Less than a week before the West Windsor Township Council is scheduled to hear a review from its professionals of InterCap Holdings’ proposed plans for the Princeton Junction train station redevelopment, InterCap CEO Steve Goldin has sent a letter to the council emphasizing his opposition to the possibility that some housing units could be shifted from InterCap’s property to NJ Transit’s, as council works on its redevelopment plan.##M:[more]##
Goldin has been holding his own public presentations about the 350-acre redevelopment area all year long. During the most recent presentation on May 31, Goldin revealed proposals for 250 senior citizen condos and townhouses, 450 market-rate condos and townhouses, and 144 affordable housing units on his company’s 25 acres on Washington Road.
Taking into account all properties in the redevelopment area, Goldin’s proposal calls for 755,”000 square feet of office space, 292,”000 square feet of restaurant and retail space, 250 senior units, 144 senior affordable housing units, 450 market-rate townhomes, and 152 non-senior affordable housing units. He also proposed that parking for West Windsor residents at the train station increase from 1,”000 to 2,”000 spaces, and that NJ Transit parking increase to 4,”000 spaces from 2,”500.
The council’s meeting is set for Monday, September 8, at 7 p.m. at the municipal building.
In response, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh also sent a memo to council a day after Goldin’s letter was sent. “”I don’t want poltiics to be part of this,”” he told the News. “”Let’s have all things being discussed openly.”” He said the township’s parking, traffic, and infrastructure problems need to be fixed as soon as possible and that “”politics are not going to solve these problems.”” He said he wants the township to rely on its professionals to make decisions on what should go into the redevelopment plan.
Below is Goldin’s letter, followed by Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh’s memo to council.
Steve Goldin’s Letter To Council
West Windsor Must Focus on Residents, Not Politics
For nearly one year, InterCap Holdings has worked diligently to learn what the majority of West Windsor residents desire to see developed in the area surrounding the Princeton Junction Train Station.
Our team has conducted meetings, focus groups and outreach to more than 1,”500 residents. We surveyed repeatedly and developed a plan after three well-publicized and well-attended community meetings. All of our technical studies have been provided to the Township, its consultants, the media and the public via our website, www.intercapholdings.com. In short, InterCap has pursued every possible avenue to conduct an open and public process for residents to shape the redevelopment plan. Our refined plan specifically reflects the needs and desires of a large majority of West Windsor residents.
On Monday, September 8, following the presentation and analysis of our plan by the Township’s planning and traffic consultants, the Township Council is presumably prepared to provide RMJM/Hillier with direction to prepare the redevelopment plan. One of the options Council may consider will be to reduce the number of residential units on the InterCap site, shifting them to the adjacent NJ Transit site.
This option does not make sense from a sound planning, financial or public process point of view. If Council were to approve this option, it would not make economic sense for InterCap to redevelop its property.
In that event, the Township would lose $38 million of the $74 million of bonding capacity for the entire redevelopment project. The $36 million remaining would not be enough to fund the $30 million parking deck for residents, the $19 million for West Windsor’s share of Vaughn Drive or the $25 million in additional traffic improvements which we had planned.
It would seem that such an effort to split the residential component would be nothing more than another effort to delay or outright kill redevelopment while trying to appear in favor of it. It is exactly this type of gamesmanship that the public has grown frustrated with and that we have all tried to avoid over the past few months.
As has been reported at the Interagency Task Force Meetings, no less than three different national planning firms, under contract to three different clients (Cooper Eckstut/NJ Transit; Hillier/West Windsor Township; LRK/InterCap), have each independently concluded that the correct distribution of residential, office and retail uses appears under the InterCap plan. In addition, the Township’s own traffic engineer has stated at meetings of the Interagency Task Force that our plan minimizes the traffic impact on the adjacent Penns Neck neighborhood because the residential uses are located on our site. It is unclear why Council would contradict the near unanimous recommendations of the three national planning firms.
The reasons these professionals have independently reached the same planning conclusions are as follows:
People do not want to live immediately adjacent to parking decks proposed to house 6,”000 vehicles.
