Planning Board opposes Dinky move

Planning authorities in Princeton expressed opposition to the University’s planned move of the Dinky as they considered the University’s requested zoning for a new arts district.

The Regional Planning Board of Princeton voted 7-2 to send the ordinances back to the Borough Council and Township Committee with some minor recommended changes. The planning board will consider the ordinances again after they are reintroduced by the governing bodies.

The University has for several months been seeking the zoning changes needed to construct its planned Arts and Transit Neighborhood in the Alexander corridor. Many official and local residents, particularly in the Borough, have opposed the plan because it includes moving Dinky Station 460 feet southward.

Because the area for the Arts and Transit Neighborhood straddles the Borough-Township boundary, the University is seeking two separate zoning ordinances. If, after being reintroduced by the governing bodies, the ordinances are approved by the planning board, they will return to the Borough Council and Township Committee for final approval.

Board members were divided over how to consider the Dinky move as they judge the zoning. Some wondered whether to recommend the zoning because the Dinky was likely to move anyway, and others suggested that their opinion on the moving should not influence their judgment of the zoning.

“The answer still is that it’s neither desirable or necessary,” board member Yina Moore ’79 said of the planned move of the Dinky. “The ‘but’ is that they appear to be interested in continuing to move towards moving it anyway.” Moore is the Democratic candidate for Borough mayor in the November 8 election. University officials have stated repeatedly that they intend to move the Dinky at some point in their expansion, even if they do not build the Arts and Transit Neighborhood in the proposed area.

“I think the planning board needs to make that statement just as Borough Council did,” board member Barbara Trelstad, who is also a member of the Borough Council. Trelstad referred to a resolution the Council issued on July 26 in which they unanimously expressed their opposition to the Dinky move, and suggested that the planning board issue a similar resolution.

The board also considered the traffic impacts and the dimensions of particular features of the construction. Many were concerned that the proposed construction, which includes a traffic circle at the intersection in front of Forbes College, would congest traffic in the area.

“When students use the walk signal to cross the street,” Mildred Trotman, a board member who is also mayor of the Borough, said, “traffic in all directions will be stopped. I anticipate, because those lights will be so close together really on Alexander Street, with the lights that they’re going to add, that that is going to cause a backup on Alexander Street in both directions.”

“I don’t think we see that as a real killer, but it’s certainly something that would need to be addressed in further stages,” consultant Brian Stankaus of Orth Rodgers Associates said of the traffic impacts of the construction. “We haven’t really identified anything that we feel is a real killer in terms of this proposed zoning, again with the proviso that there is lot of technical review still to come.” He said more detailed consideration of the new intersections and passenger increases would come later in the process.

Board members answered that the consultant’s report was not thorough enough, and charged him to do more analysis for their consideration.

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“When we considered bringing in a traffic consultant, it was to consider the impact of the rezoning on the area between University Place and Faculty Road, and I assume that means all the intersections that have to do with the rezoning,” planning board member Marvin Reed said. “If we can handle the traffic, then perhaps we can change the zoning. But If we don’t anticipate that we can handle the traffic, then we shouldn’t be recommending to Borough Council and Township Committee to change the zoning.”

Board members requested a more thorough assessment of the traffic impacts before the ordinance comes back for their review.

Among the board’s recommended modifications was to increase the allowed width of the fly tower of the University’s planned theater. This change will be introduced when the Township Committee reintroduces the ordinance.

The University requests permission to build a theater including a 100-foot fly tower. Board members who were concerned about how a building of this height would relate to other buildings in the neighborhood proposed amending the ordinance to limit the fly tower.

A fly tower is a technical feature necessary to load sets onto the stage, Goldman explained, saying that the University had intentionally designed the theater to use a tower no taller than 100 feet high, but needed permission to build a wider fly tower to accommodate the size of the stage.

Correction

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the board voted to postpone voting on the ordinances to allow time for further discussion. This article has been updated to reflect these changes.