Borough residents debate zoning changes

The Borough Council voted on Tuesday night 3-2 to introduce a revised version of the Arts and Transit Neighborhood zoning ordinance for debate in the Borough Council. The ordinance will now go to the Regional Planning Board of Princeton for a second review.

The planning board will review the ordinance at a public meeting on Nov. 10. If approved by the planning board, the ordinance will return to the Borough Council for a public hearing and a final vote.

For the past few years the University has sought a zoning change to build an Arts and Transit Neighborhood in the Alexander Corridor near Forbes College. Borough councilmembers in their previous consideration of the ordinance were unanimously opposed to the University’s proposal due to its plan to move the Dinky Station 460 feet further south.

Councilman Roger Martindell objected to the ordinance’s prohibition of childcare services in the zone near where the train station would lie. The Council members voted 3-2 against amending the ordinance to allow childcare.

“The issue is dropping off and picking up people. We have pubs, too. People coming in and out of pubs, inebriated, they can be picked up and dropped off, but no kids,” Martindell said. “Which is more important, kids or pubs?”

Councilmembers opposed to the child care amendment cited traffic considerations. “I am vehemently opposed to having childcare in this small area,” councilwoman Jo Butler explained. “It is deadly traffic, and we are already creating a mess on Alexander. I just don’t see where we can have the kind of drop-off/pick-up that would be adequate for a childcare facility.”

“Furthermore if we want to be child-friendly, let’s leave the Dinky where it is,” she added.

Prior to the discussion of the zoning ordinance, councilwoman Jenny Crumiller announced that certain councilmembers had been discussing the possibility of creating a special improvement district in the area around the train station, and had kept these discussions secret from a minority of councilmembers.

Because of this concealed information, she asked that the council be required to revote on the memorandum of understanding.

Borough administrator Robert Bruschi explained that the Borough staff has a ready draft for special improvement district zoning. Crumiller also provided a draft of an amendment to create a transit use only zone where the Dinky track currently lies. Councilmembers voted 3-2 against sending the amendment to the planning board.

“It’s not hurting the arts. It’s just preserving the right of way for light rail in the future,” Crumiller said, saying that the creating the transit zone would leave open the possibility of replacing the Dinky with a light-rail line in the future. “If it gets challenged in court, we can decide then if we want spend the money [to pursue the case].”

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

“Although I thoroughly sympathize with the goal, I don’t see it as a practical solution to the problem,” Martindell said.

An attorney contracted by the Borough considered this possibility earlier this year and offered his opinion that an attempt to create a transit zone would invite a very expensive lawsuit that the Borough would likely lose, Martindell noted.

In response to the council’s direct question as to why the University plans to move the Dinky station, University Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee ’69 explained that the University is concerned with pedestrian safety.

“The idea that we’re going to create a vibrant area of people coming to the arts buildings and coming to the retail space and jeopardize them by placing a train station right there is just not something we’re going to do,” Durkee said, citing statistics of the numbers of pedestrians hit by trains in recent years.

He added that moving the Dinky would permit a driveway that would give convenient access into the Lot 7 garage, and that this driveway would reduce the traffic on Alexander Road by removing cars from the main road before they reach the Faculty Road intersection.

The University made a voluntary contribution, also called a payment in lieu of taxes, of $1.2 million to the Borough’s operating budget as part of a six-year agreement that expired last year. Durkee has stated at previous council meetings that University officials will base future years’ contribution on the level of cooperation they get from the Borough.

Anita Garoniak, the cofounder of the citizens’ group Save the Dinky, accused the University of conspiring to use its annual payment to buy the Borough’s cooperation with its development plans.

“There is a quid pro quo here. The University’s quo is clearly stated in dollar figures. You would have to be naive to think that the quid from the public is something other than a promise to give fast-track zoning approvals to the University,” Garoniak said.

Borough resident Anne Neumann said she thought the University’s threats to lower the PILOT contribution were a bluff.

“Trust that the University is not so indifferent to bad publicity as to lower its PILOT substantially by what would certainly be interpreted as spite,” Neumann said. “Please don’t let the University Boehner-ize you, as in John Boehner, by threatening something catastrophic as you cede to its every demand,” she added, referring to Speaker of the House John Boehner’s role in this summer’s negotiations on the national debt ceiling.

Borough resident Mimi Omiecinski read a letter written by Lori Rabon, the general manager of the Nassau Inn, expressing support for the requested zoning and the University’s plan to build a new 24-hour Dinky Station.

Female patrons are often uneasy about waiting at the unattended open-air Dinky station late at night, Rabon wrote, and often choose to take cabs to Princeton Junction rather than wait for the train. She added that she would be delighted to tell her patrons there was a 24-hour indoor station.

The zoning changes requested would in fact reduce traffic on Alexander Road because as an arts zone, the area would have less traffic at peak-traffic times of day, Durkee said. According to the work done by the traffic consultant, the drop in traffic from the zoning change would reduce the time needed to drive from Faculty Road to University Place during peak-traffic times.

Correction

A previous version of this article stated that the Borough Council would be entering a new round of discussion on the ordinance. This article has been updated to reflect these changes.