good evening everyone welcome to the meeting of the mayor and Council of Princeton New Jersey it's July 22nd 20124 uh could we recording in progress there we go all right can we have the meeting statement please adequate notice of this meeting was provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public public meetings act including the time date and location of the meeting in addition the agenda and all related materials were posted electronically and made available to the public on Princeton's meeting portal in advance of the meeting thank you Michelle's going to do the land acknowledgement We Gather today on the land of the Len Lenape as members of the Princeton Community we aspire to show appreciation respect and concern for All Peoples and our environment we honor the nape and other indigenous caretakers of these lands and Waters the elders who lived here before the indigenous today and the generations to come thank you we have roll call please miss Peron lambrose here miss Neer gang here Mr Cohen Miss Sachs here miss froga here Mr nulan here mayor Freda here you have cor thank you very much you'd like to join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pled allei to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you all right we have a number of proclamations and Y good evening Proclamation Office of the mayor Municipality of Princeton a proclamation honoring Lily whe on the occasion of her retirement whereas the municipality of Princeton is proud to recognize Lily are you here out louder I'm not sure how to pronounce her last name does anyone can anyone give me some guidance so I don't mangle it over and over H H Hugh Hugh okay thank you the municipality of Princeton is proud to recognize Lily Hugh purchasing agent in the Department of Finance for her dedication to public service on the occasion of her retirement and whereas Lily began her career with the township of Princeton on September 1992 in the role of Junior accountant and whereas as the department evolved in 1997 her responsibilities expanded and she took on the role of purchasing coordinator and whereas in 2013 after displaying excellence in all aspects of her performance Lily was promoted to purchasing agent and whereas Lily has been passionate about fostering a connected workplace for staff coordinating many memorable events and teaching her co-workers the joys of playing maang during lunch and after hours and whereas Lily has been a dedicated coworker and a pillar of strength and warmth in the finance department her generous spirit and genuine kindness has touched everyone she has worked with making her an invaluable part of the Princeton team and whereas Lily's retirement from the municipality of Princeton will be effective August 1st and whereas Lily has DED dedicated over 31 years to serving the municipality of Princeton and whereas Lily has served the community of Princeton with pride and upon the occasion of her retirement is deserving of recognition and the highest Commendation now therefore be be it resolved I Eve Neer gang on behalf of Mayor Freda extend the municipality's humble expression of appreci and serious condolence congratulations to Lily H we offer her our best wishes for a long happy and healthy [Applause] [Music] retirement okay uh Mia you have the next one sure uh Edward Huber is he here there he is great okay hi whereas the municipality of Princeton is proud to recognize Edward Huber equipment operator in the Department of Public Works for his dedication to public service on the occasion of his retirement and whereas Edward began his career with the township of Princeton in June of 1999 in the role of equipment operator and whereas Edward has been a dedicated and exceptional employee proving himself an invaluable asset to the municipality and whereas Edward enjoys traveling with his wife in his RV and working on various Home Improvement projects and whereas Edward's retirement from the mun Municipality of Princeton will be effective August 1st and whereas Edward has dedicated 25 years to serving the municipality of Princeton and whereas Edward has served the community of Princeton with pride and upon the occasion of his retirement is deserving of recognition and the highest commendation now therefore be it resolved that we together with Mark feda mayor of Princeton extend the municipality's humble expression of appreciation and sincerest congratulations to Edward Huber we offer our best wishes for a long happy and healthy retirement thank you Edward Ed want to actually give you this [Applause] [Music] okay it's unusual to have five of these all happening at the same time but that's the case tonight Layton I believe you're up next good evening gives me great pleasure to read this Proclamation from the office of the mayor Municipality of prinston a proclamation honoring Mr John Patti on the occasion of of his retirement it reads as follows whereas the municipality of Princeton is proud to recognize John pinati construction official in the department of construction for his dedication to public service on the occasion of his retirement and whereas John began his career with the township of Princeton in February of 1987 in the role of building inspector and whereas John subse quently took on the role of construction official building subcode official in January of 2002 and whereas John's professionalism and pleasant demeanor was on display every day as he strived to assist applicants no matter how big or small the project the kindness he showed to his staff and co-workers was appreciated beyond measure and whereas John will be enjoying his retirement spending time with his family especially his granddaughter Woodworking and tending to his property and whereas John's retirement from the municipality of Princeton will be effective August 1st and whereas John has dedicated over 27 years to serving the municipality of Princeton and whereas John has served the community of Princeton with pride and upon the occasion of his retirement is deserving of recognition and the highest Commendation now therefore be it resolved that I late in noon on behalf of Mark Freda mayor of Princeton extend the municipality's humble expression of appreciation and sincerest congratulations to John pady we offer our best wishes for long happy and healthy [Music] [Applause] retirement yeah John was unable to be with us tonight but we'll get that to him Leticia you are next it gives me great honor uh to have the opportunity to read this Proclamation honoring Lieutenant Benjamin Garing on the occasion of his retirement whereas the municipality of prinston is proud to recognize Benjamin Garing lieutenant in the police department for his dedication to public service on the occasion of his retirement and whereas Lieutenant Garing began his career with the municipality of Princeton on April 3rd 2000 in the role of patrol officer and whereas Lieutenant Garing served in various roles and bureaus of the police department including as a member of the Community Action Team D instructor their instructor Traffic Safety Committee evidence custodian Mercer County child abduction Response Team also known as cart terminal agency coordinator tag NJ sarley Leon counterterrorism leaon and detective Bureau and whereas in 2016 Lieutenant Garing served as a task force officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigations Safe Streets taskforce during this time he oversaw and participated in a large-scale criminal and counterterrorism investigations this included collaboration with multiple law enforcement agencies including the FBI ATF mcpo and several local police departments and whereas Lieutenant Garing was promoted to the rank of Corporal in 2016 and served within the patrol Bureau he was then elevated to the rank of Sergeant in 2017 serving as a supervisor within the patrol Bureau later he was designated as detective Sergeant overseeing the detective buau in 2021 Benjamin Garing was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant where he served as the commander of the traffic safety Bureau special events coordinator body War camera coordinator records coordinator strategic planning maintenance coordinator court leaon and oversaw cell block and facility management Lieutenant Garing is a graduate of the prestigious New Jersey State Chiefs of Police Association ation command and Leadership program he is also a recipient of several Awards and commendations including the pet Hodge Valor award Peter Hodge Valor Hodge Valor award and whereas Benjamin's retirement from the municipality of Princeton will be effective August 1st and whereas Benjamin has dedicated over 2 24 years to serving the municipality of Princeton and whereas Benjamin has served the community of Princeton with pride and upon the occasion of his retirement is deserv deserving of recognition and the highest Commendation now therefore be it resolve that I letia Fraga on behalf of Mark Frida mayor of Princeton extend the municipality's humble expression of appreciation and sincerest congratulations to Benjamin Garing we offer our best wishes for a long happy and healthy retirement [Applause] [Music] much e [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay one more a proclamation honoring Chief Jonathan buchar on the occasion of his retirement whereas the municipality of Princeton is proud to recognize Chief Jonathan bukar chief of the Princeton Police Department for his dedication to public service on the occasion of his retirement and whereas Chief Bucher began his career with the municipality of Princeton in August of 1999 in the role of patrol officer whereas Chief bukar worked for the Princeton Police Department for 25 years and held the title of patrol officer detective patrol Sergeant detective Sergeant safe neighborhood Sergeant administrative Lieutenant Patrol lieutenant captain and chief of police whereas Chief bukar also served the department in the capacities of the field training Commander press information officer Internal Affairs Commander can9 unit supervisor and criminal investigations Bureau commander and whereas Chief bukar as chief of the police displayed transformational leadership that saw the that saw the divers diversity within the department expand our community policing footprint GR and our stakeholder involvement strengthen and whereas Chief bukar will be enjoying his retirement spending time with his wife Andrea and three children Jonathan Joey and Ryan and whereas Chief bucher's retirement from the municipality of Princeton will be effective August 1st and whereas the chief has dedicated 25 years to serving the municipality of Princeton whereas Chief bukar has served the municipality and the community with pride and upon the OCC occasion of his retirement is deeply deserving of recognition and the highest Commendation now therefore be it resolved I Mark feda mayor of Princeton extend the municipality's humble expression of appreciation and sincerest congratulations to Jonathan buchar we offer our best wishes for a long happy and healthy retirement thank you chief [Music] sh than [Music] all right thank you all I think it's always important that we express our thanks to people that have worked for the community for such a long period of time next up we have approval of minutes we have five sets of I'm sorry okay we you know what let's just run through these one by one so we catch all right uh minutes of the June 10th 2024 meeting would someone like to move those thank you David Michelle's got the second any questions or comments Corrections seeing none all in favors please say I I June 24th minutes close session minutes with someone late thank you Leighton is is there a second thank you letia any question comment seeing none all in favor please say I I I June 24th regular meeting minutes would someone move those thank you David Le's got the second questions comments see none all in favor please say I I I okay uh close session July 2nd would someone move those minutes thank you Leon Michelle's got the second questions or comments seeing none all in favor please say I I I July 8th regular meeting minutes would someone Eve thank you would someone uh thank you Michelle's got the second all in favor please say I and just to go back I'm sorry may just I I uh made a small uh correction to the minutes which has already been made but right and which set were I supposed to have you abstaining on were you oh you was abstaining from June 10th June 10th okay I'm sorry Raina June thank you glad you got that okay and just if you're wondering why I stare down I have a screen in front of me and it's easier to see who's raising their hand to make a motion and second it if I look here then trying to twist my head so that's why I'm doing that okay and who um oh there's sorry I didn't Captain I I didn't see you over there I was looking over here so we have Captain Tash here to give the uh police report for June 2024 Captain good evening thank you mayor and councel um just two quick things I want to highlight from the uh June Chiefs report first is the uh citizens Police Academy is our second Academy um that we saw graduate on June 9th it's a program that we um are going to continue uh throughout the years and actually uh expand on it a little bit and the second thing I want to bring up and I brought it up in the past before about our school Crossings for this um school year is um we we did some minor tweaks to the way we did our school Crossings and hired some extra guards and um the yearly stats are now now completed for that in last year's um school year the 2022 2023 school year we had the police department the officers covered just under 2,000 School Crossings for the year and this year 2023 and 2024 school year we did a total of 220 so just those those little tweaks saved thousands of man hours um and let our officers uh stay on the road and handle stuff on the road instead of covering the school crossing so I just want to highlight those two things and that's all I have thank you Captain uh Eve uh thank you Captain Tash I I want to as a participant in the last citizens Police Academy I want to say what a great again what a great experience it was and and how much I learned so thank you for doing that and I encourage anyone who uh is interested to to join it's uh fascinating and and uh really a great learning experience I have two and a half questions so um this is a real question uh I I've been tracking you know the the data in the like the calls for service and I think we're finally back to uh to pre pandemic levels um in May of this year there were 4,300 calls for service which is uh several hundred above the norm and I'm just wondering like maybe this is an anomaly but if indeed the calls for service are are going up that substantially I hope the department is planning for this because that's like a 10% increase in calls which must be just countless uh people hours that uh you know need to follow up on those calls so if you could comment a little bit on that and where you see that going yeah so it could be an anomaly but if you look we are trending upwards um a big part of that is that this year one of our big initiatives was to um increase our Traffic Safety Bureau so I think you're going to see a higher call volume because we have um five officers just dedicated to handling traffic complaints where in the past we didn't have that high of a volume of officers so just naturally with more people in that unit the the call volume is going to increase I think that's where the majority of the increase was okay thank you I didn't know that okay this is the half question so as as one of the uh council members who serves on the traffic safety uh committee we've been trained to uh talk about not motor vehicle accidents but motor vehicle crashes uh at an accident implying it couldn't be helped and a crash implying somebody made a mistake um and I'm just wondering are are the so but the police reports still lists mvas M vehicle accidents and I'm wondering if that is terminology it may be just semantics but I'm wondering if that's terminology that can be changed or are these State reporting categories and you can't do anything about that no they are considered motor vehicle crashes I think that's just something that was always in the report but certainly something will change it should it should fall under motor vehicle crash okay so and here's the second question then so um the uh 20 19 to 2023 uh chart of accidents um is are those full years uh and then 2024 is just a half year or are the numbers comparable then okay David is nodding his head like like he knows that those are those are full years and and the the 2024 numbers are half a year in which case we are following the rest of the country in you know absurd increases in motor vehicle crashes and and bad behavior on drivers so I just wanted to you know these uh crashes have real life consequences for for everyone involved so I'm just th using this as an opportunity to throw out a plea to everyone to drive carefully to think about what you're doing and to think about the possible impact your mistake could have on other people so that's it that that's all thank you thank you Eve other questions for Captain Tash okay thank you we'll move on to next is the 2023 audit and are we bringing Sandy and remot okay can we tell yeah thanks good talk sorry we're telling our it wizard in the back room to bring in our CFO and someone from the auditing firm but um I'm not allowed to for some reason um activate my video so I'll just I'll start this kind of quickly and I'll let Dave jump in um I just want to say um this is our ninth audit report without any recommendations and uh this is not something that we take lightly in finance um I'm extremely thankful for the finance staff and also for the staff and the other departments that help us to achieve this um for this ninth year so with that being said I will turn it over to Dave everybody yeah let me just I'm sorry let me just jump in for the audience that was Sandy Webb our CFO we had a little Sandy we had a little technical glitch there so when you when we were able to hear you you had already started talking so I just want to make sure people know who you are can you just in introduce David so the audience knows who he is absolutely this is uh Dave Ganon he is our registered Municipal accountant he has been doing this audit for I think about maybe three years now um and him and his staff you know they do a phenomenal job for us and we're just pleased to have them okay right good evening everybody uh as Sandy said uh you we receive a lot of cooperation from both her staff as well as a number of other employees and other departments uh to be a to complete the the audit of the municipality uh so we definitely appreciate that cooperation uh you know our audit lasts three to four weeks of time so in addition to your employees you know regular duties they have to respond to our numerous requests uh they always do so with you know great professionalism uh We've we've issued an order opinion that doesn't take any exceptions to any accounting practices that Princeton follows we found that Princeton complies with all the reporting requirements of the division of World Government Services uh which are requirements that are different than generally accepted accounting principles uh We've issued an unmodified opinion on the municipality's compliance with uh those Reg ulations uh and overall just you know we found that the financial records were in excellent condition they really did not they required very minor modifications from what was presented to us uh so overall we feel that you know Sandy webiner staff do really an excellent job uh the overall Financial Health of the municipality is is is very healthy uh there's adequate amounts of fund balance current fun fund balance at the end of 2023 was $22 million which was an increase of 3 .5 million from the prior year uh so although the municipality used $8.75 million to balance its budget uh several different Revenue categories exceeded budget or or prior appropriation reserv has lapsed uh so that it would be able that it not only covered the 8.75 used in the budget uh but built fund balance up another $3.5 million it's also important to note in 2023 that the municipality utilized its second half of the OPA funds uh to utilize in the budget of $2.9 million going forward in 2024 and in subsequent years that's no longer available affordable housing uh utility had about $1.2 million fund balance a slight decrease from the prior year uh but it also had $2.9 million of program reserves the parking utility uh fund balance at the end of 2023 was $3.6 Million an increase of $100,000 uh and important to note that utility was able to contribute a million eight towards the current fund budget for 2023 the 2023 tax collection rate was 98.92% uh the tax collection rate has been at or above 99% for for many years uh so that the town's done Municipal has done a great job in that respect the net debt of the municipality was $128 million uh which equates to 1.36% of average equalized valuations