Constantine, of Looney Ricks Kiss, the architectural firm authorized to perform the study, asserted that this change would create space for passengers to open car doors when parked alongside the curb.

Another feature of the draft attempts to limit the number of newspaper racks along Nassau Street. The draft states that “newspaper racks should be consolidated into a single internal cabinet wherever possible along Nassau Street.” This would mean that newspapers and tabloids, if they wanted their publication offered on Nassau Street, would have to reserve a spot within the single integral cabinet installed by the town. The 'Prince' currently also has its own newsstands for its distribution.

Council members noted that Nassau Street is one of the many historical districts within Princeton, which will limit the town’s ability to alter it without approval from various state authorities.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

On June 18, Looney Ricks Kiss hosted an open house at the Garden Theater, owned by the University, to get public feedback about the proposed changes to the streetscape. Due to positive feedback, the firm began developing a draft design guideline for Nassau Street. This draft was considered at the Oct. 10 meeting.

There were other ordinances and resolutions passed during the meeting. As a part of the consent agenda, the council of the town of Princeton unanimously passed a resolution accepting the Mercer County body camera grant. The grant is intended as funds to supply local police officers with body cameras. This grant comes several months after a professor from the University in the African American Studies department, Imani Perry, claimed to have been mistreated by police in February of 2016. In December of 2015, the state of New Jersey authorized a $2.5 million in grants going to 176 municipalities, including the town of Princeton. The grant amounted to $15,000.

The council also unanimously accepted a grant from the Drunk Driving Defense Fund. The State of New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety website states that the under the Drunk Driving Enforcement Fund, “police departments are entitled to $95 of the $100 surcharge resulting from a drunk driving conviction in their community.” For the year of 2016, Princeton received $7,350.81 from the fund.

The open meeting took place at the Princeton Municipal Court at 7 p.m.