Town considers further talks on Arts and Transit Neighborhood

Andrew Koontz, a member of the Borough Council, said he was disappointed by the University’s negotiations with the local community.

“The negotiation process up to this point has been going very poorly,” he said. “The University’s administration has not been listening to what the community has been trying to tell them.”

The greatest hurdle for the University’s plan has come from extended local opposition to its planned relocation of the Dinky, which is the sole reservation for many community members, Koontz explained.

“The community is on board with 95 percent of the University’s proposal,” he said. “The one problem the community has is ... the moving of the Dinky. That’s where the sticking point is.”

The University, however, has drawn a similar line in the sand.

During Monday night’s joint Borough Council and Township Committee meeting, after which the University announced its intention to cancel the planned construction, President Shirley Tilghman said that the proposal to relocate the Dinky station 460 feet south of its current location was a part of the “go or no-go” plan.

But Koontz, who said he dealt with the University in a similar capacity several years ago when the Engineering Quadrangle was being constructed, noted that the tone of the administration’s discourse seemed surprisingly unyielding when it came to the Arts and Transit Neighborhood project.

“In my experience, the University has been able to meet the community halfway,” Koontz explained. “This case has me slightly flummoxed. I’ve never seen the University take such a hardened stance on something.”

Though the University has abandoned its original plan, local officials are still hoping to negotiate on some form of the proposal.

At Tuesday night’s Borough Council meeting, when resident Charles Crider GS ’79 made a public presentation requesting that the Council ask the University to fund a long-term study of the local community’s transit options, Princeton Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman noted that all formal discussion of negotiations with the University were being conducted by the Council during closed sessions, indicating that the Borough may be looking into ways to move forward with some form of the University’s project.

At Monday’s Township meeting, following a proposal by Princeton Township Mayor Chad Goerner, a new subcommittee was formed, dedicated to sustaining negotiations with the University.

Both the Mayor and Committee member Bernard Miller will serve on the subcommittee.

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Koontz, who affirmed his support of a new arts neighborhood — if not in the form the University originally proposed — said that it was smart for local officials to try to proceed with negotiations.

“Mayor Goerner has the right idea about continuing negotiations,” he explained. “[It would be] beneficial for everyone to get a construction project of this magnitude going.”

While the original plans may have reached a dead end, the new Township subcommittee was met openly by the University, according to The Princeton Packet.

“If there is community interest in trying to find a way to move forward, such as through the subcommittee proposed by Mayor Goerner, we certainly would be willing to participate,” University spokeswoman Emily Aronson said to the Packet.

Koontz explained that, though the intended Arts and Transit Neighborhood might not survive, local officials are still willing to continue negotiations.

“There are many opportunities for this project to go forward,” he said.