State Statute allow up to 3.5% uh so that the municipality is well below statutory limits on debt uh and reality that the municipality has a remaining borrowing power of $22 million uh in addition to a financial statement audit we were also required to form a federal and state single audit based on the level of funding received uh by the municipality so in addition to a finan St audit we also have to do specific Grant audits over the oper funds the ibank program and the dot grants uh We've tested internal controls and compliance we've issued an unmodified opinion on compliance with with those uh single order requirements uh and lastly you we do a number of test of internal controls and compliance and we found that there was no exceptions that we noted or violations of the state statute that require corrective action if there's any questions i' be more than happy to answer them thank you David any Council any questions on the many many many pages of the audit that we all read okay uh see no questions why don't we move to 24225 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton accepting the 2023 audit and group affidavit if someone would like to move that leighton's got it got moving it David second uh again any questions or comments just a great thank you to Sandy and the staff yes as always thank you thank you for mentioning that okay all in favor please say I I hi hi Okay sandy David thank you both thank you thank you all right next up is public comments for items not on the agenda if anyone in the room or online has a comment for again for something that's not already on the agenda this would be the time to either if you're in the room come up to the podium and make that comment or if you're online raise your hand all right I see one one hand up on Zoom Adam if you could Andrew if you could just introduce yourself name and address and you have three minutes hi good evening uh everyone this is Andrew seagull uh from um Paul Robinson Place uh this is a uh item that was on the agenda but that uh that happened already I just wanted to take a moment to uh recognize uh John buer and Ben Garing um I don't want to age anyone but uh they they uh both started on the force when I was I think 12 years old and um they were the cops that we used to see walking to school and uh biking to town and uh in the communities and uh really out there in in the schools as as uh as was mentioned part of the Dare program and things like that and um it was my distinct pleasure to come back to town to work at Hamilton Jewelers for my family business and to see that they were still here and to look at them as true partners because that's what we look at them as uh I think a lot of businesses look at the police force that way and certainly these two individuals have been uh close friends to both my family uh as well as our business and the business community at large and also the general Princeton community at large their dedication to service is uh unmatched and all the accolades that have been mentioned this evening are welld deserved and uh the seagull family and Hamilton Jewelers wishes them both a uh a lovely retirement and we hope they won't be strangers thank you Andrew all right anyone else online no one else in the room okay we'll close that part of the meeting all right now we have two uh public hearings on ordinances the first is ordinance 2 24-29 an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton regulating parking on Valley Road and Hodge Road and amending chapter 19 of the code of the burrow of Princeton New Jersey 1974 and chapter 11 of the code of the township of Princeton New Jersey 1968 uh is there a I'm sorry Leon's got the motion David's got the second all right we'll start with Council questions comments Eve uh just a quick question about uh timing um I know uh Jim if uh psng doeses this it's going to be done relatively soon if they decline uh to do it uh I would love to see implementation of the ordinance postponed until like there's no point in taking the parking away and then having 3 months go by before we uh you know we put the striping in so if there's a way to pair when the ordinance goes into effect maybe this is more a question for trishka is there a way to pair when this ordinance goes into effect with when the actual striping is done rather than you know take away parking for for no reason without putting the striping in if you don't mind I'll I'll answer the first part of that question um psng plans to pave Hodge Road uh in the middle of August so we're right on top of when they're going to be doing that Valley Road will follow I do not know exactly when um but it should be soon after that the only the only hold up on Valley Road is that they have determined there are additional connections that need to be made for the gas main Improvement project um they have indicated quite strongly that they're willing to do this so um I don't if if uh if we don't have the ordinance in place now the first step is to prohibit the parking um so that we can implement this the second phase of this will be our own internal um pavement striping program that we hope to get in front of council within a couple of months okay thank you thank you okay David and then Michelle yeah thank you um I just wanted to ask uh if Jim could address a little bit the um extents of the parking removal on Valley Road noticing that um uh from Harris Road over to mount Lucas the parking is not being removed so if you can explain the thinking behind that the area of parking that will remain in place uh is along the frontage of the uh Princeton Public Schools property which includes Valley Road School the Board of Education offices I mean Valley Road School building um where the boarding of Ed Education offices are as well as the area in front of the sport Fields um there was discussion with the school district about the um need to continue to use that parking uh both the School District employees and Municipal Employees use that parking when uh the facilities that are exist off Street are overcrowded um particularly during the summer for the Municipal Employees when we are asked to uh take our vehicles out of uh this parking lot to make room for U the community uh to visit the pool um and during the um school year um the school district needs those parking spaces they have insufficient spaces behind the building where buses are parked um the choice of the bike Network that we have made is to connect the shopping center um through Valley Road to Harris Road which is a bicycle Boulevard and Harris Road brings um bicycle Riders to guo and Henry and then to Witherspoon Street and the Witherspoon Jackson neighborhood and Community Park School at the other end of Valley Road near the shopping center um engineering is planning to make improvements to North Harrison Street that will include bicycle facilities that will be protected from the traffic so we're planning on protected bike lanes and uh that will then connect with um Franklin Avenue and um uh the bicycle Network that then connects uh all of the schools together into one continuous loop on top of that we're adding bicycle Lanes to te Hune Road between North Harrison Street and Grover Avenue as part of the Allis development and as part of our own project um and then that connects to Grover Avenue which connects to levit um which is a bicycle Boulevard we see this as a critical uh link between facilities on one side of town and and the other um so uh we we believe it works um in terms of getting people from point A to point B in the safest manner possible thanks uh just one follow-up question I know that uh Valley Road is a little wider in that area where the parking is being retained uh is there potential for instance to have a bike lane going westbound uh not have the one going eastbound but maybe have the one going westbound continue on to mount Lucas there is a potential for that um we we can we can discuss that in uh Ino or Traffic Safety um we didn't see the need to do it at this stage uh if there does seem to be um community input um I I I hesitate to bring uh too much bicycle traffic to the intersection of Valley Road and Witherspoon Street which is quite congested at certain times of the day and um I i' I'd prefer that people feel more comfortable to go down Harris to gu and then come around but um Point well taken if I'm trying to get to the municipal building uh I might want to have that lane so we can Market as shared Lane thank you Michelle um I just wanted to commend uh Jim and the uh entire team coming up with this idea to work at the same time as psng is repaving and doing this with their striping program um is a nice taxpayer savings you know it would be great to be able to just flip a switch and have the bike um Mobility plan implemented everywhere but obviously we have to take one street at a time so this is a really good step in the right direction or yeah so thank you thank you are there other Council comments or questions I see none do we have any public comment or questions on this uh ordinance anybody online all right see you no public comment could we oh Dan do you have a comment Dan when you come up if you could just say your name and address and you have three minutes Dan rport 300 bun Drive um at the present time the idea of eliminating parking on most of Valley Road for a bike lane seems like an undesirable situation I hope it's temporary the shoulder um is the width of a car so you would have bicyclist going in both directions in the same bike lane and then if you have a car going past them that creates more stress for the bike riders and so then the next step would be well put a line down the middle of the lane so it's clear who has which side of the bike lane but i' if you've seen the bike lane on Princeton Pike um that's not very um free of stress for most bicyclists and I've seen very few bicyclists when I happen to be out in that direction on Princeton Pike but that's what is going to happen if you do the next step so the only way it can be feasible is if you take land on the other side of Valley Road and Which Resident is going to voluntarily give up a chunk of their land to have a bike lane so please think about it longer thank you thank you Dan thanks may may I clarify we we are not proposing a two-way bike lane Dan we are proposing bike Lanes in both directions on each side of the road two 5-ft bike lanes and two 10t motor vehicle Lanes there's 30 ft of pavement on Valley that can accommodate a bicycle lane in each direction we're not going to put a a two-way bike lane on one side of the road is that wider than the Princeton Pike bike lane the Princeton Pike bike lane is not a bike lane it's a 3-ft shoulder and in my opinion never should have been marked as a bike lane okay thank you we're putting in two 5 foot bike bike Lanes on Valley Road on either side thank you Jim thank you thanks for the clarification okay just making sure no other public comment all right we'll close the public comment portion and roll call vote please miss Pon lambrose yes Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Sachs yes Miss froga yes Mr Nan yes carried thank you next up is ordinance 202 24-30 ordinance by the municipality of Princeton County of Mercer state of New Jersey adopting the Redevelopment plan for the Princeton Theological Seminary properties for the real properties designated as block 35.0 Lots 25 and 26 and block 3601 Lots 15 16 and 17 ltis has got the motion Michelle's got the second okay good even mayor MERS of the council public thank you uh mayor members of the council Steve M green Bose Smith and Davis uh I have served and continued to serve as your Redevelopment Council uh for the municipality um here to my left is Jim Kyle who's the Redevelopment planner that the municipality has engaged who has prepared the Redevelopment plan that is the subject of your ordinance this evening um you introduced this ordinance a couple weeks ago at your last council meeting it was referred to the planning board uh who held a meeting last Thursday um Mr Kyle gave this presentation that he's going to give uh to this Council um as a courtesy uh and the planning board considered the ordinance and the read of vment plan annexed to it for master plan consistency which was their charge under the local Redevelopment and Housing law and came back with unanimous vote that it did meet consistency with uh both the current master plan as well as the master plan from 1996 it return that as I'm sure you've all seen VI resolution from the planning board as well with a couple of recommendations uh which we will discuss uh but I did just want to take a second to talk about the overall picture of of Redevelopment and to reorient so so this particular Redevelopment plan concerns property that uh has been you know we've discussed it as the Princeton Theological Seminary properties which is an area that has been designated by the council way back in 2018 so six years ago it was designated and found to qualify as an area in need of Redevelopment I'll I'll talk closer since that time uh there's been efforts to to form a Redevelopment plan which is the next step in the Redevelopment framework uh which is before you today adoption of this or any other Redevelopment plan is what's necessary to trigger the next steps in the Redevelopment process which is to identify and negotiate a Redevelopment agreement with a prospective redeveloper that can be designated as such who will then develop the property in accordance with both that Redevelopment plan that's subject to your vote tonight as well as the agreement uh which you would negotiate they would still then have to go before the planning board for the same site plan approval they would if Redevelopment were not part of the process so generally this is step two of those four did we lose I didn't do anything okay step two of the four-step process step one being designation of the property which we've done now it's adoption of the Redevelopment plan then Redevelopment agreement and then site plan and and at the site plan stage it's identical to to what any developer would face um under your your site plan ordinances so at this point I will turn it over to Mr Kyle to give that that courtesy presentation of the council good evening everyone uh James Kyle with Kyle mcmanis Associates in Hopewell I'm a licensed professional planner licensed by the state I'm also a member of the American Institute of certified planners I'm special Redevelopment planner for the municipality so this um is a Redevelopment plan it's it's an ordinance adopting the Redevelopment plan for Princeton theological seminaries the ordinance is 202 2430 uh the Redevelopment plan itself was dated July 1st prepared by our office um Steve kind of went over a bit of this but again this was this process was commenced in June of 2018 uh where mayor and Council authorized the planning board to study the properties lrk had prepared a preliminary investigation report at that time and the planning board held a hearing in September of 2018 where they recommended that mayor and Council designate the scenario in need of Redevelopment that the criteria under the Redevelopment law were met and mayor and Council designated it as a non-c condemnation are in need of Redevelopment on October 8th 2018 uh subsequent to that there there was a Redevelopment process that started and did not conclude and then we started another process um we had some Community round taes in March of 2023 and may of 2023 uh there we had presented some planning information to the public we invited discussion and some comments and then there was a third Community Round Table held in October of 2023 at which time the contract purchas or hering properties presented conceptual plans for the property uh the public and everyone was was finally able to see the proposal for that so over the last 8 months or so um we've been working on a Redevelopment plan we carefully evaluated all the impacts of development of the property we consulted extensively with Municipal staff also had discussions with the contract purchaser and then C mayor and Council introduced ordinance 2024 on July 10th and as Steve said the planning board conducted their statutory review um on July 18th of 2024 which was last Thursday so the read vment plan itself is applicable to Block 3501 Lots 25 and 26 those are on the west side of hibbon road outlined in red on the screen and then also block 3601 Lots 156 and 17 which are on the east side of hibbon Road Lot 15 fronts on EDG Hill Street it's 4.84 acres in total and it's the former tenant Roberts Whitley Campus of the Princeton Theological Seminary the way this Redevelopment plan is written it would amend the zoning map to show this Redevelopment area and it would suers ceed the underlying e4b zoning that's currently in place the goals of the Redevelopment plan um we drew a lot from the public process that was ongoing for the master plan at the time so we utilized a lot of the information from Community forums also the comments that we received at at the community roundtables um and that was utilize smart growth principles to achieve better planning outcomes for the community provide higher density and close proximity to transit in the downtown and this fed into uh the Princeton climate action plan trying to reduce Auto dependence and support greenhouse gas reductions uh that was 2019 I believe that plan uh provide for new multif family residential within walking distance of downtown in the Princeton campus uh increase the supply of affordable housing on the west side of the downtown uh create a unified network of outdoor spaces and pedestrian friendly streetscapes within the Redevelopment plan area and then enhanced view shut along Stockton Street which as we all know is one of the important gateways several important gateways into the downtown um you know we discussed it at the planning board meeting on Thursday night you know this is a very critical view as you come in but we've also heard that there are a lot of safety issues at these intersections as a result of you know where the buildings were position previously blocking some site views but that green space that existed there was an important thing although it wasn't utilized by the public so an important part of this Redevelopment plan is to open that up and have that be accessible to the public but also improve safety and sight lines at the intersections with Stockton Street um and that's a goal improve visibility and enhance safety for drivers cyclists and pedestrians you know through the community roundtables we did hear a lot of safety concerns with cut through traffic on these streets uh so we want to make sure that anything that's going on with this Redevelopment plan isn't making that any worse and hopefully improves it uh provide enhanced on-site storm water management through the use of green infrastructure and reduce runoff volumes flowing to adjacent properties um at the time that there really was was no storm water management features to speak of on this property so one of the goals is to improve some of those flooding conditions that we heard about at the community around table so we're going to uh provide some standards that'll hopefully address all of that uh we want to provide a good transition from the neighboring single family residences U through appropriate setbacks a good feature of this Redevelopment plan is we're requiring inset or step backs above the third floor to help reduce the visual Mass uh at the property lines um VAR and building Mass you've all seen from the concept plans we kind of have a variety of conditions that are proposed here that that we think adequately address that and then really employing highquality architectural treatment and materials um through the Redevelopment process um and that's really unique to this rather than just rezoning a property going the Redevelopment route allows us more control over those types of of things um promote highquality design for new multif family structures as well as outdoor spaces and then opportunity for an enhanced tax rateable that will benefit the larger Princeton community so the permitted uses the plan permits multif family buildings on Block 3501 Lots 25 and 26 that's on the west side of hibbon and then block 3601 Lots 16 and 17 on the east side Lot 15 permits uh detach single family dwellings so there's one existing single family dwelling at 92 Stockton Street that will remain and the plan permits two additional detach single family dwellings on lot 15 so a total of 238 units multif family units are permitted that includes a minimum set aside of 20% of affordable housing units so that would be a total of 48 affordable housing units that will be realized uh through this Redevelopment plan as far as bulk standards maximum building coverage is at 50% and maximum impervious coverage overall is at 75% there's a variety of setbacks that are proposed here they're based on the conceptual plan that we've all reviewed and and found to be reasonable so the setbacks are a little more detailed than usual we we gave different