On the other side of Millstone River, just north of Carnegie Lake, lies a small village no more than a mile or two long in either direction. Bucolic and quaint in character, the town prides itself in its centuries-old tradition of community.
It's the type of town where residents know each other and the traffic lights can be counted quite easily. Just more than three miles north of the University, our very own Nassau Street becomes the town's small Main Street as the road crosses the river.
This year, however, the residents of Kingston are finding themselves in a fight to preserve their way of life.
The threat? Aggresive residential development in Kingston's backyard. The University plans to build a development of 220 new residential units called Barclay Square at Princeton Forrestal in Plainsboro Township — Kingston's neighbor to the south.
Like many Kingston citizens, Main Street resident Christopher Hirst does not like the project. "It's kind of like putting up McDonald's in the middle of Central Park," he noted.
Kingston, after all, is a small town with small roads. After a few seconds driving down Academy Street, the houses — some home to businesses on Main Street — fade away, leaving only trees and overgrown brush to line the road.
To the east of Mapleton Road is the former home of Princeton Nurseries, which was sold to the University in 1986. "This was the premier nursery in the world," said Robert von Zumbusch, a member of the Princeton Historic Preservation Commission and the Kingston Historical Society. According to Zumbusch, the nursery held patents for several hybrid trees which have become the basis for many street trees throughout the nation.
Mapleton Road itself dates back to 1745. And, while the road has been adjusted since then to accommodate the Delaware and Raritan Canal — the body of water which runs parallel to the towpath next to Lake Carnegie— the adjustments, too, are a part of the unique history of the area.
What Kingston residents fear is that this unique history will fall by the wayside as the University develops the former Princeton Nurseries site and other lots it owns in Plainsboro, the town bordering Kingston to the east. This parcel of land totals 488 acres, or approximately the size of the University's main campus.
In 1988, former President Shapiro set aside 31 acres of the University land along the canal for preservation. "That's a good thing," Zumbusch said. "There's no question about that."
In most likelihood, he noted, Plainsboro would have developed the land to raise more tax money if the University had not bought and set aside the land.
Since then, however, the University has not set aside any more significant parts of the lot. And on December 18, 2000, Plainsboro approved University plans to build Barclay Square on 55 acres of the former Princeton Nurseries lot. The site is the vacant land south of Kingston and to the east of the canal.
It is the development's location near the canal — an ecologically and historically sensitive area — that worries some Kingston residents. The development is about 1,000 feet from the canal — four times farther than legally required, but still too close for Kingston residents' comfort — and requires the realignment of Mapleton Road.
"That particular site is not an appropriate site, nor is the realignment of Mapleton Road appropriate," Zumbusch said. "Basically Mapleton Road and that entire corridor is a historic road."
Zumbusch and his Kingston neighbors have continued to voice their concerns since the December 2000 decision. But their voices, they believe, have met few sympathetic ears.
The village of Kingston is officially recognized by New Jersey as a village center. Village center status gives Kingston residents higher priority for state funding for improvements and a louder voice in state projects, noted Plainsboro Township's Director of Community Development, Michael LaPlace.
But because the development is contained entirely within Plainsboro, village center status does not give Kingston special voice on the University's Barclay Square development.
Zumbusch, for one, said he would prefer the University develop its land closer to Route 1, where there is already modern development. But Zumbusch knows he cannot force the University to do so.
Because the development is within 1,000 feet of the canal, the Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission has some regulatory control. The commission was created by the state government in 1974 to "protect the canal park from intrusive development," said the commission's Executive Director, James Amon.
The commission considered the development's effects on storm water runoff and aesthetic effects on the area. In its first meeting on the subject last June, the commission heard testimony from about 30 local residents, mainly upset residents from Kingston.
But in August, two meetings later, the commission approved the plans.
"There is significant vegetative screening in existence between the canal park and the site. The project also came with proposals for further screening," Amon said, noting that adequate drainage basins were included in the plans.
