Community continues to oppose Dinky relocation

In an official resolution this July, the Borough Council publicly announced that it is opposed to the University’s plan to move Dinky station. The unanimous vote followed a presentation on the possibility of replacing the Dinky with a light-rail streetcar and took place in the midst of the Regional Planning Board’s consideration of zoning for the University’s proposed Arts and Transit Neighborhood.

The Council opposes the move as contrary to “smart growth norms,” state development plans, New Jersey Transit policy and the best interest of Borough residents, according to the resolution. The Council ordered copies of the resolution to be delivered to University President Shirley Tilghman, University trustees and New Jersey Transit’s executive and board members.

The Council has been considering the University’s request for zoning to create a new district for its Arts and Transit Neighborhood in the Alexander Corridor for the past few months. Opposition to the zoning has centered on the University’s plan to move the Dinky station, which is owned by the University but operated by NJ Transit, 460 feet further southward.

Whether the Borough Council and Township Committee grant the University’s requested zoning or not, University Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee ’69 has stated on many occasions that the University will need to move the Dinky further southward at some point to accommodate expansion in the Alexander Corridor area.

“I think of this as perhaps a first step in the right direction, and I’m a little concerned that it might be our last step when it comes to taking a stand on the proposed removal of the railway station,” Councilman Roger Martindell said at the July 26 meeting where the vote was taken.

“I don’t think that added anything new to the discussion,” Durkee said of the resolution. “Our plan is still to relocate the Dinky at some point.”

“It was kind of an odd resolution because it has no ‘resolved’ clause,” Durkee said, adding that the rationale the Council gave for opposing the move was “contradictory” to the statements of support for the move that the Council had heard from NJ Transit earlier this summer.

The Council intentionally voted on the resolution while the Regional Planning Board was contemplating the zoning to make the Council’s position on the station move clear to the Planning Board.

The Planning Board began reviewing the University’s requested zoning at a meeting on July 7 and continued discussion at a July 28 meeting. The Board will continue to consider the issue in the coming months. If the Planning Board approves the zoning, the ordinance will return to the Borough Council and Township Committee for a final vote.

“They have proposed a number of improvements to the ordinances that we would support. It has been a productive set of conversations but it hasn’t quite finished,” Durkee said of the University’s discussions with the Planning Board.

The Council has been considering the University’s zoning request for the past few months, and this resolution suggests they are unlikely to pass it. It also makes it unlikely that they will pass the memorandum of understanding, drafted in transit negotiations with the University, which rides on the zoning ordinance.

The memorandum of understanding was produced in May during negotiations between the University, Borough and Township. The memorandum proposes a plan for a right-of-way easement that would allow for a potential light-rail system running all the way to Nassau Street should a new system ever replace the Dinky. The memorandum, if approved by the Borough Council and Township Committee, would go into effect if and when the Princeton Regional Planning Board gives final approval of the University’s proposed Arts and Transit Neighborhood.

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At the same July 26 meeting, the Council heard a presentation from graduate students at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, who have designed a possible light-rail system for Princeton.

The design, commissioned by the community group Princeton Future, came out of a graduate-level urban design studio course taught by Jim Constantine, principal of community planning at the Looney Ricks Kiss architecture firm.

Constantine asked his students to design a system that would replace the Dinky with “a one-seat ride” that would begin as far north as Nassau Street. “There is nobody anywhere doing a two-or-three-mile-long heavy rail shuttle connection. It’s just the wrong vehicle for the short-run shuttle service,” Constantine said.

He said he asked his students to incorporate, not to redesign, the University’s proposed Arts and Transit Neighborhood and to take the University’s interest in not having the track running through its campus into account. In the Rutgers students’ design, the streetcar takes a detour around the University’s Arts and Transit Neighborhood to avoid cutting through the University’s campus.

“In a perfect world,” Constantine explained, the streetcar could move faster if it took the straight path along the existing right of way instead of avoiding the arts and transit neighborhood.

Others, including Sheldon Sturges, managing director of Princeton Future, and Alain Kornhauser GS ’71, a professor of operations research and financial engineering and director of the University’s Program in Transportation, said they felt that the straight path was “the most logical route.”

“We felt that having a solution that worked is more important than having a solution that was perfect,” Benjamin Jacobs, a student from Constantine’s seminar, said of the design. “We really believe this can be a win-win for the University and both of the towns.”

Constantine estimated that the proposed line would cost between $13 million and $35 million. Some funding could come from grants from higher governmental bodies or possibly public-private partnerships, he said.

In response to a councilman’s question about whether the Princetons had the population mass to support a streetcar system, Stephen Gazillo said, “I can’t without taking a closer look say is it really going to work or not.” Gazillo is the director of transportation planning at URS Corporation, an engineering and construction firm that has built light-rail systems across the United States and operates a similar light rail system in Hudson-Bergen as a paid operator for NJ Transit.

Though no final plans have been made for the Dinky, there is a job opportunity posted on the University’s website seeking a new Director of Communications for the Lewis Center for the Arts, whose responsibilities would include “[promoting] the development of the Arts and Transit Neighborhood.” However, Durkee dispelled rumors that the University is seeking a new communications representative to lobby for the Arts and Transit Neighborhood proposal.

The University is seeking a new director because the former director, Marguerite d’Aprile-Smith, moved away from the area, Durkee explained. Her duties were “mostly publicizing the programs of the Lewis Center,” and there will be no change in the job description, he said.