treatment to different abing properties uh depending on proximity and and things like that maximum Building height uh four stories and 56 fet measured from average grade that that's defined as four corner average grade but no single facade of any building can be taller than 50 ft from the uh adjacent finish grade step backs are required above the third stories that's facing um existing single family homes to the south west or east and then also to EDG Hill Street and if you saw the Redevelopment plan figures 171 18 and 19 um illustrate those stepback requirements along with the setbacks maximum Building height for the single family units that are permitted on lot 15 is three stories and 40 ft and the minimum required parking ratio is 1.1 spaces per unit uh there there is also a requirement to comply with all the EV um parking requirements as well the design criteria um let's talk first about access so for Lots 25 and 26 that has to be from hibbon road that driveway intersection has to be at least 125 ft south of Stockton Street in order to provide adequate separation at the intersection for Lots 16 and 17 it has to be from Stockton Street it's envisioned there'll be a central circulation Drive which is a requirement of the plan that intersects Stockton Street and provides access to uh underground parking for the buildings on both the east west side of that for Lots 15 and six I'm sorry access for lot 15 is through the central circulation drive on 16 or and 17 it can be for Medill street but only for the single family houses so there will be no primary access to the plan area from EDG Hill Street uh it also stipulates that it can be emergency access as well in case Emergency Services needs additional access from the East parking is required to be under the buildings with the exception of one surface lot that is permitted on lot 15 that is primarily to serve the single family homes but there can be a couple of units from the building on the east side that that can utilize that surface parking lot uh there are two primary Open Spaces that are required under the plan uh one along Stockton Street it's it's not as large as the green that was there previously but it is of generous proportions and then also along hibbon um fronting on the main building an open space area Plaza or Square is required there and the Redevelopment plan does specify minimum dimensions for those Open Spaces lighting requirements are per our existing code uh there is a requirement for preservation of existing trees that are within the ride of way of all of the bounding streets and there is also language in there that requires replacement of trees that um you know disease dying have died we're going to fil you know complete the rhythm of Street trees that is on all the bounding roadways there are also a number of buffering requirements for parking areas Landscaping standards things that nature as well uh sustainability features are encouraged and as we noted at the planning board meeting last Thursday the the new uh de checklist that this body adopted recently is going to be required to be completed at the time of site plan approval so that's another way that the planning board will be able to ensure that a lot of those sustainability features uh will be part of this development and there's also a requirement for a multi-use path so the the sidewalks that are along our our street hibb and and EDG Hill have to be repaired maintained but along Stockton Street we're envisioning a a multi-use path uh that will be wider I think the minimum Dimension we we ended up with was about 10 ft so that envisions folks can bike folks can walk um and eventually hopefully that'll continue down Stockton and into the downtown so as far as uh the function at the planning board engaged in last Thursday so of course mayor and Council introduced this ordinance it was referred and under the requirements of the Redevelopment law uh section 7e and that's njsa 40a 12 a-7e uh also the municipal land use law section 26 requires that the planning board be referred the document the main difference between the ml requirement the Redevelopment laws the Redevelopment law gives 45 days the mlu 30 ml 35 days uh so we were well within those boundaries um the board is charged with finding if there are any provisions of the Redevelopment plan that are inconsistent with the municipal master plan and the Redevelopment law at section 7D actually requires that all provisions of the Redevelopment plan shall be either substantially consistent with the municipal master plan or designed to effectuate the master plan so that was the goal that we strived for the planning board conducted their review I made a similar presentation that evening and uh They concluded that there are no provisions of the Redevelopment plan as written that are inconsistent with either the 2023 master plan or the 1996 master plan there were two recommendations Steve mentioned uh that came out of that and the first was to address tree preservation on site as I said all the street trees that exist within the right of way have to be preserved uh but all the trees that on are on site um that was a concern of the planning board so we recommend adding a sentence at the end of section vg4 of the plan so it's a one- sentence addition that reads any Redevelopment agreement subject to this Redevelopment plan shall include a tree preservation plan as an exhibit uh the Redevelopment plan does require submission of an inventory of all trees sizes condition um with the planning board application so that'll be used in conjunction to uh come up with the tree preservation plan the second recommendation um there were no plan changes that were required but um there was a concern that we'd be mindful of the amount of grading that occurs on the property so that will solely be a site plan issue for the planning board to deal with uh at the time an application is submitted but they did want to just make note of that and that concludes mayor I'm happy to answer any questions that you or the council may have let me ask you one question sure the ordinance that we have in our package includes or does not include that recommended additional sentence mayor it does not include if you were to vote tonight in the affirmative you could make it with the recommended change I will have to update the ordinance anyway because the draft you have in your packet page is what was introduced referring it to the planning board the final resolution or ordinance rather would reflect that the planning board did meet on the 18th and did find it uh consistent with the master plan so if you were to make a motion tonight to approve it you could do it with or without the added recommendation thank you all right let's start up with uh Council questions and comments and then we'll go to the public uh anybody David yeah I just wanted to um I mean Jim did a great great job touching on a lot of the sustainability features but I do know that some of the um letters to the editor that have appeared regarding the project have questioned uh the sustainability and the you know how this uh Redevelopment plan intersects with our new uh Green Building checklist so I spent today going through the Green Building checklist and um out of 30 items on the checklist the plan actually checks off 20 of them currently where we already know that it's complying with those the other 10 are mostly to be determined later on at the site plan stage um and I just wanted to touch in a little bit of detail on some of the what I think are the really key sustainability features one item on the uh checklist talks about um having a constrained or clearly delineated area of disturbance and so you know the fact that this site uh essentially this plan disturbs the entire site and so there's sort of a sense well how can that be a limited um disturbance and the two points I wanted to make one is that this is a Redevelopment site so the whole site is already Disturbed and uh for that reason that particular checklist item isn't all that relevant but even beyond that um that criteria has to be taken into consideration with the um the goals for the site and so the reality is that we're getting a lot of housing a lot of uh Missing middle housing a lot of affordable housing on this site and it's it's a it's a compact development as a result and so disturbing the whole site um is not inconsistent because we don't have to disturb other sites to get this uh quantity of housing scattered around town so that was one point I wanted to make um I also wanted to talk a little bit about storm water uh because one of the really neat features of this plan is uh with the underground parking which we're pursuing pursuing partly for aesthetic reasons and to you know not have these unsightly U surface Lots but also um under the state's storm water regulations when you have motor vehicle surfaces you have pavement the cars drive on there's a high bar in terms of um improving the storm water quality and the reality is this plan reduces the uh motor vehicle surfaces by 50% from an acre to half an acre and so um that's a really positive thing from a storm waterer management standpoint and in fact um in replacing those imperious surfaces we're putting in um permeable pavement and that actually treats um the the runoff and removes um 80% of suspended solids where the requirement is actually only to remove 50% so we are exceeding the storm water requirements with the storm water improvements that are being put in place on the site and then the last thing I wanted to touch on a little bit was the trees um you know we're still working with the applicant on the tree preservation plan that um Mr Kyle mentioned but um reviewing the sort of current draft uh of that tree preservation plan in addition to preserving all of the street trees we're preserving currently about 10 to 15% of the viable trees that are on the property ones that are not Elm trees are you know diseased and needing to come down so um I just wanted to make clear that we have been focused on preserving what trees we can and uh and and we're we're accomplishing some of that thank you David other Council Leticia thank you mayor so uh thank you for your presentation I actually what I wanted to touch on or comment on is uh one of the components that you um included in your um presentation and that would be how this development would increase our affordable housing stock uh I can say that as of this year it has now been 25 years since I first came to Princeton uh and in my lifetime Princeton is now uh the longest I've ever lived in in any one place and uh without a doubt Princeton is a wonderful place to live I especially appreciate that we take great pride in our diversity I also uh take great pride that as a community and as members of the governing body we don't just talk the talk we turn our words into actions we acknowledge and understand that racially Equitable mixed income communities are stronger richer and more more vibrant places to live and work I think that we could all agree that housing is the foundation for health and well-being and that affordable housing allows people to live with dignity quality of life and with basic access to opportunity for generations to come I firmly believe that in advancing policies that promote the creation of more affordable housing this commitment goes beyond simply meeting mandates it reflects our fundamental responsibility to ensure that everyone in our community has access to Safe affordable homes it is not just a legal requirement but a moral imperative to support our neighbors and Foster a more inclusive and Equitable society and because of that I'm in favor of moving forward with adopting uh uh the ordinance that would before us and doing what is right for the betterment of all thank you okay thank you other Council comments or questions at this point Michelle thank you and thank you to um Jim Steve Justin the staff it's a lot of work uh to get here thank you for your presentation um so I'd like to address smart growth there's been can you hear me can you hear me like this maybe I'm looking okay so I won't look down I'll try and yeah okay so I'd like to address uh the goal of smart growth and if you'll indulge me I'm going to read the definition of smart growth it means reinvesting in America's downtowns and Main Streets the economic engines of big cities and Rural towns alike smart growth means creating homes for families of all income levels alongside one another in locations where daily needs are close by smart growth means diversifying our transportation system so Americans have a choice and how they get around smart growth means building streets that are safe for people walking biking or using any sort of assisted device as well as driving and smart smart growth means protecting open space for generations to come above all it's about helping every town and City become a more economically prosperous socially Equitable and environmentally sustainable place to live helping everyone flourish so what I'd like to address first of all is that I've read and heard that this isn't smart growth because it's not walkable it's too far I live a block away so I'm a block further from the Seminary and I always figure it takes me about 15 minutes to walk my dog because her favorite walk is to walk to Hines Plaza um don't tell me don't ask me why has something to do with the farmers market I think anyway so I measured it I timed it so walking my dog in a leisurely Pace from the entrance of the Seminary to Palmer square is 12 minutes that's leisurely and Luna takes her time so I have to say that that to me if that's not walkable I don't know what is and then as far as not having anything to walk to and I'm going to I don't know if everyone's been to the central business district but I'm going to take off a few things that are very walkable things to do first of all there's a Japanese grosser and Italian Market a seafood market a specialy g a specialty gourmet shop and a weekly Farmers Market several bakeries multiple pharmacies several convenience stores a stationary store gift shops wine and liquor stores and then there's a range of food from casual dining to full service restaurants that cover almost every cuisine in the world I think anyone would be hardpressed to find another concentration of variety of restaurants in retail anywhere else in the state that's within a few blocks and easy to walk to not to mention and this is really what blows you away is the cultural richness our library the University Art Museum which will open again next year mcarter and our Gem of a garden theater and then of course the university itself with their multiple cultural and sports events so that's going to Services then another smart growth feature and Transit oriented development people talk about is the proximity to the dinky which generously I'd say is a 15-minute walk if not a 5 minute bike Brad so this is another factor to add to the site this accessibility to transportation to New York Philly so also in addition to the New Jersey Transit opt options we have from train and USS we're working together on our Municipal bus system we have recently commissioned a study just a couple uh Council meetings ago with Nelson niggard to enhance our bus system and we're working very closely with the University's tiger Transit we plan to launch a more robot system next year the university has made a commitment to contribute $1.5 million towards this goal and we have another 800,000 committed from our Avalon Bay and wind um developments in um in the shopping center area we also have a grant for two electric buses that will be delivered next year that will be the backbone of our system obviously tonight we're talking about increasing our bike infrastructure with more bike Lanes shared use paths encouraging people to bike and walk and there's one more point that I want to make because this is a really also important piece in our master plan the study stated that 26,000 jobs 26,000 jobs are in town where people commute in 88.5 which means that over 23,000 people drive into town every day from somewhere else workers who live in town reduce traffic it also helps to solve a big problem of hiring and retention for our local businesses and I'll share that just a few few months ago the experienced Princeton um special improvement district held a business Forum with federal and state legislators to hear about challenges to our business Community the number one concern they had was a lack of housing in town having an opportunity for both affordable and market rate housing that's close walking distance is a big plus helping to address this will help businesses grow continue to attract and retain business businesses and create vitality and vibrancy and a robust mix of retail thank you thank you any other Council comments or questions okay great let's get to public comment so if you want to come up uh to the podium and you state your name your address the three minute timer will go on and I really don't like to have to say to people hey your time's up so kind of watch the timer but if I have to I will and I do that with all due respect so please start us off um Charles Skinner uh 288 Western Way and first thank you for the opportunity to speak and I just want to mention a couple of things at the beginning 20% affordable means 80% unaffordable so let's not forget that and also if you're working for tips in one of the restaurants downtown are you really going to be able to afford even the affordable part of this development anyway the main point is I'm sure I'm sure you'll recall that the 2023 Princeton master plan uh was a contentious process with serious objections about overdevelopment coming from the residents at at the time the response one of the responses was that even though there was a range uh specified in the master plan that did not mean that the development would be built to the maximum in that range at the planning board meeting a few days ago there were around 15 Princeton residents who voed serious concerns about the um about the ordinance specifically about traffic safety coming from the additional 264 residential cars that this this plan would entail um about the density of housing that exceeds other multif family developments uh the placement of 238 units double the development at the shopping center in the middle of an entirely residential district the creation of a heat island buildings towering over adjacent properties and the impact on Princeton schools in most cases these concerns were simply unanswered by the planning board the impact on schools was specifically disallowed from consideration by the planning board so I would urge the council to ask for a transcript of the planning board hearing and because it was recorded on zoom and ask the planning board for a line by line written response to the resident concerns this together with the transcript of tonight's session should be made public on the municipal website only then will there be a real dialogue between the Council planning board and the Princeton residents there are other developments in the works Princeton is certainly under pressure from State requirements on affordable housing and from developers who see an easy way to monetize Princeton's historic charm the views of the Princeton resident should be respected from an early stage in the planning process and documented I'm talking about the round taes from last year from the record of the public meetings both both the public both the planning board and the council has seemed to disrespect the views of the Princeton residents and be in the th of developers who are bent on monetizing Princeton's historic character for their own financial gain thank you great timing thank you very much okay but there has to be other people that wanted a comment please come on up again state your name and address and just watch the timer thank you my name is Jane mclennen I live at six EDG Hill Street in Princeton uh uh because of we are held to three minutes I want to notice the historic preservation goals from the master plan rather than reading them um our values as a nation have rarely been debated more than they have been lately what are our rights as Citizens what is our future as a country the town of prinston played a distinctive role in answering many of those seminal questions and in crafting the do documents that have preserved our nation's foundational principles if you look up Princeton New Jersey online almost any site you go to will mention two defining characteristics both of which attract a multitude of visits visitors and revenue to the town each year it's worldclass institutions and Princeton's historical background Princeton survived the battle of Princeton now it feels as if if we're fighting for the battle for Princeton the most recent attack has come in the form of this Redevelopment proposal for a project to be built on the former tenant Roberts Whitley property that has received the approval of both Council and the planning board the project if built constitutes an assault on one of the four