As sports fans made predictions for college basketball’s final four, West Windsor residents were given their own final four projections to to ponder. ##M:[more]##At the second public workshop for the redevelopment process, four plans were presented and were quickly taken apart and reassembled — often literally by residents wielding scissors and tape.
The morning session at High School South, attended by about 300 people despite the snowstorm the night before, ran nearly an hour beyond its planned three-hour length. Even then many participants clamored for more time. And Hillier Architecture, the firm coordinating the charrettes, has obliged, scheduling a community open house Monday, April 9, from 9 to 5 p.m. in the firm’s offices at 500 Alexander Park. RSVP is requested by email at allaboard@hillier.com or by calling 609-452-5516.
As shown on pages 20 and 21 of this issue, the four plans — and some of their many variations — all included standard elements, like reconfigured roads to calm the traffic, as well as radical ideas like moving the train station.
As the project progresses, one element that seems certain to remain controversial is the construction of up to 1,”000 new housing units in the redevelopment area.
The 4 plans presented at the March 17 workshop:
Public Response to the Four Plans
Each of the plans presented at the March 17 workshop approached solving the redevelopment puzzle in a different way, but there were common threads. Assuming the original planning strategy stays in place, a single plan will be unveiled at the Thursday, April 19, charrette at Grover Middle School.
While each of the four plans shows 1,”000 new housing units, Hillier representatives and West Windsor officials say this number is not set in stone, but is merely a starting point. At the meeting, Bob Hillier stated that it would “to support the retail, you need a certain amount of population. We will look to developers to build the infrastructure, and there has to be a certain amount of housing allowed to make it profitable for developers to want to build it. One thousand units isn’t a number that’s set in stone, but it is as many as we could or would want to put on this site.”
Each plan includes a different ratio of apartments to townhouses, but each includes one central area on the west side of the tracks that would be designated space for the bulk of the housing, or the transit village. Each plan also includes several areas designated for “mixed use” zoning, which could include housing or offices above street-level retail. The estimated number of school children added based on the 1,”000 units is between 300 and 328.
Each of the plans includes 1 million new square feet of office and retail. One plan has far more office space, and one has more retail. Two show an even split of 500,”000 square feet of each. The height of buildings on the west side of the tracks changes from plan to plan, but in all of the schemes, the buildings on the east side of the tracks are to be built no higher than two stories.
In each of the plans, development along Route 571, is expected to eventually be converted to the same type of mixed use development by a process called “incremental infill.” In these areas, changes in the property use would be up to the property owners to decide when the current buildings were replaced with those that conform to design standards set by the redevelopment plan and by the recent town center ordinance.
“What we’re creating is guidelines about how each property should develop over time,” said Bradley Walters, a Hillier architect and former West Windsor Planning Board member. “Some could do it sooner than others. That really depends on the owners themselves, and whether they are open to other things. It’s an incremental process. Those buildings will come down and get replaced, and we don’t know how long that will take. We do know that a lot of those buildings there are old. That’s partly why this was declared an area in need of redevelopment in the first place.”
Each plan presents possibilities for building between 6,”300 and 10,”000 parking spaces. New Jersey Transit estimates that by 2030, its ridership will demand 4,”600 to 5,”700 spaces. In all the plans, the parking spots are expected to be a combination of surface parking and structured parking, and not all spaces are meant to serve commuters exclusively. Some plans include parking decks close to the transit village, presumably for residents, and some of the surface lots would be created for the new office buildings.
Each of the plans contains a common “Master Plan” road reconfiguration. The plan includes extending Vaughn Drive to connect Alexander Road directly with Washington Road. The concept plans show Vaughn Drive as being widened, with a center divider. In each plan, Vaughn Drive marks the western border of the main housing enclave. Washington Road would split as drivers approach the train station area. The northern part would merge with Route 571.
The southern side would continue towards the train tracks, and would be the northern border of the transit village. Princeton-Hightstown Road would split for cars heading west over the train tracks. The southern side of the split would be the road merging with Washington, and the northern side would be extended to connect with Route 1. A circular access road from Route 571 would provide a traffic-calming measure on the west side of the train tracks.
The Logistics
The participants who spoke publicly at the workshop seemed to indicate that people at the workshop were most intrigued by the possibilities presented with plan D.
