Citizens file lawsuit over Dinky move

A group of citizens has filed a lawsuit challenging the University’s proposed move of the Dinky station.

The complaint, filed on Tuesday to the Superior Court of New Jersey in Trenton, challenges the University’s right to move the station. The complaint requests that the court permanently enjoin the University from moving the station.

The complaint also requests that the court judge that “an easement by prescription to enter and exit the Princeton Branch service at the existing station platform has arisen.”

Bruce Afran, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment. In the spring, Afran filed a lawsuit challenging the tax exemption of certain University properties.

The University plans to move the Dinky station 464 feet south to make room to build its proposed Arts and Transit Neighborhood along the Alexander Corridor. The requested zoning changes needed for the construction are currently under planning board review, but University officials have said that the University will move the Dinky south at some point even if it cannot build the Arts and Transit Neighborhood in its proposed location.

The University purchased Princeton Station from New Jersey Transit in 1984 with the intention of moving it further south. In 1985, the University moved the station to its current location, about 100 feet below its 1984 location.

The purchase agreement contains a provision allowing the University to “move the existing terminus of the rail line southward coincident with the location of the minimum reservation of platform space.” The agreement refers to the “relocation” of the platform’s bumpers and rails.

The plaintiffs claim that this passage secures the University the right to move the station only by 170 feet, the length of the original station platform, and that the University exhausted this right in its 1985 move.

The University has maintained that this provision guarantees its right to move the Dinky station again, providing that the University provides a platform as specified in the agreement. Representatives from New Jersey Transit confirmed at a Borough Council meeting in June that the department shared the University’s interpretation of the passage and supported the move.

“We haven’t been concerned about what they’ve said when they’ve been saying it at public meetings … and we’re not concerned now,” Durkee said. He added that, in 1996, NJ Transit made a new agreement with the University explicitly stating that the move had not reduced the University’s right to move the station further southward.

Anne Neumann, one of four Borough residents listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said that the suit was motivated by a desire to keep the station within the reach of pedestrians in the Borough.

Save the Princeton Dinky, a citizens’ group that has spoken out against the proposed Dinky move over the past year, posted a notice on its website expressing support for the lawsuit.

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The suit, filed against the University and New Jersey Transit, includes among its plaintiffs Borough residents Peter Marks, Rodney Fisk and Walter Neumann. The complaint begins by stating how frequently the plaintiffs named use the Dinky service, some of them daily and some weekly.

The complaint also requests that the University be required to recompense all costs of the suit.