principal historic districts in Princeton the plans calling for four-story buildings 238 units capable of housing approximately 500 residents would overwhelm the historic districts on either side of the oversized complex the number of residents would be more than 50 11.5 times the total number of residents on hibbon and EDG Hill all on 4.8 Acres with the exception of the barracks the oldest residential property in Princeton built in 1680 the remainder of the homes on EDG Hill were constructed in the early 1800s the sheer physical force of large scale construction coupled with noise air and light pollution would compromise early 19th century homes on EDG Hill several designed by Charles Stedman and many of the century old Ralph Bowen designed homes on hibbon the overall size of the projected project is completely out of keeping with the surrounding neighborhood the height of the buildings to powering 56 ft over the immediate Environ guarantees a lack of privacy for residents who have who live next to and downhill from the project thoughtful town planning that considers the scale architecture and impact on historical districts is crucial these districts are valuable not only for their beauty and character but also for their connection to the towns and nation's history Princeton is still a pound and is valued for what it is any attempt at urbanization feels like an exercise of poor stewardship let me with all respect on the form on the part of just for everybody as you near as we near zero I am going to say are you almost done allow me to say that to you I'm not trying to interrupt you I'm just trying to make sure I will finish my last sentence okay Princeton is still a town and is valued for what it is any attempt at Urban ization feels like an exercise of poor stewardship on the part of town officials thank [Music] you okay please there's a lot there's a lot of you here there has to be other people that want to speak again name address and hello Seth Melman 113 Adams Drive uh Princeton Riverside Neighborhood uh I'm just curious for my own information and for the public what is affordable housing can you give us a dollar amount so we know what we're talking about when you say affordable I don't know if I know the dollar limits off the top of my head but so the the dollar amounts there's different thresholds under the law of what's considered moderate income housing low income housing and very low income housing and they're all set at a percentage of what is set by the government at that time to be the income caps for each of those levels the rents for each of those would be kept at 30% of what those income levels would be okay so so how do we have any idea in other words if if a a property in downtown a condo or a townhouse is selling for 2 and A5 million how do we know when we say affordable that somebody as the gentleman mentioned earlier who's working for tips or a small wage how do we know they can afford to live there the the income levels are set regionally not based on just this municipality they're set on a more basis so Princeton would be in the same region as you know Trenton or any other areas in Mercer County and it's all um equalized to that region and the income levels change every year I couldn't tell you what it is right now for Mercer County right at the second okay so you can't give us any idea of what an affordable unit might cost these are rentals it's on what the H website so it's on the H it's publicly available I just don't have that and are they so and last question the AFF if it says affordable housing are they all at one level level like you said there's a no the law requires if if this plan proposes a maximum of 238 units if the if the 238 were to be constructed 48 of them would have to be affordable and the law requires that those 48 be split among very low low and moderate and also split among Studios one bedrooms two bedrooms three bedrooms got it okay thank you yes can I just add we have plenty of affordable housing in town already where people are living and and working there so it is it's not theoretical um you know the and the numbers that you want can be uh arrived at if you're interested in specifically so how do do I go to the HUD website to get those numbers or where do I go to get an affordable price we have an affordable housing coordinator so on our website you could just go to that office and they could give you the exact number sorry I should have thought thank you yep next up I think you've heard some of my numbers by some of the other speakers but bear with me um I've attended every meeting I'm sorry again oh sorry uh Mike head hi and Road I've attended every meeting on the subject of the TRW Redevelopment since 2018 at every stage there there have been reassurances that the process was going to result in a better outcome than what a generic developer could build as of right the anr would avoid that terrible fate because the council would control the process and decide what will be built this will provide the community with input and many additional benefits that an AR regular developer would not provide subsequently letters were written by the council stating that the immediate neighbors would have a meaningful say in what was built none of that has happened multiple requests for meetings have been refused no input has been provided by those same residents today's meeting announced during the July 4th holiday week is being done with un seemly haste at a time when many people are out of town why why why what we now have before us is a massive four-story construction filling every inch of the site it's more than double the as of right site permitted size permitted the density of 54 units per acre is the highest in Princeton it will house over 260 cars and will to some 60 ft above Navy neighboring Residential Properties it's built on a hill with a 17t drop we keep talking about level grade every tree will be removed as though it's a Hoboken parking lot and to add to the insult the developer is requesting a pilot tax break so he will not need to contribute to the schools for the additional 150 children likely to be living there as Route 206 passes through Princeton along its length from Lawrenceville to Hillsboro there is nothing that comes close to the height size and scale of this proposed building built on a hill entirely within a residential district and a butting one of our most important historic areas there is no view enhancement this is somehow supposedly consistent with the master plan even though as was suggested last the other night uh by one of the supporters of this initiative that the neighbors should take one for the team even the supporters know in their hearts this is not going to be good we've already agreed as a town building a th000 uh market rate units who voted for this it is not wel a welcome at an important Gateway it is a dated 70s throwback that is no longer appropriate for the changing climate it will cause environmental harm to the area and it does not need to be this way we would appreciate if you kept your prom promises and engaged with the neighbors thank you very much thank [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you okay who's next and just the name and address helps us for when we do the merits hi uh my name is VSA bhage and actually I'm 130 Stockton Street I'm directly impacted by this uh proposed uh construction and uh basically to my mind it was suppos it was sold as something that would represent the entryway into priston but the construction the massive densely populated uh construction will not is not to me it does not represent that at all it if you I actually travel into New York every day using the public transp Transit and all along the New Jersey Transit Railways you see the same kind of construction cookie cutter build you know uh developments all along the from C caucus and the new one coming up right at Princeton Junction train station so there's nothing novel or unique architecturally about this proposed development and moreover it's it's so densely populated that you know it will cause a lot of down Street problems regarding traffic schooling and of course cutting out cutting down the trees Etc but I walk to uh to the dinky every day and sometimes I walk faster than the traffic some some segments of the road because the traffic so backed up imagine another 200 cars coming out from that small areas onto the Stockton Street so you have to do a traffic study you know and also the basically the I I do not like it I do not like this development at all it's going to be 25 or 20 ft from the border of my property my property is not a historic property but yes part of it was built in 1700s so it is a historically significant property and I personally believe that this development would destroy the fabric of the of the existing so I mean not Society the the planning the that exists within that Princeton area you know it's too much too big too dense and Ill thought something smaller on a smaller scale which would take which would use uh look at the needs of the surrounding neighbors listen to them would work better for everyone of of course you have your 20% uh whatever housing but it doesn't fit thank [Applause] you hi I'm Karen O Connell I am another neighbor who has no has had no input into this Redevelopment plan I live on hibbon road we were told by this Council three years ago that there would be a collaboration with the neighbors on this Redevelopment and that the result would be a mutually acceptable plan for all parties after receiving that letter of promise from your attorney we asked repeatedly to hold those meetings we were first told it was too soon then we were ignored for years after that we dis after we discovered the ordinance would be introduced we were told we were too late we worked independently for 3 years crafting and refining a reasonable position understanding there would be compromise never did we think we would be pushed to the side and our quote collaboration would be a three-minute comment period just before your vote we can't help but feel that we were intentionally shut out in our heart everyone knows this Redevelopment is simply too huge and too damaging environmentally we've all seen the Alice and know how big it is well the TRW Redevelopment at 54 units per acre is more than double the density of the Alice this Redevelopment at possibly 70 ft High 76 feet high will rip apart and destroy the natural park-like environment which currently Graces the tenant Robert's property clear cutting it is entirely unnecessary unless you wish to build something that is completely incompatible with the adjacent neighborhood with Princeton in general in ter terms of density mass scale and character the master plan never envisioned this it is also in direct opposition to your green development checklist at its most significant level I disagree with you on that David this plan provides for tree preservation and new trees but the conceptual plan does not show which trees will be removed or threatened by the project and now we're hearing only 10 to 15% of the trees will remain the planning board has encouraged you to pay Keen attention to preserving as many healthy mature trees as possible and this concept design isn't doing it before you vote can you insist that the developer ensures Irreplaceable Retreats remain per the planning board's recommendation they also requested that you be especially mindful of the regrading plans which could impact trees and top soil as well um most notable is the absence of a storm water management plan a key concern for those of us downhill from TRW on hibbon EDG Hill and Mercer is stormw management Princeton has a storm a strong stormw ordinance and we were promised a robust solution with both storm water measures as if the site was never developed but this plan does not address any of the storm water elements this should be resolved before a vote is taken we live in fear of the trees being slaughtered as soon as the redeveloper agreement is signed like many in Princeton our neighbors already have flooding in their basement and this will make it demonstrably worse can you insist on retaining some of the natural buffer and give us a little Breathing Room between the huge buildings and our homes I need you to finish we also have concerns with Building height balconies traffic and outdoor garbage dumpsters but I am running out of time yes we truly need affordable housing there is no argument there but until the government thank you folks I hate doing that but I got to be fair I can't have people go over and hold other people to the three minutes who's next please hi Janet sternman roolan um I am on the Shader commission but I am speaking as a private citizen tonight because the Shader commission didn't learn about this item being on the agenda till it was too late for us to approve a public comment for tonight's meeting So speaking only for myself then uh some factors I hope will be considered when preparing the tree preservation plan a thorough walkth through in March of 220 2022 revealed those trees that were possibly failing they were removed the rest are thus presumed to be healthy trees some over 100 ft tall removing these healthy trees to accommodate development is alarming and counter to public well-being just last week the N njde released a groundbreaking plan to increase canopy so as to protect the Health and Welfare of residents from the effects of extreme heat indeed sections of this plan tonight uh refer to preserving existing trees within the site where possible and I'm glad to see that but we've heard obfuscating phrases before like when where feasible to the maximum extent possible optimization sustainability and they're meaningless most of the trees come down anyway the terms smart growth and preserving canopy are now painfully ironic smart growth is an official term I know but given the unbearable temperatures and the cooling that we know shade trees provide how can chopping down even one single healthy mature tree be smart planting in the emerald necklace and condu in a townwide inventory to see where trees are needed are worthwhile efforts but there is only a 50% survival rate of newly planted trees in their first 5 years and planting in surrounding areas does not counteract the damage too in the fracturing of our Urban Forest which is Princeton's bigger problem now if we really want to preserve the canopy we need to stop allowing widespread removal of trees by developers and please do not replicate the mistakes of the Alice where it is now at least 10° hotter walking along trune Road the nearly 400 trees removed on that site included 39 to create a linear Park a park ironically right next to Grover Park shade trees are sacran now and they should never be removed to create an open space or a lawn rather existing healthy mature trees must be the core around which the open space is created otherwise people won't even be able to use these Parks because of the temperatures this is an urgent request to convey to the developer that redesigning so as to preserve all the trees could put him or her at the Forefront of preserving a municipality almost municipality's best weapon against climate change instead of exacerbating climate crisis and then I have a question is it okay to ask no okay we're done sorry okay thank [Music] you okay who's hi Joe Butler 18 hibbon Road this proposed development is unlike anything else in Princeton it is the only one that is entirely surrounded by R1 zoning that is built on two sides of a long existing local road that creates a dangerous midblock Crossing that has the density at least twice the density of any complex of this type that is built on a block with a 35- ft drop from top to bottom that destroys the privacy of neighbors through a rooftop Terrace and pool that creates a uniquely dangerous intersection on an already busy road the previous drive on Stockton was exit only this new culdesac will carry more traffic than would be allowed on a public Street this neighborhood is not walkable to any daily needs not the grocery the pharmacy schools medical care or even the train 100% of the adults on hibbon um have a car we like to walk but we need to drive the proposed new parking on hibbon represents an over 300% increase in the drivers on hibbon and that is before we talk about the traffic that will circulate because of the dangerous intersection created on Stockton we already have speed bumps on both um hibbon and EDG Hill I can't imagine what the plan will be figure 12 the concept plan is wrong it misidentifies North and I'd hope you take a look at it it also crops and shifts the map in such a way that um it disguises the enormous curve on Stockton that creates limited sight lines it also disguises the deficient intersection ad hibit it is not a 90° angle so the idea of a second crosswalk just feet from the first crosswalk tries cars are trying to exit Stockton safely while navigating a difficult turn is a recipe for tragedy the parking requirement is far below the recommended level and Far Below what is needed even if the resident residents work from home or walk to Princeton University studies show that doesn't reduce Auto traffic in fact it expands Rush Hour on page 19 the Declaration that there's no parking on EDG Hill hibbon or Stockton is also wrong unless you plan to strip are parking along with our privacy the plan is terrible for the environment removal of old growth trees in the urban canopy will result in ever increasing temperatures in town New Jersey is heating up faster than any other state in the Northeast and Princeton is in the top eight communities heating fastest we need to update our thinking on resiliency Transportation can improve but once you take down these trees and put in impervia surface that's generations of damage further this is not an educational use and therefore the correct comparison for the underlying zoning is not E4 but the R3 bulk standards the cherry picking of the term Urban from the historic preservation element is misleading that 30-year-old term is a vestage of the old burough Township Joe there yeah I just want to tell you that the element actually uses the word compact Village quality also to describe the inner Gateway of Mercer and Stockton thank you thanks [Music] [Applause] Joe okay who's next I speak sorry my name is Rakesh Kumar I live right opposite TRW it's five kellton Road at the corner of kellton and Stockton Road and uh we moved here about 8 years ago by the way and we just find this to be a terrible idea this whole idea of low income housing is such a Socialist Communist idea by the way that a the starting point is wrong and by the way the whole area we we are destroying the history by the way I come from India and and we love the area because of the history of the area we are destroying and Our Generations will suffer from this thing because somebody some developer we trying to sell we are trying to generate Revenue it's unclear for who we will impact the school district we the schools are going to be L populated the the the traffic on the Street St is terrible already during the school time it will go a lot worse it's just unclear to me who are we building these houses for it's Princeton is not cheap it is not going to be cheaper by the way I have lived in very low income houses all over the world it's not important that everyone lives in Princeton and so it's unclear to me why we are overbuilding Princeton destroying the history impacting the school district I'm on the school board of Princeton Charter school as well by the way right it it just makes no sense I think we are destroying the history in front of our eyes it's just terrible idea thank you thank [Music] you okay who's next is this phone someone's I'm sorry there's what's that someone's phone here on sorry oh I don't want to be accused just want to be clear um so good evening my name is Rob Simon I'm an attorney with Herald law in Warren New Jersey I'm here this evening on behalf of an organization called princ and Coalition for responsible development as many if not all of you are aware um earlier today my office filed what is known as a protest petition uh pursuant to uh njsa 40 colum 55 d-63 of the municipal land canuse law uh by virtue of that protest petition that any adoption of the proposed ordinance 20 2430 um cannot be except by a favorable vote of 2third of all the members of the governing body of the municipality and therefore um the protest petition applies respectfully with regard to uh the ordinance before you uh this evening and what's interesting what is intended by protest petitions that by the way have been around for over 80 years in New Jersey is that it provides an opportunity uh where the legislator felt it was important to protect affected Property Owners from unwanted or ill-considered change and that's language from the Supreme Court that's language from the appell division so it's a responsibility to be taken very very seriously when a protest petition is filed challenging a proposed ordinance in turn it provides an opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue not just providing uh members of the public with three minutes and then tell them to go sit down but rather an opportunity to engage in learning about concerns about the community to achieve and arrive at intelligent development intelligent development includes smart growth in intelligent development includes affordable housing but diversity and smart growth principles should not be and cannot be at the expense of safety the appro appropriate use of land and not permanently damaging neighborhoods conversely Princeton's thirdd rant obligation as you know have has already been met and I've never seen and I don't respectfully believe it's appropriate for development plan that is supposed to be Princeton's plan to alleviate blight in a community under the local Redevelopment and Housing law to add 46 units of hous of affordable housing when they don't need to and the the kicker is that of course that results in the 80% of additional unit count that's going to be detrimental to this community um this proposed ordinance uh does not provide a suitable site there's numerous violations of the section 7 of the Redevelopment and Housing law you don't have a a zoning map you don't provide for a traffic study it provides for improved traffic and planning there's no study that has been been conducted um there has been no relationship to the Miss Banus law that's been cited okay um note my objection also to the time limitation it's contrary to New Jersey Law okay thank you all right I know we have another a number of people on Zoom that want to speak also but I'll just one more shot anybody in the room right away or um Felicia Spitz five Haslet Avenue um I'm speaking here tonight I'd like for everyone to hold their Applause um I'm speaking here in favor of the development and um I want to give a little history lesson cuz I'm new to Prince and I want to point out a couple things that I observed um when I moved to New Jersey and to Princeton so in 1984 when I moved to New Jersey the population of the combined burough and Township was just under 26,000 people today it's just around 31,000 people that means in the intervening 40 years we have allowed people not homes to move to our town that's not great in that same 40-year time period if you bought a home that was $300,000 in 1984 it's now Worth close to 1.7 million people so we limited the number of people who could benefit from that increase which as a Democrat hurts me what it turns out is it's more expensive to own that home so taxes went up utilities went up the cost of living has gone up and what did that do it drove out a lot of members of our community most of them were not white wealthy people so our African-American population has decreased from about 20% to about 7% in the same 40-year period when I moved here 10 years ago there were three plus story buildings on this lot that housed over a hundred units of students for Princeton Theological Seminary I was approach to sign a petition in 2018 to block this growth from a private owner on their private property to replace their housing and I thought to myself what kind of town is Princeton that we're going to push out Divinity students but okay here we are and I said at the time to my neighbor who approached me here's my concern the Seminary does not have the Deep Pockets of the University they're not going to be able to fight a sustained legal battle so it's going to cost my time is interrupted so it's going to cost and they're going to wind up having to sell so what we're going to wind up with is not Divinity housing but something that a developer comes in and builds I'm here tonight really grateful that the developer that has come in to build is also a Princeton resident I'm confident that his love of this community has dictated his efforts and his work and I hope that you support this much-needed development and support this we do need more housing here we do need to let more people in and we need to stop creating a cast system that supports only wealthy white people thank you thank [Applause] you hi uh Jeff Oakman 164 Valley Road um I can't see the time it's possible to get the time back Adam can we get the time up on the big screen I I can see it you got but there you go all right thanks um I'm not going to comment on the uh the specifics of this project but I'm just here to say that as a as a national matter as a state matter and as a local matter we need more housing we need affordable housing it's true and and the fourth round is coming it's upon us we need more housing of all kinds and we need it especially in places like Princeton where people have access to the kind of quality of life Services uh and amenities that we all enjoy here and so to our credit I mean this town is actually building housing you know we're building housing near the shopping center and in many many neighborhoods of this town we're building housing I happen to live two blocks from the housing around the the shopping center and you know what it's I think it's great um I think it's it's positive but most of these neighborhoods were're building the housing do not even have the proximity to Transit into the downtown amenities and the downtown jobs this project we're talking about today do and that's you know as as councilwoman lambrose said that is smart growth and smart growth is smart policy it's how we're going to solve our housing crisis and I think that that's a critical Point here frankly um and I'll end on this I think I expect that most planners who aren't being paid to say otherwise would would agree that this is a good idea thank you thank [Applause] you hi good evening Ed trelli uh I am the executive director of Princeton community housing but I'm not speaking on behalf of the organization I'm speaking as a private CI I just wanted to point out I the gentleman that was up here prior to the two folks who uh spoke about affordable housing um it part of the package tonight for the meeting has a letter from fair share housing and that letter points out that the town is being proactive in um addressing this property because their um uh developable developable land uh has changed since the last judgment by fair share housing so the town is actually being proactive and avoiding possible litigation by taking on this development Redevelopment I should say and to Echo the prior two speakers we do need more affordable housing but we're also doing it because it's an obligation a constitutional obligation and we're fulfilling that obligation by doing this project thank you thank you all right we're going to get to some of the people are on Zoom just because we've let a lot of people here talk um hey Adam can we bring in the the first person on Zoom hi am I on Jenny you're on if you could just kick off with your name and address thank you okay this is um I'm Jenny crumiller and I live in Library Place um first I need to state that I was a council member who approved the anr designation at that time I thought we were planning for Seminary students and that the Seminary was going to offer the town additional benefits as part of the developers agreement I also felt that there was a realistic probability that the resulting project would not be an out-of-place Behemoth the new plan is different it's created to maximize revenue and it provides only the minimum required number of affordable units instead of being creative this plan is very similar to all the other new rental apartment buildings in Princeton and I will say this is not the fault of the developer because business is business and unless it's a not for-profit developer it has to be that way we all know why nobody is building tow houses or for sale condos but that's what anrs and developers Agreements are for in high value areas they allow for creativity and the benefits for the town town houses with tiny yards and a door to the outside would provide for a type of housing that is currently not being built and it's what families with children or pets or both want we know that from our survey and what about facilitating ownership are rental apartments actually considered missing middle these new residents will never own their own equity and I mean never build their own equity and will live with rent increases year after year would we want that for our own family members why do we ignore the master plan's man mandate to provide diverse housing types and why only the minimum required number of affordable units I don't understand all the praise for this plan I really don't we all know that the rents will go as high as possible which if anything if it's anything like the other apartment buildings it will only be for the wealthy I especially don't understand the praise from housing Advocates only a minuscule number of very lowincome units a small percentage of the affordable units will be available to couples or roommates making minimum wage a single person making minimum minum wage won't be able to afford even the lowest of rents if you were a housing Advocate I would think you would be advocating for rent control not for unaffordable apartment buildings with the minimum required set aside you should be calling for more public housing if we can afford to purchase Green Space we can afford property for housing I feel like I'm living in an alternate universe where housing Advocates are appraising this project and council members magically believe it will be affordable when the evidence is quite the opposite um this is all to say I hope you will take a step back and take a second look at this thank you thank you all right Adam can we bring in who's ever next okay Dozer right there can you all hear me yes Sean I don't if you can see me can you hear me all right yeah we can hear you if you can just introduce yourself that'd be great okay I can barely hear you but we'll get I'm Sean will I live at seven hedgehill Street I've got to start right away say right away that the idea that if you're opposed to this uh project you're somehow opposed to affordable housing is obscene it's wrong it is not the case we happily have in this neighborhood 7 edel Street much more affordable housing we have the problem is this project it's this project that's wrong not affordable housing and when you throw in the fact that there's going to be a sunsetting of the affordable housing according to this project inside of 30 years out at 30 years then the whole thing is a joke in my view now it seems to me that it's been transparent really the lip service the double talk about the master plan the euphemisms the deception the bad faith that's been attached to this project from the very beginning going back to 2018 we've been told that there was going to be a project in our neighborhood which sounded great for a high density and in in in conjunction with smart growth with lowincome or or affordable housing a wonderful idea and then we're presented with this massive gargantuan complex based on outdated ideas of planning that's going to turn 206 into a traffic nightmare a hellish traffic nightmare and is going to absolutely obliterate the scale of one of Princeton's most historic districts and when we raised this we are called Selfish really we were told we asked why such a massive project why so big and we were told that the developer couldn't afford to do it without 240 units that's the reason that the that the developer can't afford it I mean look we elect you Mr Mayor and on the council to protect us not just this neighborhood but the entire municipality from this kind of brutal treatment even by a HomeTown boy anybody who knows the history going back in as as I live through it from New York City of Jane jacobs's fight with the battle in the battle against Robert Moses anyone who lived through the destruction of the old Penn Station in New York City anybody who knows anything about that let alone live through it knows what's a foot it's about something else it's about misguided planning and it's about good old-fashioned greed with all that said I ask the council I plead with the council that when the accounting is done and there will be an accounting which side are you on here are you on the side of the pursuit of growth that has Princeton's historical character in mind in line with the master plan I might add I need I need you to end I'll end or are you standing with the developers that's the choice I hope you make the right one thank you okay we bring in the next por doer hello uh my name is doer Hammond I live at 87 Le Avenue and I feel that this project is something that I'm not sure about to be honest with you um it seems like it might be somewhat too large I don't think it's way too large I do think we should preserve as many trees as possible I do wish we could provide more than 20% affordable housing that's very hard to do I'd love to see run control in Princeton but I don't think that's going to happen right away um I do think that you have to be careful about this I hope you have taken in neighborhood input but I also feel it's very important that we do need more housing in Princeton and we need more affordable housing in Princeton so this is kind of a mixed message but I do feel that the the size of it may be a bit too large um I do think we could preserve the natural landscape and the trees as much as possible I'm sure we're going to have to cut down some but the fewest as possible tended 15% seems like not that many preserved but I do hope we uh go forward with some housing there maybe not quite at this size but we should maximize the amount of affordable housing we can we do need more housing in Princeton we do need more affordable housing in Princeton again whether this is exact right scale I am not so sure but I do feel that it is important to develop this project as someone said there has been some there was already housing there for the Seminary there were large buildings there before there can be somewhat large buildings there I just hope they do not overwhelm the landscape but I do think it should be developed in a smart and intelligent way and we've heard differing views on exactly what that is tonight uh again a mixed message but thank you to the council for looking at this but I hope you've given the full consideration to from all the aspects that have been put forward both pro and con for this development thank you thank [Applause] you hi can you hear me hello yes we can go ahead wonderful thank you I'll be brief um my name is Abigail Whitney Walker I live at 142 Hodge Road um and I just wanted to go on record to state that I fear that the failure of the planning board Council and entire master plan to consider the impact of this development and others on our school systems is negligent and Promises to be the downfall of the town that you claim to want to help Prosper um overcrowded and underfunded schools will ultimately drive taxpayers to leave Princeton and that will impact the Vitality of the downtown that we um that we all love thus I uh I beg you to reconsider adding housing at the expense of Princeton residence and the Vitality of Princeton itself um since I do have an extra moment I also just want to point out that tonight the first ordinance that we looked at um had to do with removing parking from Hodge Road to at a bike lane um which is awesome and three years ago I was on the phone um arguing against adding more parking to Hodge Road which would have completely eliminated the option of having a bike lane so I think that if you listen to the input of residents you might find that we actually find solutions that don't bring up such dramatic opposition um and I really encourage everyone to to do that and work together Council and residents thank you thank you [Applause] okay Carol hi yeah Carol golden uh 575 Snowden Lane uh the last speaker used the word drama or dramatic and that that's sort of how I'm feeling about this that the drama and the dramatic um comments of people opposing this uh development Redevelopment just it it it it seems um incommensurate with what what's happening here um we do need housing in Princeton the the world needs more housing more people need to have access to be able to live the great lives that so many of us are able to live in Princeton the fact that only 20% will be affordable is just is is the way the game is played developers um will not be able to afford or make the The Profit that they need to make in a capitalist Society in order to make these to provide the housing we need so you know yes rent control would be great um there are many other things that people like me and other affordable housing Advocates do and fight for all the time but this is a project that um that will will achieve a lot of what we need in this town in terms of Housing and it's really hard to not hear the opponents views coming across as they just don't like it in fact a couple of speakers just said that I just don't like it it's it's too big and I don't like it I I don't I don't understand how that is the how we're supposed to understand that we we we have policies we have laws that require a certain number of of affordable housing units um but we also have an obligation as people with so much privilege in this town to allow others to enjoy those Privileges and this project um with its walkability i i to town and to and to um the train is undeniable I don't understand how that gets even argued um and um I just want to make sure that uh folks know that I support the pro the project thanks a lot thank you [Applause] I'm just going to finish the the people on Zoom sorry I'm I'm waiting to speak yeah yeah no problem there there's only there's three more Caleb hi everyone uh my name is Caleb firing and I live at 463 Jefferson Road um I'm part of a family that's been in prinston for three generations now and you know we've always had a big value on the history of Princeton and the vibrancy here and you know the way we see it in order to preserve that you need to prevent Princeton from becoming cookie cutter and that's exactly what's been happening over the last you know years with the fact that Princeton is now unaffordable to so so many people that could make our community that much more rich and diverse and the way that we prevent Princeton from becoming a cookie cutter town is is through proceeding with projects exactly like this one which create the opportunity for affordable housing for those who need it most I think this is a excellent site it's incredibly walkable the distance from this site to jaming creps is the same distance as jam and CPS to tippl and Rose two great businesses and I don't think anyone would consider a walk along Nassau Street to not be walkable so the way I see it this is an opportunity to provide the type of housing that makes Princeton rich and vibrant and continues the the history of our town which is being a welcoming place to new immigrants that's how my family first came here three generations ago and to Echo the sentiments of others who have spoken tonight I implore uh those voting tonight to um proceed with the project and I could not be more excited to see what comes about here if um the developer is given an opportunity certainly the renderings look um look beautiful and it looks like it's going to be an extension of the Seminary the university and a lot of the um architectural features that do make this neighborhood historic and a wonderful place to live for both the current residents and hopefully future people who will get to join and enjoy Princeton like my family did three generations ago thank you thank you [Applause] Chris hi um I'm actually Nate Myers here on Chris's uh Zoom I'm his son uh can you hear me yes sir go ahead um so I'd like just say hello I'm Nathan Meyer as I just said I'm a lifetime PR Princeton resident who has uh attended the Princeton school system K through 12 and I'm actually a rising freshman at Princeton University um I live on S on uh Prospect Avenue in a single family detached home I wasn't really originally planning to speak tonight but I kind of feel obliged after hearing a lot of the commentary um so my first and most potent point is that if we do not accept this this tasteful wellth thought out project uh in which local developers have worked in good faith with the town we stand at risk of having the property sold to a bigger non-local developer that could easily utilize Builder remedy litigation uh and our failure to keep up with estate affordable housing requirements to build something much larger double or triple the size and not nearly as paceful um I think it would be foolish to reject this proposal just for that reason alone um I also find myself compelled to discuss uh many of the complaints voiced here this evening um I think we can be better than this it's our privilege to live in this town it shouldn't just be ours I find fighting wholesale against affordable housing projects in our our town to be kind of an accidentally selfish act um and I stress accidentally it's knocking down the ladder behind us after we've climbed it it's keeping all the benefits of our town to ourselves I implore princet and residents and many