“Moving the train station, by the architect’s admission, is ‘pie in the sky,” said Dan Stessel, spokesperson for New Jersey Transit. “I don’t want to rule anything out, since this is very early. This is the time for everyone to bring ideas forward. It’s an idea worthy of further exploration. We can’t give an estimate at this time as to what that would cost, except to say that it would be expensive.”
The station is owned in part by New Jersey Transit, and in part by Amtrak. “It’s a possibility,” says Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh. “This is something we have to work with Amtrak. I don’t want to make it sound very optimistic. Amtrak is a federal company, I don’t know how they would think about moving the station, and whether they would have money to move it, I don’t know.”
Anish Kumar, Hillier’s director of urban planning, said the planners would meet with New Jersey Transit and other stakeholders “over the next couple of weeks,” before the presentation of a single concept at the April 19 workshop.
According to Walters, the public’s positive reaction to the “Big Move” plan was not only because of the different train station location. “We’re calling it that, but the plan is not just about the big move. We are going to seriously talk about the possibilities with New Jersey Transit. We’re not saying it is D, or that if we choose elements from D it has to involve moving the train station,” he says.
“One of the key issues in this project is the timing,” says Walters. “It seems as though people are looking for something that can be implemented over a shorter period of time than it might take to do something like moving the train station.”
Among the other elements exclusive to plan D was the construction of a traffic circle on Route 571 at the intersection of Wallace and Cranbury roads. “We have heard some pros and some cons for the traffic circle,” says Walters.
“Some people expressed reservations about it. Part of what we were suggesting in that concept is that this is a memorable spot in West Windsor, and putting that circle there might give that spot the sense of place, that is a goal of this project. We need to look at it carefully in our traffic analysis but are also looking at several other options for the intersection of Wallace Road/Cranbury Road and Princeton-Hightstown Road.”
Another popular idea that Hillier discussed but did not include in any of the concept drawings was the idea of putting satellite parking along the Dinky train line that runs from Princeton Junction to Princeton. He suggested the train could stop various platforms constructed along the tracks. He said the idea could not be implemented for at least 20 years, given the various elements involved, including changing the frequency of trains, and purchasing land from numerous sources.
Further complicating the proposal are recent suggestions that the Dinky line could be phased out and replaced by a Bus Rapid Transit or BRT system. “The idea of putting satellite parking along the Dinky line depends on the implementation of the BRT,” says Walters. “We don’t know what the schedule is for that yet. It is something we’ve discussed with New Jersey Transit, and they are interested in anything that will improve parking at the station. What we see is an opportunity to augment the parking at the station with satellite parking along the train line. Moving forward on that would include detailed discussions with New Jersey Transit and many landowners.”
Stessel said there is no definite date for the implementation of the BRT. “We expect that the BRT will operate alongside the tracks for the Dinky, and that will relieve some of the parking demands at the Princeton Junction station,” he said.
New Jersey Transit will also have a say about one of the key elements involved in all four plans. Vaughn Drive is on New Jersey Transit property, and Hillier’s concepts involve extending the road to connect Alexander Road with Washington Road and Route 571. Vaughn Drive would be split to accommodate traffic into and out of the train station. It would form the western border of the proposed transit village.
“The advantage would be that you could separate out the through traffic from the local (station related) traffic,” said Walters. “Prior concept plans have envisioned one road dealing with both, which was a concern. Our plans look at either splitting Vaughn Drive or using parallel roads to separate the through traffic from the local traffic.”
Walters says the change in Vaughn Road is also related to another proposed change in Plan B, namely extending Old Bear Brook Road where it intersects with Alexander through the redevelopment area to Station Drive. Station is the road that currently leads into the station from Washington Road, where Good Friends Chinese restaurant is now located.
“Connecting Bear Brook to Station Drive provides a second way for people to get in and out of the station area and helps to relieve the proposed intersections of Vaughn Drive at Washington Road and Alexander Road, both of which are already troubled. It allows for Vaughn to serve more through traffic while still creating easy access in and out of the area for residents and commuters,” said Walters.
The connection of Sherbrooke and Alexander roads at Route 571 as shown in Plan C was given a positive review by many workshop participants. “The real benefits to re-aligning Alexander Road come for pedestrians,” said Walters. “By moving the signalized intersection from the current Alexander Road location to a new Alexander Road at Sherbrooke, we are creating a much safer protected crossing point for pedestrians. We’re in the process of analyzing and studying that option in terms of vehicular traffic flow right now.”