According to David Knights —marketing director for the agency overseeing the development — the development will not be visible from the canal for most months during the year. Only during the fall will the bare trees not be able to hide the entire development.
"It is my opinion," Amon said, "that many of the people who were asking the commission to deny the project either misunderstood what our regulations said, or interpreted them in a way that was different from how the commission and its lawyer interpreted them."
"We feel as though we've got regulations, and if somebody obeys them, we have to approve it," he explained.
Zumbusch, however, feels the commission has broader regulatory power. "It is clear that one of the things that is to be protected is not just the canal park itself but the environments within the 1,000 feet."
"It's almost as if this particular land had been in mind for the people writing the state plan," he said.
Traffic is also a concern. The only direct route over the canal from Kingston west into Princeton is Route 27 — which is Main Street in Kingston, Nassau Street in Princeton.
And for those who commute into and west of Princeton by Route 1, the quickest route is through the same bridge: One must turn off of Route 1 onto Seminary Drive, make a right onto Academy Street, and then finally a left onto Route 27.
At peak rush hours, there is already more traffic than Route 27 — a one-lane road — can hold.
"You ain't seen nothing like this," Hirst said, recalling the bi-daily backup of cars. More homes, Hirst thinks, will only add to the already-existing traffic problems on the "country roads."
It is possible, however, that most traffic will travel east — away from Kingston and Princeton — toward jobs along Route 1. Some jobs would likely be at the Princeton Forrestal Center — a 2,200 acre commercial complex along Route 1 owned by the University. Merrill Lynch, Bristol Meyers Squid and other businesses have offices in the complex.
Knights, who works out of the center, said that the center can be considered "the University's representative in commercial development."
The new development will only insignificantly add to the traffic in Kingston precisely because most jobs will be to its east, Knights noted.
The number of cars added to the Academy Street-Route 27 intersection buildup will number only approximately 10, according to the Forrestal's traffic engineers, Knights said. Although there could be as many as 440 cars in the new development, they expect that there will only be 100 which regularly travel during rush-hour.
Still, to assure that the new development does not add to traffic problems, LaPlace said Plainsboro will limit the truck traffic on Seminary Drive and Academy Street, as well as improve the intersection between the two streets. Knights added that the speed limit will be lowered on those roads and a traffic light will be added to the intersection to slow down and break up traffic. They expect these changes will help to ease the pain on Kingston's streets.
The development has already created some animosity among local residents toward the University and the township of Plainsboro. Hirst and his neighbors question why the University is interested in commercial and residential development to begin with.
"It obviously has a financial interest in it," Hirst said, noting that the University must sell the land to recover the cost of its purchase.
Knights could not reveal the price that the land will be sold at — the contract has not been finalized — but he indicated there will be a large profit for the University.
"The university has taken advantage of the way in which towns plan in the state of New Jersey," said Zumbusch, who feels the entire Princeton-Kingston-Plainsboro area should be developed under one plan.
Instead, he noted, the two townships and the village operate entirely independently. And because the village area is split among three townships, many local governments are operating in parallel in this small area.
Frustrated that the University does not receive credit for the good deeds it has done — from preserving land to the precautions it takes at its own expense — Knights said, "[Kingston] doesn't do a thing to help itself and it doesn't realize how valuable Princeton University is as a neighbor to it."
Hirst feels Plainsboro is interested solely in the revenue that the new development will bring in.
The Forrestal Center and the businesses within it, account for 52 percent of Plainsboro's tax base but only 27 percent of the township's land area, according to Knight.
Hirst warns, "We've had the benefit of so much economic development in the past 20 years . . . We've absorbed as much as we possibly can. Let's take it easy a little bit."
But Plainsboro sees the development differently. "We feel that this market-rate housing is something we need to provide for the region," said LaPlace, who guessed that the housing will be "gobbled up quickly" once it is complete.
And the completion date is right around the corner. "The developer has just in the last week started the very initial civil-site work," Knight said, and the housing is scheduled to be done by the end of next year.
Only in the years to come, however, will the many impacts on the local area truly be known.
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