already do to see this development not as a liability and a threat but instead as a source of opportunity for 200 new people to benefit from the aspects of our town that we value so strongly and even better for people of lower incomes to live the American dream and be welcomed into a prosperous Town um which will and must grow that is the nature as many have said tonight of like society and a capitalist system we're going to grow and it's just how it has to be um I think doing it intelligently is our choice and this is a project that will allow us to do this um I would also like to say I'm kind of disappointed by the use of climate change as an excuse not to build density it doesn't really make sense to me people exist the people these buildings exist they will need to live somewhere and fundamentally produce carbon wherever they are um I think allowing us to regulate how and where that is happening in like a wellth thought out Green Building um is a huge plus um and also lastly regarding the concerns about the strain on school districts um everyone in these buildings will be paying taxes um I think that's kind of a ridiculous argument I have attended the school districts in Princeton uh and they've been excellent even as our town has grown and I think they can only benefit from having more people um and I think it's an enormous way to just bring more opportunity and the American dream to uh more people I think Princeton oh thank you thank you thank you mus why don't we get music okay Nick hi everyone uh my name is Nick tmio I live at 219 Nassau Street um so I just wanted to start by saying this country is in a housing crisis and it's time we started acting like it um I'm very concerned about where we're going as a society where instead of addressing homelessness is root causes municipalities across the country now have free reign to punish those who are already suffering for the Supreme Court's recent ruling I'm not saying Princeton is going to do this but we're all collectively going to have to work on this problem as a country We are failing to support our most vulnerable citizens and I believe it is our moral obligation to help those in need it is clear now more than ever that to tackle this crisis we must urgently build more housing and all types of housing not just affordable housing neighbors are so focused on factors like traffic and neighborhood character that they forget about the benefits of having new diverse people in our communities it is people that make this community great and there are so many people who work here who want to live here so badly the conditions of some rentals in town are abysmal and they're kept this way by landlords because there is simply no competition renters are told you can put up with it or move out in Princeton we have the opportunity to make smart thoughtful decisions now and I believe that has been happening through this process the longer we wait the longer we are kicking the can down the road towards these actual housing monstrosities that people tonight have been speaking of this project is not one of those I'm not H being hyperbolic when I say it could be much much worse um I also wanted to just respond real quick someone had said that they saw a lot of this type of housing um along NJ Transit and that's on purpose that's the smart growth model um if you live in your public transit you rely Less on cars um and then you create more walkable communities um it's kind of the the whole model the country is going towards um but in conclusion I just want to repeat that the housing crisis is worsening the competition for market rate rentals are decreasing housing instability is rising and homelessness is now punishable uh without immediate sustained action more families are going to face homelessness we must act now to ensure everyone has a home thank you thank [Applause] [Music] you okay we're back to folks in in this room please come on up yes good evening mayor and Council my name is Donna Holquist I'm the CEO and founder of preferred Planning Group we are a multi-disciplinary uh urban planning firm based in montale New Jersey I stand before you this evening as the planner retained uh by the Princeton Coalition for responsible development and I was told to limit my remarks and conclusions to three minutes I have looked at all the information zoning ordinance Redevelopment plan Etc and I offer these comments to you for consideration my question regarding tonight's public hearing is this is tonight merely a rubber stamp for a developer dream project or what it should be a genuine opportunity for Council to address neighborhood concerns by rethinking the proposed Redevelopment plan my review of the 2023 master plan in reacts indicates that the land use plan ele has no prescribed density or intensity of use for the multif family residential designation encompassing this site moreover the multif family classification is not unique to this site and there is no concept plan in the document for the Redevelopment the document contains no rationale or explanation for the excessive density of 50 units per acre in the Redevelopment plan meanwhile the document acknowledges the site as a quote large track with quote transformation Redevelopment potential seemingly out of nowhere a full-blown concept plan with 238 units and specific regulations Springs forth after the adoption of the master plan and reacts certainly if this concept had been part of the development of the document there would have been substantial neighborhood push back the Redevelopment plan in its current iteration is contrary to the ml purposes of planning regarding appropriate density adequate light air and open space and a completely fails to promote the general welfare by its glaring incompatibility with the surrounding area the crosssections on page 25 of the plan illustrate in a deliberately simp simplistic manner how out of scale the project is the setbacks excessive height with exceptions for garage levels and rooftop apperences rais the allowed Building height well above the height listed there has been no assessment of Shadow impacts no context sensitive rendering or blending with the neighborhood the land lacks uniform setbacks has insufficient buffers and refers to individual Parcels why is this 5 Acre Site acknowledged as transformational not re regulated as one integrated site with one set of Standards applicable to the entire tract perhaps because it may not be redeveloped by one entity but rather treat it as pieces to be spun off for different entities the approach will not achieve the best result for the community but it may create a windfall for the developer the ml requires consideration to the character of each district that is entirely absent from this Redevelopment plan most significantly I call attention to statutory deficiencies in the Redevelopment plan those deficiencies relate to resident relocation uh EV locations zoning map Amendment please pause and craft a collaborative plan respectful of Princeton the community at large and the surrounding residents thank you for your attention thank [Applause] you okay anybody else in the room there's another hand up on Zoom I'm going to jump there I'm sorry did you you come on up she already oh no you already sorry one each is there anybody else that hasn't spoken yet put your again name address and watch the timer good evening I wasn't planning on speaking tonight my name is sylvana nazaro Clark I live on lot fort which is 34 EDG Hill Street um I am sort of taken back by this whole process frankly I um I engaged with the Seminary because of my location of my lot several years ago and they were planning on their Redevelopment um I the architect was in my backyard and we were discussing the plans and with Shane and with everybody there and it seemed very collaborative from my point of view it did not go through because Neighbors on Library Place lawyered up and it didn't it fell through for many reasons and now we're in this place right now I'm I'm sad to say that a year ago I uh in collaboration actually in on my behalf the Seminary tried to have a fence put up between myself my my house and the neighboring house because um I had made that request I was told that um we couldn't do it because historic it didn't meet the historic guidelines because of the sight lines to the home and then I see the magnitude of this project and I it gives me pause um especially because I haven't been engaged at all when the Seminary was pulled down a couple years ago my house shook literally it was scary I'm more worried about my safety and the safety of my family I will also tell you that my daughter was almost hit by a car on EDG Hill Street I was almost hit by a car on on um Stockton the traffic is tremendous and I will tell you that um trying to walk downtown it's lovely I agree but it's not totally safe so I ask that you think about traffic calming um systems I ask you think about um the process in terms of engaging neighbors I have very intelligent neighbors I'm an educator I work nights and weekends I work very hard and please don't make assumptions about me about being privileged cuz I'm not in certain ways but I am very lucky to be in that neighborhood because I have neighbors that care and we care about Princeton I was born and raised in this town and I moved back here because I believe in the history in the community of Princeton and I really hope that you all think about that in this decision and I hope that you don't rush this decision because I do know as an educator and as a leader of a school that any decision rushed is not a good decision you're hearing a lot of really upset community members from different sides and I appreciate that I know that every issue there's different perspectives but I can tell you firsthand my location I'm really worried about my own wellbeing as a hardship to my family in terms of the magnitude of this development and I wish the developer would engage with me in my family thank you thank you [Applause] all right we have a couple hands up on Zoom so let's jump back over there all right Roger if you could introduce yourself hi um my name's uh Roger pan I'm from 20 Constitution Hill um I just wanted to focus on the uh the socioeconomic benefits of the project and um and what what it will bring to to our community um you know diverse housing opportunities um Quality housing opportunities are very scarce um and uh providing um Quality housing for um a diverse group of people in our community is is something that um that we should strive to to obtain um I think um the the infrastructure that will be created as part of the development will um will upgrade the the system in the in in in the area um but I think uh really uh uh important is is really job creation and and the economic benefits both shortterm and longterm for for local businesses as well as um uh professionals um that um that will will benefit from from development um I think um uh uh being born and raised uh in Princeton uh and um having come back here a lot people that uh that I've grown up with or that have been in the community are no longer here um and that's just um um a sign that um uh our community does lack housing opportunities and um I commend the the council um on on their vision and um again that the process started in 2018 there's still a long way to go but um I'm um commend them on on being transparent and uh including the community in the process thank you thank you all right we have one more sh hi can you hear me yes hi thank you um I just wanted to say I I was also not planning on speaking Sarah I'm sorry could you just say your name and address and then start oh yeah sure sorry um it's h Sarah Callahan I'm 57 Elm Road okay um so what uh I was also not planning on speaking but having heard so much sort of pontification on theoretical issues and social movements and National crises I feel the need to say on behalf of my neighbors that I firmly believe that those opposed to this development are not opposed in general to development or affordable housing um that seem to be implied in a lot of you know Pro arguments and it's just I think frankly offensive you can look at a lot of folks voting records it's a lot of it is public I think this is a very accepting and reasonable Community um I've personally worked um for the City of New York for 10 years and on behalf of it doing real estate and economic development for another three so I mean I I think a lot of us have had roles like that and are you know reasonable people and I I just think there's no need to make this anything more than a logistical and traffic nightmare that it will be um it is not about politics and I mean it could be but it's not and it's certainly not about a national homelessness crisis I think it is simply and clearly an opposition to a a lack of collaboration in a process and a far too dense logistically kind of infeasible storm water generating traffic confounding um development that you know the current plan says that it will be and and as many have said you know I think there could be a plan that would work very well and there you know there are plenty of people who want to make this happen and want to make it in a good way for our neighborhood you know there is a line of traffic in front of my house from I don't know 6:00 a.m. to 10: a.m. with just cars that are idling like pollution gener I mean it is wild like Elm Road takes so long to be able to turn on to and this is just going to add so much more to that and anyway I think developing it would be great and I just I just think that this particular plan is a little bit too much for what our neighborhood can handle thank you thank [Applause] you okay please hi uh Patrick McDonald 17 hibbon Road um you I just want to agree with the last caller the neighbors are not against affordable housing the neighbors are not against having new buildings on the TRD W property um we just wanted to be part of this we are the ones most affected by your decision tonight and we've asked for three years to be part of it you had your lawyer write us a letter saying we would be part of it and we're not you've talked to the developer and his team for three years and the people most of affected by this your constituents get three stinking minutes it's just not fair and undemocratic and I hope you find it in your hearts to put this on pause so we could do it right thank you thank [Applause] you is there anybody else in the room that hasn't spoken that wants to speak yes thank you um Joe gacha 545 Mercer Road um I just want to make a couple of comments on the sustainability concept of this project I really don't think that this uh site is necessarily uh all that walkable um I Heard a couple of things from the developer uh while in the vicinity of the development you're going to have beautiful 10 T sidewalks and the like he he made a comment that he hopes that Beyond his development that the there will be upgrades to get people in and out of town so there will be a a uh a lean on the town to um to upgrade its infrastructure to get people from the development into downtown down to the dinky the sidewalks in this town I do think need to be upgraded in terms of thinking in terms of a walkable Community um this part of town of course is is um uh two important arteries into town you got Mercer Road where I live in 206 um and of course there going to be some traffic impact again with the yes no one is we're not against sustainable we're not against affordable housing I do think it's simply the scale of this project that is that is needs to be re-evaluated to be more compatible with not only the local community but the um even the concept of of sustainability Princeton's going to have to get by the way from a walk downtown Princeton is not an everyday shopping experience you got to get out to Route One to do all your shopping this is unlike the development you know the sustainable development at the Princeton shopping center is that's gold that people walk out and they got everything right at their backck and call but here you got to get in a car or Princeton wants to Pony up some nice electric buses to send people out to the shopping center great that's going to have to be a plan that the town has to consider when it thinks about sustainability it isn't just this developer is going to take care of his own little area but Princeton's going to have to pick up the tab for getting people um beyond that footprint thank you thank [Applause] you good good afternoon uh Hendrick Davis 232 John Street I have to give a couple of disclosures here uh I am a former planning board member from years ago I'm also a two-time graduate of Princeton seminary I do have a bias but I'm not speaking on their behalf tonight um but I think uh maybe by looking at the Seminary and what it has done uh over the past uh few years uh the town of Princeton and uh the residents uh might learn something about making an assessment of its history and the impact of uh its history on Generations following the Seminary undertook uh an assessment of its participation in slavery and uh has uh done some remarkable things uh to move forward the thing I want to say is that uh I am a resident of 232 John Street so you have my address now and I've been there for 41 years I've been in Princeton for 50 years and um I've been through a lot of Redevelopment I describe myself now as a pimi you know what a nimi is a pimi is please yes in my backyard I've had development and Redevelopment going all around me uh over the past 30 Years first with uh with uh projects right on John Street my own project was a Redevelopment project through the with this mooon Jackson uh uh Development Corporation then with stanworth and uh stanworth and um Merck and then with uh the hospital Redevelopment site and on and on and on and many of the arguments that I'm hearing tonight are the same exact arguments against Redevelopment that um were presented uh in all of those uh all of those Redevelopment projects and the outcome of uh those Redevelopment projects has been tremendously positive and I think that's what's going to happen with this yes you might uh want to look at the scale of it a bit but if the planning board has approved it at at that scale I would say build baby build build baby build because there is a tremendous need for it here and uh make yourself a p instead of a nimi thank [Applause] [Music] you anybody else in there oh uh my name is Sheldon Sturgis I'm a co-founder of an organization called Princeton future and I just want to turn to my neighbors my friends um around EDG Hill and say we've been holding open meetings for two and a half years on the future of this town and you are all invited with public to come and express your points of view I have a book of 120 pages of exactly what everyone said at these meetings with pictures of people who came to speak you were very welcome to come and I would just like to say that the master plan and the Seminary development are very much in keeping with all the people that came to our open meetings publicly held led by professional planners who know stuff including Ed over there that's all I want to say many thanks thank [Applause] you all right I know we have another hand up on Zoom so we'll jump back there for a minute Caroline hi thank you um my name is Caroline Cleaves I live at 7 EDG Hill Street and um I want to um I want to start by saying that it feels very clear to me that this Redevelopment proposal gives a lot of lip service to the master plan and and myself and many of my neighbors attended that meeting um or La late last week and you know I think there's some things that were said at that meeting that need to be repeated and first of all no one in this neighborhood was ever um sought out by the developer for a community conversation when we were talking to the Theological Seminary they convene numerous meetings and once this property was you know um slated for redevelopment with a commercial property developer we were cut out of those conversations all together and with all due respect to walkable Princeton attending a a community meeting on walkability is not the same thing as having a conversation with the developer um to sylvan's point my car was destroyed parked in front of my house on EDG Hill Street by a a speeding a speeding car and this is before the development my son was hit by a car at the bottom of Mercer Street the traffic in this part of town is already unmanageable the council knows that we we braid for three years to get a few speed bumps that have done nothing to mitigate the amount of traffic or the speed of the traffic on in this neighborhood but finally I really want to say that to anyone out there who is accusing this particular community of nimbyism I ask you to take a a very close look at what the conditions for the the affordable units are in this proposal because we were all very surprised to learn that the affordable housing unit Sunset its 30 years and revert back to Market Ray somebody at the planning meeting said well that's just typically the law but it gets renegotiated but why would we why would we trust anyone to stick to that if this this is a for-profit development what assurances do we have that they would renew those those leases you know it's it's a completely different game than the MWI stanworth Community where they have a relationship with the university to you know to have those units available for community housing in perpetuity and I say that as somebody who was a a previous resident of Princeton community housing I would welcome affordable housing I would welcome a lot of affordable housing I think this is this is a sneaky way to give us some temporary affordable housing in an enormous development that um doesn't really address this question of the missing middle you know there was an article in Princeton patch in uh 2023 October of 2023 where the developer states that the market rate for a two-bedroom apartment in this in this development with a dead no I I need to finish please we'll go for the low 4,000 by 30% you know the standard 30% of what your your um salary is supposed to go towards rent that means people are going to have to make $185,000 a year to AFF two bedom thank you that's not affordability mark thank you Carol okay is is there anybody else online their hand up yeah well I'm waiting for the screen to yeah wa for ad to there we go okay Andre hi how's it going can you hear me yes sir hi I'm Andre mkit I'm at 79 we Chief Lane I'm just wondering in the master plan you uh rely on a multiplier to determine how many new students are going to come to town based on these developments based off of a Rucker study and when you compare the forecast let's say for the developments that were built um at the shopping center um and now you look at the new Slam forecast from the school board it's twice as many as that Rucker study uh predicts I'm wondering if that was is going to be addressed because there's this massive Gap in what you guys are expecting in terms of new students versus what the school board is expecting um that's becoming very costly some of the concerns with the pilot programs for these developments you know were the increased enrollment which were kind of poo pooed uh in the presentation 2018 you uh described those as myths well those myths are come true I'm just wondering if that's going to be addressed as it should be all right we'll we'll get to that as we go along is there anything else you want to say at this Mo Point yes sir okay thank you okay back to people in this room is there anyone else that hasn't spoken that wants to speak quick referential question just where can we see the current plan of this well yeah so it's in the agenda packet itself for tonight just asking where isend yeah yeah so if you go to the town website you could go under calendar find the council meeting then there's agenda packet boom and yeah it's like 300 pages but you you want to the a yeah yeah right after the audit report you you probably want to start about on page 280 or so yeah because you don't want to flip through all those pages go right to 280 all right I'm sorry is there anybody else in the room that hasn't spoken that wants to speak on this is there anyone else online that hasn't spoken that wants to speak on this okay I'm going to close the public hearing and ask for Council comments questions Etc David yeah I just wanted to address a couple of the specific concerns um this is repeating something that Michelle said in her comments at the beginning but I really want to try and Hammer at home when people are concerned about added traffic from having more housing in town the opposite is actually the case the folks who were complaining about the traffic on you know the comment are from Elm Road or the folks on on EDG Hill who are worried about the through traffic all of that is people passing through Princeton some of them are those 28,000 in commuters some of them are just through commuters they don't live here and they don't work here and they just drive through Princeton and to the extent that we can provide housing for people who work in Princeton but can't afford to or don't currently live in Princeton we are going to be reducing traffic not increasing it and we also are very we also are very careful with the planning to limit significantly limit the traffic on uh hibbon you know there's only 40 units that actually have a driveway off hibbon the other 200 units come straight out to Stockton Street so we were super conscious of keeping most of the traffic out of your neighborhood keeping it on Stockton Street where by the way there are tens and tens of thousands of cars every day and to add another 40 or 50 cars in the morning Rush Hour which is typically what we see from developments like this is not even noticeable in terms of the increase in uh the amount of traffic so those are a couple points that I think are important to make um is there a study of that yes absolutely wait wait I'm sorry we're not we're not interrupting people while they're talking yes wait let let let David let David why we just well I mean it's part of this okay you finish your comments and then you can yeah jump in with yours I I I think that's really all I wanted to say about the traffic issue but you know I'm the only one up here who's been involved with this site since the very beginning I started on Council in 2018 when the first Redevelopment uh attempt happened uh I was on the committee that was working I sadly ended up chairing the committee because my predecessor resigned in the middle I guess she couldn't take the heat um you know know and I'm very sorry that that project didn't get uh successfully completed because I think that was an even smarter smart growth where we were taking students who we knew were living in West Windsor and driving into town every day so we were essentially I mean it was there was no debate that it was a traffic reduction uh process but I've been listening to the residents all these six years every single legitimate concern I have tried to address as I just did with the traffic concerns you know the concern that this is just too big I've got to say uh when we were discussing the the projects that the shopping center a couple years ago s plans we had a resident get up and say she was in the Witherspoon Jackson neighborhood and she was deathly opposed to the Avalon project on Witherspoon street it's going to destroy our neighborhood the traffic is going to be horrendous and she got up and she said I was wrong this project has been great for our neighborhood there none of the feared uh outcomes have materialized and that's the way these things go if this gets built it's going to be uh it's going to be a beautiful building you know the architect has done a superb job it's really sensitive and and I did want to say one more thing about the because the planners comment about why the different bulk standards on each of these different sites different bug standards for each site because each site is different in who their neighbors are and how close you want to allow a building to be next to the neighbor how tall do you want it to be how should it step back if we were to put one set of bulk standards on this entire property then we would be we would be guilty of of planning malpractice but what we've done is extremely sensitive to the context okay Eve [Applause] I want to respond specifically to a few of the comments and then uh make a more General uh statement uh storm water management uh according to the new state storm water regulation storm water must be kept on site I don't know if we have all the details of what how storm water management will be done but the storm water must by law be kept on site and our engineers and building inspectors will make sure that that indeed is done I think we will see an improvement in the area because right now there is no storm water control at all and those fields are just like concrete they are not absorbing any water so I think in terms of people whose basements are flooding I think you'll see an improvement um I can only speak for myself on this um I make decisions based on what I think is actually I'm going to change that I'm going to speak for all of us up here we all make decisions based on what we think is best for the community at large um none of us are in the pocket of quote unquote development ERS uh the amount of time and energy we give to this job to think that a contribution which you know maybe at the most might be a few hundred and I personally have not taken money from developers but some people have because they have friendships and relations with them and they share uh uh goals um to to insinuate that because we disagree with you that we do not have the best interest of the town in mind is really distressing um we may just have a different way of seeing things and that doesn't mean that we are doing the bidding of developers or of anyone other than what we think is is in the town's best interest and it's fine if you disagree with us I don't object to that but I do find these uh attacks and insinuations to be uh distressing um I want to point out that this is not by any means the highest density in Princeton uh according to the plan documents and a lot of different numbers have been thrown around uh the density of this plan is uh 49 uh units per acre and I have a a a cheat sheet here that was shown at some of the previous discussions and there are a number of developments the Princeton shopping center 195 NASA 40 to 42 T Lane 21 Wiggins that are all uh 30 mlan that are all substantially higher and I want to point you all to my favorite example of this uh closer to my neighborhood um Prospect Avenue and Murray there is a university development that's been there for for about a 100 years the devel the density there is 55 units per acre I have never heard anyone say a word against this development that is so out of scale with anything else in the neighborhood there is nothing else in that area that has anywhere near 55 units uh 55 dwelling units uh density per acre and yet it has become part of the fabric of our community so I'm just echoing David has taken a lot of my points thanks David um exactly the same thing about Avalon Bay on Witherspoon people were so concerned that it would be you know the death of the neighborhood most people consider it an asset I mean architecturally I don't really like it but I think uh the having the building there is uh you know is great and the hospital had a much much heavier impact uh on the neighborhood you think about ambulances coming night and day this is a a Housing Development it doesn't have nearly the impact uh on the neighborhood um regarding the speed bumps on uh edgo and hibbon we actually have data on that and the data is that the speed bumps have helped slow traffic and have diverted traffic the traffic counts are down so you know there unfortunately are not as many tool pools with Google Maps and people looking for shortcuts as we would like but we are doing the best we can and those uh speed bumps have actually achieved uh some of what we wanted them to do um I want to go back to the original uh proposal uh as David said uh I joined Council in in 2019 so a year after David and when many of the Neighbors at that time were against what the Seminary was doing I said to them if this project falls through what's going to happen it's not going to be you know the Seminary has a lifelong involvement with that neighborhood and we're willing to do things and uh work for the future of the neighborhood in a way that even a well uh inclined developer might not be uh willing to do but the neighbors uh fought that development and that development did not go ahead and the Seminary sold the property or has a contract to sell the property and I just want to reiterate what a couple of people have said if this project does not move ahead then what we will get is a project that will have the same 8020 split it may have uh a higher density it would be a builder's remedy uh under the affordable housing laws um and the safeguards and amenities that my colleagues Michelle and David and Mia have worked so hard in the Redevelopment plan such as underground parking which is extraordinarily expensive but they did that to protect the sensibilities of the neighbors so that it wouldn't be an enormous parking lot that people were looking at the open space there's uh I think 12,500 uh almost you know 20% of the of the uh the site that needs to be open space architecture that is sensitive to the area and as David said uh sensitive to the specific uh place that each building is a long list of Green Building design features we will never get that I tell you if this project didn't move forward you will be sorry really because what we would get is a project that does not have any of the amenities and the safeguards and instead would be something that would be much more negatively impactful uh on the [Applause] town thanks Eve Mia Eve I'm just going to give you a chance to clarify those remarks you you made about uh uh I think individuals in Council accepting contributions from developers I think you may meant that certain council members at had contributions in their when they ran for office that is exactly what I me not one of those but I that is not how it sounded so if you wanted to rephrase that to clarify it did sound like you were saying when they're align and they're friends whatever I think you might want to restate that than thank you I I did not prepare that part of my remark so um running for Council can be an expensive uh uh effort and it requires money and so um all of us take who have been in competitive races have taken contributions uh some of those contributions may come from people who are also developers uh none of those contributions amount to a significant amount of any of the amount that any candidate uh has raised um as Mia said uh I have never taken a contribution from a developer but that does not mean that I am anti-development or that I don't share the goals of some of the developers that work in town just as I take contributions from people who are Advocates of open space but I share their goals is that sufficiently clarified okay and I will say as far as I know no I did not have any contributions from developers but to be honest before I was on Council I did not know what a developer was so um however I have learned a great deal uh and I um had the For Better or Worse was tasked with implementing Princeton's thirdd round settlement which uh was signed uh it was a piece of paper that was agreed on the the the uh meeting before I got on Council so I have um learned a great deal in in um in the Last 5 Years um so I first of all I want to say like I hear that it's really nice to see everybody in person um and um so thank you all for coming out rather than over screen um and um I hear what we seem to have somewhat been be divided into opposite sides of the room which I think is unfortunate it it it uh increases the Divide but at any rate I want to say that what I'm hearing from those of you around the neighborhood is that you don't feel that we're listening um you don't feel heard I want to let you know that I have been taking notes I have five pages of notes here and I want to address some of the things in my notes which will be difficult because it's all out of order and I can't read my writing but I'm going to do my best um and I will also say that I feel somewhat frustrated because I want to share with you some of the harsh realities of of that um uh constrain what can happen on a site like this and I feel the same way you do I feel like you already are there's no point in me describing it to you because you're not you're not going to listen but I'm going to try anyway and I hope you listen um so first I just want to deal I think Eve you you I wanted to correct a few things Eve you dealt with the density thing the 54 units um if you look back at the presentation from um I think it was the second public meeting um that is about it's slightly higher than the mid-range but it is definitely not um as someone said the highest level of density in Princeton um I also I'm jumping uh to the end to Caroline um I do agree with you I I I I don't think that this project provides many things it does not it is not likely to provide missing middle housing um however um your point about the deed restrictions just so you understand under in uh in the third round of Mount Laurel um the deed restricted the deed restricted period was 30 years um Princeton was actually sued over um a local bi local developer and prevailed which now um has become sort of the law on the land as has the Jacobson methodology so Princeton taxpayers have actually contributed a lot to various Frameworks around the state um at the 30-year Mark the it is up to the council not the developer so Caroline it doesn't matter what your relationship is whether it's the University or whoever it is we have the option uh at the third round it was 30 years in the fourth round which we are starting next year it will be at the 40-year Mark and at that point at that time the council has the opportunity to um extend the deed restrictions so we fully anticipate that that will be the case with um uh all the affordable housing that that is happening in Princeton it's sort of a simple procedure so you're not those units will not be lost um I wanted to Janet I don't know if Janet Stern is not here um thank you for your comments about trees and the tree canopy which is something I really care a great deal um and Janet can attest to the fact that I have chased psng off my lawn when they tried to take down my trees um I there will have to obviously be some trees that are more trees than we would like taken off on this site in order to um construct the the project but it is a top priority for us to um definitely maintain the street the trees in the right of way and as many mature trees in the site itself as we possibly can um that is something that we taking the recommendation of the planning board will be um oh Janet you came back you missed you missed my you missed my appreciation for your comments um but um that is something that uh Steve right we're we're going to be sort of locking that into the agreement right Steve you're not paying attention we're we're that's going to be in the the tree in the the tree preservation plan and that is going to be there will be some pretty stringent uh guarantees in in the redeveloper agreement right yeah obviously that's not before you tonight what's before you is a is a Redevelopment plan where the recommendation has been to add that is requirement that any Redevelopment agreement have that and this Council would have the level of control over approving how stringent those Provisions are but I would assume based on the comments tonight and and from everybody on the day is that they will be okay so um then I there there was uh a number of people uh referenced bad planning I heard a brilliant physicist opine on bad planning I heard um a uh famous historian opine on bad planning I've heard many people tonight who are abs absolutely brilliant in their careers which don't happen to be planning um trash the planning on the site I just wanted to uh the planner for this site is Paul Phillips who's in the audience tonight and is hands down one of the most respected renowned experienced um talented brilliant planners in the state who has won many many awards um so just leave that at that um I have heard also the um comments about the architecture being cookie cutter nothing unique um um let's see there there were a lot of really um generic uh what a generic developer would build um let's see uh a lot of you know comment about this being sort of generic to Eve's Point uh and and I will also tell you that I've spent the last 5 years looking at the Prof foras in detail of every single um development that are that's part of our affordable housing which is more than a thousand units of Housing and I and seeing what actually is invested in these projects and I can just assure you that this is not a generic project by any stretch of the imagination everything that is that is involved in this project from the underground parking which is the most expensive way to build parking it's it can be as much as $40,000 per stall um we certainly were are not able and would never be able to insist on uh underground parking with any of our affordable housing projects because it would be considered cost generative the storm water standards that we are uh implementing on this site which exceed far exceed State Standards which we are able to impose because this is uh being negotiated under the Redevelopment statute would never be agreed to or allowed in a conventional affordable housing development project that goes to court like our other projects um the materials on this site I to the point about the the the architecture and being generic we also have the architect here with us tonight D maretta who is considered also to be one of the most renowned architects in the state who builds very um expensive ornate elaborate uh architecture um which ties into the many comments tonight