Because NJ Transit will not sell their land, but only enter into a ground lease, the units on its property can only legally be built as rentals. West Windsor residents have clearly stated they want owner-occupied housing.
The displacement of parking decks from the NJ Transit property, to accommodate additional housing, forces the decks to the InterCap site, creating significant traffic problems for the Penns Neck neighborhood along Washington Road. The plan also results in an unrealistic walk to the station for commuters using these decks. It does not make sense from a planning or traffic perspective.
West Windsor’s professionals will agree it is essential to have a critical mass of residential development in a concentrated location to animate the space in the evenings and on weekends, thereby supporting the retail component. Because the total amount of residential units is limited, dispersing them undermines this goal and threatens the viability of the retail.
There seems to be a misunderstanding as to what constitutes a mixed-use development. Mixed Use does not mean that each parcel itself has to contain office, retail and residential. (This was underscored during the Hillier charrette process.) Rather, the redevelopment area, which usually and in this case does include parcels immediately adjacent to one another, should create a mixed use environment in a compact assemblage. This is exactly what has been achieved with the plan we have all been working on together.
For all of these reasons, we can fathom no sound, rational, policy-based reason as to why the Council would consider taking this action.
If the Council does proceed with this action, it will most likely come at the conclusion of what will likely be a very long presentation by its professionals. Most members of the public will have gone home for the night. The Council will effectively be taking a “midnight vote,” directing its professionals to proceed in a manner that has not been put before the public, in contradiction to all previous actions by both the Township and InterCap to conduct business and offer options in the light of day and in full public view.
I look forward to speaking to members of Council before Monday’s meeting to chart a path forward that best serves the interests of West Windsor residents.
Steven E. Goldin
Chairman & CEO
InterCap Holdings
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh’s Memo
MEMORANDUM
TO: West Windsor Township Council
FROM:Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh
CC: Christopher R. Marion, Business Administrator
M. Patricia Ward, Community Development Coordinator
Planning Board Members
Parking Authority Members
Gary Davies, Urbitran Associates
John Madden Maser Consulting
DATE: September 4, 2008
RE: Princeton Junction Transit Village Redevelopment — Next Steps
In April of 2004, I urged Council to adopt a resolution to authorize the Planning Board to conduct a study to determine whether the 350-acre area surrounding the Princeton Junction/West Windsor Train Station should be designated an area in need of redevelopment. That step was initiated to manage future development around the second most active train station in the state; to take advantage of the location to attract additional, quality ratables; to encourage private investment to improve both that station and the surrounding area; and to encourage commuters to use mass transit rather than continuing to rely on private automobiles. At the time this step was taken, the average price of regular gasoline was $1.66 a gallon. The redevelopment statute, as opposed to the Municipal Land Use Law, provides much more control over development including phased development or timed growth. It also provides for financial incentives provided by the NJ Economic Development Authority. Therefore, an Area in Need of Redevelopment designation was attractive to the Township.
Three years ago, with full funding from the State, the Planning Board, developed its study as a prelude to the formulation of a Redevelopment Plan. A Redevelopment Plan would qualify the Township for substantial state financial, technical, and administrative assistance and would provide the mechanism for private investment through redevelopment agreements, I had hoped that by this time improvements to the station, including the construction of garages to accommodate West Windsor commuters, and a mixed-use development would be underway. Unfortunately, this has not occurred for a variety of reasons which need not be raised here.
When the Request for Qualifications and Proposals (RFQ/P) for a planning consultant for the redevelopment plan was constructed, it sought proposals that would go far beyond simply developing a roaster plan or land use plan for the redevelopment site. It addressed matters that would normally be contained in a later site plan application from a developer including design and streetscape issues, together with a quantification of the amount of housing, retail, and commercial development. In compliance with the RFQ/P, RMJM Hillier presented preliminary concepts for public review and comment. Regrettably, these concepts created premature over-reactions to issues such as housing, school children, and traffic.
