University presents plans to rebuild E-Quad

The University unveiled its plan for the construction of 200,000 square feet of new engineering buildings at the Borough Council meeting Tuesday. The provisional plan would demolish four extant E-Quad buildings and abandon a previous plan to construct new ORFE offices at the corner of Olden and Williams streets.

"Engineering is part of what makes Princeton distinctive as a university," Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee '69 said. "It is excellent; it is getting better. It needs to grow."

Durkee declined to release the architectural maps shown publicly at the Council meeting out of concern that Borough residents and others might misinterpret the proposals as final plans.

He emphasized at the Council meeting and in an interview that plans for renovating the E-Quad are tentative. However, the University is sufficiently committed to the current plans to make a concerted push for zoning approval and a new ordinance over the next few months.

The University can build an additional 100,000 square feet in the east half of the E-3 Zone, the property bounded by Nassau and Olden streets, Prospect Avenue and Murray Place, according to a 1990 ordinance passed when the University last expanded the E-Quad.

"What we would like is that the current ordinance be revised to allow another 100,000 square feet of construction beyond the additional 100,000 we are allowed to have now," Durkee said.

The plans call for three or four new buildings, including ORFE offices, to be constructed south of the main E-Quad. On preliminary maps, these new structures surround a large, tree-filled courtyard. Compared to the existing structures, they are set much farther back from residences on Murray Place.

The location previously slated for new ORFE space, at the corner of Olden and Williams, drew opposition from neighborhood residents who voiced concerns about auto and pedestrian traffic.

The plan marks 60,000 square feet of the E-Quad, encompassing the G-wing and the three H-wing sections, for destruction to make room for the new buildings.

Borough Mayor Joseph O'Neill and council members expressed guarded optimism for the proposal while raising concerns about traffic safety, parking and aesthetics. There was a general consensus that the proposal would emerge from the local zoning and legislative process with most of its salient features intact.

"This seems to us a rare opportunity to move ahead with something that really does work better for everybody. I think the community will end up happier with the [E-Quad] site than they are now," Durkee said.

One council member voiced his expectation of a quid pro quo by the University.

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"I would be much more encouraged to introduce an ordinance if and only if the University and Borough develop an understanding ... a longterm financial arrangement," Council Member Roger Martindell said.

He said an expanded E-Quad would impose increased costs on the Borough for police and fire services.

Other council members questioned the propriety of requiring University contributions to the Borough in exchange for votes on a favorable ordinance. David Goldfarb and Wendy Benchley recommended that discussions about financial contributions and planning decisions remain "on parallel tracks."

Durkee countered that the University had been "very responsive" to Borough concerns, and that contributions would continue to rise in the future. He said that the University's academic mission is at stake in the expansion of the engineering school.

"The essential idea is to allow the University to create more of its needed space in the E-Quad," Durkee said. "Our concern is that our faculty are able to do their research and that our students are able to do their work."