about um this being uh just designed to as a handout to the developer like with monetization in mind um I can tell you that if this developer makes a penny off this project he'll be lucky this project and you can shake your head but you can look at the numbers this is a very very expensive project and you all in this neighborhood are fortunate that you're getting this and not some of the stuff that was built in other parts in town and I realize that you think it's too dense you don't like it but one of the realities one of the things we have to learn and Joe I know you know this too from being on Council is that we don't deal in the realm of the ideal we deal we have to deal within the framework of reality of the choices that are open to us and and with the possibilities and let me just explain to you and elaborate on what Eve said we are at the end of the third round Princeton has an unmet need at the point of consolidation there was the possibility that the governor's office was going to uh if we Consolidated forgive us our unmet need this did not happen we have it's unusual for Central Jersey but we have a vacant land adjustment um and an UNM need which was as discussed at the planning board was approximately 195 units we've gotten it down somewhat this site rep represents a change of circumstance you can look at Fair share's letter in uh in today's packet which goes into all the case Law related to the change of circumstance and the unmet need um and the RDP the Seminary site becoming available represents a change of circumstance which increases our RDP which allows us to reduce our unmet need so this is this will be 48 units produced from the 195 units um if this density is not built where it is and you all the neighbor should know it's not that it's not going to be built it will be built in someone else's neighborhood other than yours and there aren't a lot of places which is why um the bur was given the the vacant land adjustment prior to consolidation um I know what it's like to to have a lot of density built around you because I live next to the to the Princeton shopping center um that is not what is being planned here I understand that you would prefer for it to be less dense the reality is for the developer to build a project like this with all of the green spaces which are made possible because of the underground parking with all of the bells and whistles and the expensive architecture it requires that level of density to afford that that is just these are the economic realities to the point about the 20% and the 80% I think you know Charles you talked about well this is 80% unaffordable the reality this is the economics of the production of housing in New Jersey at this time inclusionary housing means means that the developer is paying to construct and to maintain that those 20% it is incredibly expensive to build housing if the developer does not build those 48 units guess who builds them guess who pays for them you through your taxpayer contributions that's the reality there is there are no other options either we we have an amazing um Ed trelli is here tonight Princeton community housing which my grandmother helped to found is unique in the state of New Jersey in that it primarily it is managed to um uh build a great deal through contributions from Princeton residents who care as do all of you about affordable housing and I absolutely believe that you all care about affordable housing and you're not trying to to fight it um but this is the reality of of what we're faced with um and either the developer builds it or we build it as a town through taxpayer contributions which contributes to the bifurcation of the Town into very wealthy people who can afford elevated taxes to underwrite municipally sponsored subsidized housing and then you have what I think Sheldon often refers to is the the golden ghetto effect or you know so that that's the reality that we as a council face would we like to have a different situation is it easy for us you know I mean we we would it's hard to see our constituents feeling upset and unheard but I will say this project has gone on there is nothing abbreviated this has gone on and for seven years now and I will say I personally do not want my successors to inherit this mess I feel like I came on I wish that this had been resolved before I got on Council it is the responsible thing especially going into the fourth round you can lawyer up and fight off the council and you are leaving yourself wide open in the fourth round with no protection to a national company that's going to come in with lawyers with the court behind them and you will undercut our ability as a council to negotiate for you all of the things that we have those are the real those are the choices here there's nothing else I I think we're not supposed to have it back and forth but we're not we're not we're not going back and forth sure okay won you finish your comments and we'll get the rest of the council Karen I know so I was going to ask our attorney to I know that you you have referenced Frank G's statement and a number of times and I I I I just do want to say that this neighborhood has had more interaction and more input into this entire process than what which Community meetings okay all okay I I'm not being allowed to take I we're going agree to disagree on that one fine but let's just well did you ever get so let's well we okay do you want let's not get into debate of each point let's just finish your reply so the rest of the council can jump in um okay so let me uh let me see if there's anything okay clear cutting I just wanted to mention the word clear cutting really is a word that's used for forests this was not a forest it is a site that has been developed for so long it predates Princeton zoning code when the zoning code came into being it actually just reflected what was there um and uh you know there there there was there's a lot of parking there there were big buildings um let me just see uh oh I Jenny uh Jenny I hope that's a dog that you a new dog that you got that was a very cute dog you had when you're um the Jenny mentioned uh that she thought that nobody was interested in in in building for sale units um that is actually not accurate the reason why the fourth round Now does not of of the Mount Laurel framework does not um give bonus credits for rentals is because the market um is so flooded with them so there now will be the opportunity to create more for sale units and there is actually tremendous interest in Princeton um by developers who are looking at the fourth round and want to build um condos for sale and and we you see uh that what's happening um with the 30er units of housing that are being built adjacent to the Alice which are all for sale they're they were they were that was a barski now it's toll project um all right let me just see if there's anything else here um yeah I guess the main thing is I just I hear what you're saying but I concerned that this is going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy and what you will end up with absent this is in court with everything that we have worked really hard to negotiate from the developer and in a court process it is considered cost generative so that is we have done the best we can to extract as many concessions as possible from the from the developer and it is not over I mean this is just the beginning there is you know just the Redevelopment plan is the zoning um it is not the equivalent of site plan and Rob I Rob Simon I see you smiling smiling what the comments that you made I I care about my constituents I hope you know more and better than what expressed because they deserve to have a competent lawyer representing them and what you said was inaccurate and I hope that you will give them competent representation that they deserve so I'll leave it at that Laticia so I am going to be very very brief uh I just wanted to respond to a comment during public comment where it was suggested that we don't need to build affordable housing that we are not required to build and it's just my personal uh belief that mandate or no mandate I believe in advancing uh policies that promote the creation of more affordable housing and that goes beyond meeting mandates and I am in favor of moving forward with approving this development which reflects our fun fundamental responsibility to ensure that everyone in our community has access to Safe affordable homes it is not just a legal requirement but a moral imperative to support our neighbors and Foster a more inclusive and Equitable Society brief thank you L thank you mayor I I want want to make a statement and and I want to preface this by saying to the extent that I can I am not speaking as councilman Leon Newan but as a concerned citizen born and raised here in Princeton a dedicated Democrat and someone who cares deeply about our present and our future my role as an elected official does not diminish my right or my responsibility to continue advocating for our community today as we strive to build Princeton through smart growth and wise choices I must call out the actions of individuals and hastily organized Boutique groups seemingly intent on dismantling and undermining the good work we have achieved one of the most critical and devastating issues we face as Democrats is affordable housing many Democrats profess support for affordable housing until it encroaches upon their own neighborhoods the not in my backyard mentality here in Princeton is rampant we are seeing individuals and groups attend our zoning and planning meetings file lawsuits against the town and use arguments about density character and Architectural history in many situations to sty or halt progress and prevent inclusivity through inclusionary and mixed income housing we have been criticized for using pilot agreements to meet our affordable housing commitment yet these Agreements are essential to fulfill our legal obligation ordered by the court in a predominantly Democratic town it is disheartening and infuriating to see our party's Unity being splintered from within this internal strife mirrors the national malays and trajectory where our Unity is under attack in so many ways the good we have achieved is under siege and more attention should be paid to recent decisions right here in Princeton that seem to favor voices resistant to change simply because because they believe things are fine as they are and Princeton doesn't need and shouldn't make room for more people to those perpetrating this detrimental Behavior I offer a Stern rebuke your actions are not only counterproductive but also harmful to the progress we have worked so hard to achieve it is time to wake up and realize that we are in the fight of our lives both nationally and locally as a council member I have tried to maintain the balance between being a community activist and being Community active now more than ever I must get into some good trouble this message is a wakeup call it's late in the game and we cannot afford to be divided are Unity is our strength and we must come together to continue building a more inclusive Equitable and vibrant Princeton to those in our party masquerading as Democrats I hope you feel this message personally the time for complacency is over let us move forward with a renewed sense of purpose and commitment to the values we all profess to hold dear thank you mayor thank you okay any are we just to tie up a couple of loose ends I think on the tree plan I think we're going to have to amend the emotion um before we go to vote before but before that I just I want to just commit Janet thank you for coming um you know I'm the is on to the shade tree commission I know our arborist will do an evaluation each and every tree we will have a tree plan and it will be part um of the process so I commit that there will absolutely be a tree plan um for replanting what needs to be um taken down to evaluate what is um viable and not viable on the site and absolutely to retain as much right the right all the right of white trees my understanding is they're in included but we'll have a tree plan and um I just wanted to commit to that and then um we'll also be doing a traffic study and uh as I mentioned earlier in my my opening remarks we are investing in our Municipal Transit we are investing in our bike lanes and shared path we are working on solving these issues and we have listened not just tonight but we've listened all along and there have been Community meetings where we did take this input and made the major priorities um as we move forward so I just wanted to ask if Steve if you just um can one more time maybe reiterate for the record what our next step would be and what we'll do about the tree plan and traffic studies because they seemed that they really Rose to the top sure so if if this were to be adopted tonight uh The Next Step would be to negotiate a Redevelopment agreement with the the redeveloper that you would like to designate for the property and that agreement would cover all aspects of the proposed development obviously ensuring that it complies with the plan you're about to adopt uh but also going into the the the nitty-gritty details of the project project schedule when it's going to start when it's going to end what approvals are needed um how the pro pro the redeveloper cannot transfer uh elements of the project without your approval um but it will also go into some of the things that you just talked about and obviously you just raised it at a major concern for the the the council which would be obviously tree preservation plan and the details around that the affordable housing and how what deed needs to go in the deed restrictions uh as well as a traffic uh study before going to site plan okay I want to thank everybody for being here tonight we are going to vote momentarily uh your opinions are always appreciated I feel very strongly that that's a critical part of our process and it's always concerning when people feel that they weren't heard and I think it's something that we need to keep in mind and if we need to work harder on our process going forward we should keep that in mind um and many of the details people are concerned about as Steve just alluded to and as uh Michelle uh pointed out will really happen at site plan review so there's a lot more still to happen and a lot more decisions to be made so anyway thank you for your participation uh this evening so it's been moved in secondary we closed the public hearing I think we have to amend the I think yeah may may I suggest what the so no sometimes if I I'm sorry the public hearing's the public hearing's finished I'm sorry I'm sorry yeah yeah again um those those details remain to be finalized anyway okay there that could be discussed at a few that's not the topic of the site plan that's a future meeting which we happy to discuss that Mark uh ltia moved it so I think she would need to amend no no I okay sometimes if you'll let me finish I'll get to where you're trying to get me but sometimes you need to actually let me finish talking oh my God okay so if we want to go back to the person that made the motion and the second if the Mover wants to add the sentence that was referred to in the presentation earlier you may do so so I moved to amend and do you want to repeat what that yeah I would I would suggest um for the ordinance three three items one is just to note for the record that because the planning board has met just a clerical Amendment identifying the meeting and what the result of that meeting by the planning board was uh to the recommendation uh based off of what the planning board recommended by Mr Kyle to require in the Redevelopment plan that the Redevelopment agreement include a tree preservation plan and the third is just something that came out of the public comment tonight which is you know a function of the public comment which there was a comment that uh wasn't clear that the zoning map is going to be amended which is of course a result of the Redevelopment plan being adopted inherent so uh I would try to remove that ambiguity make clear in the ordinance uh that the zoning map would of course be a result of this being amended okay I think I see trishka capturing that or were you not I I'm I'll you'll be captur okay is out of this one right okay so you're okay as the move I forget who seconded that I second it and you're good I'm good all right so we're all just make sure all the council members are good no questions on the addition roll call vote Miss Peron lambrose yes Miss Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Sachs yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you thank you all next up is an ordinance introduction 2024 31 an ordinance of the municipality of Princeton changing the name of the advisory committee on affordable housing Human Services and racial social and economic equity equity to the committee on affordable housing racial economic social equity and services aka the car's advisory committee and amending the code of the Bureau of Princeton New Jersey 1974 the public hearing will be August 12th 2024 is there a motion on that thank you Leticia leighton's got the second and that's a roll call vote M Peron lambrose yes M Neer gang yes Mr Cohen yes Miss Sach yes Miss froga yes Mr nulan yes carried resolutions 24226 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton approving police promotions for 2024 the TC has got the motion Eve's got the second questions or comments Michelle yeah just a just a quick comment I mean we we um we're really going to miss Chief Bucher he's just been phenomenal um but I have to say that we're going to be in great hands I believe with Chief uh t with the new Chief Tash um his interview I had the um honor to be part of the interview panel because I'm on Public Safety um and you know all the candidates did a great job uh our department is really strong and it was really impressive so I just want to share that with my colleagues and the and the and the public thank you any other questions or comments all in favor please say I I 24227 resolution of the mayor and Council princ and author Rising matching funds in the amount of $13,400 for the Improvement of smoyer Park and submitt of mercer at play Grant application for $13,400 Michelle has the motion Eve's got the second questions or comments Eve go ahead oh sorry let Michelle go first if you don't mind real quick because this is Rec uh depart I just wanted to let you know that this uh playground equipment this is the extra money that we still had from merer at play grants it's a matching Grant so we have to put up the match uh we're going to do the same type of adaptive playgr that we did at Hilltop which is super exciting um we can do that all over town as soon as we we do new so it's it's really great that's it and and I just wanted to say just uh I'm so pleased that that this is going forward that what was put in at Hilltop has been such a great success and that we are modeling inclusion at all different levels so uh really appreciate this and uh thank you Michelle for your work with the rec commission any other questions or comments all right all in favor please say I I I 24228 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing extension of grace period for the payment of third quarter 2024 property taxes I believe we've now extending that to August 23rd based on the computer glitches earlier the last several days leighton's got the motion is there a second David thank you questions or comments great all in fav please say I I I 24229 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton amending a Professional Services agreement to update the name of the law firm appointed to serve as municipal prosecutor in 2024 if some Leon thank you is there a second thank you Michelle questions or comments all in favor please say I I 24230 resolution of the mayor and Council authorizing the award of a bid contract to CCM Contracting Inc for 2024 roadway resurfacing for $1 million 778572 Eve's got the motion David's got the second questions or comments all in favor please say I I I 24231 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the donation of surplus personal property no longer needed for public use to the 911 fund Inc letisia has got the motion Michelle's got the second questions or comments just just to say um sorry you didn't acknowledge go ahead sorry Ju Just to say thank you to um Frank our new um Chief who I this is just a great thing to do I think we've done it before in the past um but you know just to continue this and and to you know jump in in this second or third week on the job and and identify this is really great so I just wanted to say thank you yep thank you qu other questions or comments all in favor please say I I I the consent agenda which is the only item is payment of bills and claims if somebody wants to move that thank you is there a second thank you Michelle all in favor say I I I David has a motion I move that we adjourn thank you is there a second second there you go 's got the second all in favor say I hi we're done goodbye good