Another big idea included displacing Schlumberger from its location on Wallace Road, opposite the train station The oilfield technology and service provider is a multinational corporation that owns its 12-acre lot. Calls for comment on a possible move were not returned.
Constructing the 500,”000 square feet of office space called for by two of the plans would require a transfer of development rights currently held by the Sarnoff Corporation. The communications technology company owns rights to build more office space on its 147-acre site on Route 1. Hillier proposed that a developer, with the approval of the township planning board, could purchase those rights and transfer them to the redevelopment zone.
Walter Schmidlin, director of facilities management for Sarnoff, has attended the workshops. He says it is too early for his company to make a decision on the sale of those rights. “We have had some discussions, but I don’t think we’ve gotten that far yet. We want to see what the final plan looks like before we make any comment.”
Hsueh says he has met with representatives from both companies, and characterized the meetings as positive. “It was very optimistic. They are ready to continue talks when we have to have more specific information.”
Hsueh said he would only want to displace Schlumberger if the company could be moved to another location within the township. “It’s very important to keep the high-tech companies in West Windsor.”
The mayor and other township officials have said the township’s recently-acquired power of eminent domain is to be used only as a last resort. “Taking private property by eminent domain to give to a private developer is not good government,” said councilman Will Anklowitz.
Hillier representatives confirm that sentiment. “The town has asked us to create a plan that doesn’t necessitate the use of eminent domain, so we wouldn’t make a plan that relies on that,” says Walters.
“I don’t think that we are going to bring forth a plan that is completely contingent on moving someone who is not movable,” says Walters, who has lived in West Windsor for nine years. “We want to understand what is possible for these land owners. We want to know what the options are. What’s hard for them, and what’s easy for them. If we get to a point in the discussion where it seems an agreement is impossible, we’ll carefully look at the alternatives. A lot of us recognize in particular that Schlumberger is a terrific corporate citizen here in the community. We want the company to continue to call West Windsor home whether it is this building or one that we build during the redevelopment.”
At this point, it does not look as though the plan will include moving the power station. Mayor Hsueh said his discussions with utility companies on the subject did not bode well. Several of the plans involve hiding the station in one way or another, including building parking structures or mixed-use buildings around its perimeter.
Councilman Charles Morgan says he is “unhappy” that it appears as though the power substation will not be moved. “It is an ugly eyesore that should not remain in this location,” said Morgan. “Most importantly, it is a threat to our health and safety in a world where a person might be motivated to drive a truck full of explosives into it — it is a soft target in an easy-to-reach location. I want it moved out of sight into a hard-to-reach and hardened location.”
The majority of dissent continues to involve the number of housing units that will be built. Robert Bacall of Springwood Street drew applause from other attendees when he said, “Most of us are not sure why we’re creating a transit village.”
Upon leaving the stage, Bacall was approached by Mayor Hsueh, who explained to him that the state will provide financial support for the project if the master plan adheres to DOT guidelines for transit villages. “From what I see,” said the mayor after the workshop, “All of these plans would qualify.”
Walters said the standard figure of 1,”000 units used in all the plans has been, and will continue to be, analyzed. “The 1,”000 figure was developed in testing all the scenarios for what would the site could accommodate. We are vetting the number of units now, testing it economically, and will have a better picture of the number of units in the next plan at the next workshop,” he said.
Council president Linda Geevers, a former school board member, said timing is a key factor in whether the school district can handle the growth. “If we do this in a five to six year time frame, having under 1,”000 units is not going to create school district problems. I don’t want to do anything to create the need for an additional school. I would not support and we’re not going to approve any plans which create need for additional schools to be built.”
“I am not happy with the idea of 1,”000 housing units at the train station and I’d like to find a way to reduce that number substantially,” said Morgan, who was unable to attend the workshop.
His running mate in the upcoming council election, Will Anklowitz, also supports a reduced amount of housing units.
Their opponent, councilman Franc Gambatese, was the lone council member to participate in the workshop at a table along with other residents. “This is very exciting,” said Gambatese about the process.
The second public meeting has brought a change in terms. The township and the architect are no longer referring to the meetings as “charrettes” but are calling the events “workshops.” Critics of the process had called the first meeting a “charade” rather than a “charrette.”
Dissent was apparent in one other form, when someone put a list of ten questions on each workshop table. The sheet appeared to have been made to look like it was part of the architect’s materials, but Bob Hillier interrupted the group work to make sure everyone knew that the sheet was not part of the workshop, and Hillier employees collected the sheets as quickly as they could.