Although recently the Council and Administration have been working cooperatively, the fact remains that for one entire year from June 4, 2007 no tangible progress occurred in the formulation of a redevelopment plan. However, contracts have now been approved by the Council for RMJM Hillier to complete the redevelopment plan together with John Madden and Gary Davies, our planning and traffic consultants, with a timeline that calls for a completed redevelopment plan by the end of this year. Although this would be 15 months beyond what was originally planned in the RFQ/P, it is a goal that we must attain if we are to be successful in retaining support from both County and State agencies. Also, the more we delay having a Redevelopment Plan, the more we risk losing quality private developers and their investment capital to other projects in other municipalities.
Knowing the urgency of proceeding with actual development of the redevelopment area, I met with the Township’s administrative team and developed the following proposed outline on how I recommend we proceed:
1. Over the next four months we should focus completely on the appropriate content of the redevelopment plan. This needs to be a land-use focused master plan and not a vision or site plan and not an actual application plan. The following are the various actions that should take place at the same time as the preparation of the plan:
a. The Mayor and Council should define the broad goals and desired uses for the redevelopment site in the same way the Planning Board does when it undertakes the preparation of a new master plan or a new comprehensive zoning ordinance. This should include height restrictions or allowances, set backs, densities, and other related limits or restrictions as well as overall permitted and desired uses. It should not try to identify or locate specific projects on the site, nor should it be bogged down with separate financial and environmental studies, which can be undertaken at a later phase.
b. The Township planners should concentrate on these land use principles to set forth and define, within ranges, the uses and restrictions or allowances at the site that meet the Township’s goals and desires. The developers ultimately selected by the Township will be able to prepare very specific project plans visually and financially against what is allowable. This site will clearly attract the interest of quality developers who will be able to provide the creative substance to meet the objectives of the redevelopment area.
c. Administration officials should continue to meet with each of the property owners in the redevelopment area, particularly NJ Transit, InterCap Holdings, and Sarnoff to encourage their active participation in the redevelopment process. Issues such as land swaps, commitment to assisting other property owners, and the location of public amenities are all topics that will be required as specific development plans are submitted.
d. I have now had discussions with the NJ DEP to secure Brownfield remediation financing to conduct a study of all contaminated sites in the redevelopment area. This will help the Township clean up the sites in preparation for future development.
e. Continued discussions should be held with the Township Parking Authority to understand its short-term and long-term parking objectives and desired locations within the redevelopment area.
In my view, no additional consultants are necessary to be hired at this time while this is being done. The Township has professionals and staff which can effectively assist throughout this phase. These include the Redevelopment Finance Committee, Phoenix Advisors, the Township CFO and Tax Assessor, and others.
2. After the redevelopment plan is adopted the end of this year, the Township Administration and Council should undertake the following steps:
a. Prepare a Request for Proposals for developers for either the entire redevelopment site or portions thereof. Information meetings should be held to explain the Township’s plan and answer questions, The proposals ultimately submitted by developers will likely be
comprehensive and will establish varying and different visions for the site. These will enable the Township to examine different configurations and uses, all at the cost of the developers rather than the Township. These proposals will reflect not only a design, but also real economic and financial considerations associated with the design. A master developer may provide the best result but the Township should ensure the master developer include other developers whether existing property owners or not. The Township can also choose to develop the site in stages with different developers. The redevelopment agreement(s) will require specific timetables to be met or the redevelopment agreement(s) will terminate.
b. The Township’s Financial Advisor, Phoenix, should prepare a Request for Proposals for investment banking firms or other financial professionals. This would be to assist the Township in evaluating the developers’ proposals and consider the various tax and revenue models and financing options available to the Township in connection with specific development proposals.
c. The Township might select professional consultant(s) to provide financial impact and appraisal services and advice to help evaluate individual developer proposals in connection with projected Township tax and other revenue from this proposed development.
d. It is at this time that the Township should select a redevelopment attorney to assist in negotiating and identifying the terms of any redevelopment agreements or financial or tax or special assessment agreements that would be specific to one or more redevelopment developers.
I hope that Council will agree with this blueprint. While we may have different views of what the redevelopment area should include, we must move this project forward together.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh
