At the Council’s agenda meeting on April 10, the committee heard its professional planning staff — Township Planner John Madden, Township engineer Jim Parvesse, and Jerry Muller, attorney for the Planning Board — assess the economic, traffic, and housing reports that were commissioned by Hillier as part of the firm’s planning for the redevelopment plan.##M:[more]##
“The big surprise,” said Madden, “was that the retail potential is so deep. I have always thought that West Windsor was underserved by retail.” The Hillier report estimated that, given its demographics, West Windsor could absorb anywhere from 300,”000 to 600,”000 square feet of additional retail.
Council president Linda Geevers asked if Madden would anticipate any problems filling that much retail space. “I would anticipate no problems,” Madden replied. “If you rezoned the property on Route 571 now they would come running. It’s an affluent area and retail thrives on traffic. We have that — from commuters and office workers. There’s a tremendous opportunity in retail.”
Madden added that the Princeton Junction area would not be a logical site for a big box store such as Wal-Mart. “It will be for stores in the 25,”000 square foot range” — a Banana Republic, for example.
Could Princeton Junction compete with Palmer Square, Geevers wanted to know. “The problem with Palmer Square is parking,” said Madden. “And we are going to have plenty of parking.”
Parvesse commented on the traffic analysis that is being used by the Hillier planners and noted that its consultant, Orth Rogers, touched base with his department as it conducted its study. “I’ve been very comfortable with their work,” Parvesse said.
Geevers asked what would happen if 1,”000 housing units were added to the township as proposed by the redevelopment scenarios presented at the charrettes. “They are going to have to update their traffic analysis based on what plan is chosen,” said Parvesse. “They should be able to show that with the road improvements the level of service is no worse” than it is now.
The question of how much traffic would be generated by a development plan, said Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh, was a component of “capacity-based planning.” Said the mayor: “You can have your wish lists, but at some point you have to look at the capacity — you might be able to have only so many housing units. At some point you might have to sacrifice something.”
The discussion of housing, and the closely-related issue of affordable housing, was addressed by Muller. Carefully reviewing the history of affordable housing requirements, and noting that the current law is in flux due to recent court decisions, Muller nevertheless “guesstimated” that West Windsor’s requirement for affordable housing units is likely to increase by 225 to 375 in the coming years — with or without redevelopment.
Since the Council on Affordable Housing requires one unit of affordable housing for every eight new units, the idea of not including any housing in the redevelopment plan might seem attractive to some. But it won’t work, said Muller, because COAH guidelines also require affordable housing units to be planned for in conjunction with new office and retail space and even structured parking.
If the redevelopment area were developed along currently permitted zoning, more than 350 affordable housing units would be required. “With redevelopment,” said Muller, “we could incorporate affordable housing into the project.”
Councilwoman Heidi Kleinman, acknowledging that many residents have made clear that 1,”000 units of housing is considered too much, nonetheless made the case that more affordable housing is a worthy goal. “I appreciate the decision-makers before us who worked to ensure that we solve our own affordable housing obligations, rather than push it somewhere else. If you don’t have a range of housing opportunities,” she said, a community does not have the range of workers who can help support a healthy economy.
Geevers asked Madden if he felt West Windsor would be in a better position with the changes suggested with redevelopment, compared to the existing zoning. “Everything seems to be falling into place,” he replied, for redevelopment. “New Jersey Transit is behind it, the Bus Rapid Transit is coming, and we’ve taken steps already on the east side of the tracks with the 571 overlay zoning. The current planning on the west side of the tracks is not really planning. It’s more the devil you know vs. the devil you don’t know. The parking lots over there are a wasted resource, and they don’t even work as parking that well.”
“The challenge is the financial puzzle: No one wants a Metropark here, but how do you keep the level of intensity down, but still make it fiscally successful so that it will pay for itself. That’s the next step to consider as we continue to review this.”
