After nearly a year since the West Windsor Council’s last meeting with Hillier Architecture in June, 2007, the council has found consensus on a list of items pertaining to the redevelopment of the Princeton Junction train station area as it prepares to meet with Hillier in the coming weeks.##M:[more]##
The move is just the beginning of the council’s work in hashing out the details and direction it wants to give Hillier in finishing its work on the redevelopment plan. The consensus came on March 31, after council heard a summary of the detailed reports prepared by planning consultant John Madden and traffic consultant Gary Davies, of Urbitran, in which they critiqued various elements of Hillier’s concept plan as it relates to the council’s guiding principles.
The council unanimously decided that it wanted a mixed-use Main Street, as opposed to retail only, with living units about the retail, that it didn’t want to move Schlumberger, that it wanted to get rid of the “bowl,” or expanded tunnel under the tracks, that it supported the current plan for Route 571 as laid out by the county, that Vaughn Drive should remain a connector road, that it should make use of the Acme Woods, and that the Washington Road bridge and connections of West Windsor Walks and Station Drive needs to be rethought.
“The point of this meeting was to make sure we were ready to sit down with Hillier,” said Council President Will Anklowitz. “We got our act together, we know what our questions are, we know what issues we have resolved, and what issues need to be resolved.” The next step is for the steering committee to meet with Hillier to iron out some last minute issues before the entire council sits down with the architect.
Earlier in March, the township council commissioned Madden and Davies to find out what information was still needed from Hillier with respect to his concept plan for the area, and also come up with suggestions and ideas for council to look at as they give direction to the architect.
In summarizing his report, Madden said that from a broad perspective, Hillier’s concept plan was “both logical and efficient.” One of his concerns, he said, was the adequacy of parking, and that the council should ask Hillier to define where the parking is located, and specify various factors, like how much would be serving commuters, and how much was set aside for parking generated by customers to retail uses highlighted in the plan.
He said he was also concerned about how the entire redevelopment project would be financed. “I’d have to say the project is not that large,” he said. “It’s not a project that is so large that it can carry the pack of amenities that was put forward.”
Madden said with regard to office space, large companies won’t move to West Windsor and occupy the office space proposed in the concept plan unless there’s a nice downtown area to accompany that. Madden referred to the Economic Research Associates (ERA) market analysis projections in his written report, saying that ERA projected that the redevelopment area had a strong market for retail and residential uses, but had a “gloomy office outlook.”
Despite this, “the concept plan proposes office uses as a substantial part of all program options,” Madden wrote. “I strongly recommend that the redevelopment area be viewed as a mixed use center with retail, residential, civic uses, and offices, to be developed over several decades if need be. When oil approaches $200 a barrel, this mass transit-rich location will be viewed very differently by many corporate tenants and their supporting businesses. They will pay more per square foot to be here, but only if offices are set in a lively downtown neighborhood. Otherwise, it would be just another office park near a train station.”
The Windsor Walk portion of the plan — a single-lane street in each direction with parking, and a 55-foot wide median that bisectssome of the residential area on the west side of the project — “offers the opportunity along its 1,”000 foot length for numerous stores and prestigious offices,” Madden wrote. His report also stated that it would “create a ‘Main Street’ environment for the west side. The grid pattern of streets and blocks lend themselves to flexibility in accommodating whatever scale of development is chosen.” He did say, however, he would like to know details about how much parking is there to support that retail and how much of it is off-street parking. And a final plan “must provide for a sufficient width so this important civic space does not end up becoming a landscaped traffic median and not a useable park-like greenway suitable for activities like a Saturday Farmer’s Market,” the report stated. Madden told the council, though, that the idea was “pleasant” and demonstrated a strong sense of place.
With regard to Vaughn Drive, deemed by Madden’s report to be the most important circulation feature of the plan, Madden said that because it would be a multi-lane road, he was concerned that pedestrians would not be able to cross safely, and suggested that the council consider retail uses along the road. For this, he said, the township could turn it into a boulevard with a landscaped median. And because it would carry so much traffic, which is good for retailers, “retail uses should be considered along the stretch of Vaughn Drive between the Dinky Line and Washington Road to take advantage of this regional exposure,” his report stated.
Madden said he felt strongly that the amount of housing in the plan needed to be sufficient to keep people there night and day in the center of the development, or else it would be dead during off-peak hours. “It’s not much of a center without people,” Madden said. But, the housing density in the redevelopment area was primarily going to be driven by new Council on Affordable Housing rules, which will most likely require the development to include 80 percent market-rate housing and 20 percent affordable, he said.
The council’s concerns regarding housing density, Madden said, are two-fold: council members are concerned about traffic and the number of school children generated by new families moving into the area. But most of the units are flats, for-sale condos, and rental apartments, he said. Says Madden: “I don’t believe the figures Hillier used (.35 school age childern per unit) would accurately project what you’re going to see next to a railroad.” His report also referred to the public school ratio of .0 and .24 school children per unit at the Colonnade and Canal Pointe, which also falls below Hillier’s projections. And he referenced projections from David Listokin, a leading authority on development impact analysis with the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy at Rutgers. According to his estimates, .07 school children would be generated by a one-bedroom condominium or rental unit, and .11 would be generated by a two-bedroom unit. Listokin will actually be making an appearance at the redevelopment finance committee meeting on Thursday, April 10, at 8:30 a.m. at the municipal building to discuss this subject.
Madden said township officials could see what “reality brings in” during the early stages of redevelopment. “If it turns out it’s coming close to the number Hillier’s projecting, it can be delayed,” or more of the housing could be age-restricted, he said. Another option could also be transfer of development rights. “It’s another mechanism for the community to control the demographic characteristics of the development here,” Madden said.
With regard to commuter parking proposed north of the train station on the west side, Madden said he was concerned because the land is privately owned, it may be more realistic to assume those property owners will want to develop retail or office uses close to the station.
Madden came up with a slew of suggestions for the east side, primarily regarding the plan’s call for the relocation of the Schlumberger and PNC Bank properties and the creation of a Town Green. He told the council those items should be the lowest priority in the plan, and that it might be more appropriate for the plan to propose an alternative scaled-down plan for uses on Wallace Road. And instead of creating a new Town Green on the east side, “the plan should look to making better use of the developable areas of the Acme Woods as a civic space or town green.”
He also suggested that the plan should open up views to Acme Woods from Route 571. He said he knows a lot of it is wetlands, “but there are developable area. Maybe that would be a more appropriate way of utilizing that space,” he said.
And the biggest challenge in the plan is providing for east to west access under or over the railroad tracks, he said. The proposed “Bowl,” he said, would be an attractive access alternative to the existing narrow pedestrian tunnels, but it comes with a $10 million price tag. Madden also pointed out that the plan did not set aside any developable open area for stormwater control and water quality treatment.
He said that the as-of-right would not be a realistic development outcome, and that the township also needed to look further into implementation costs besides Tax Increment Financing, including the determination of how much the parking rate fees should be. “We also need to divide developer costs and public costs,” and also what the affordable housing costs will be, he said.
In closing, he told the council that “I find the plan, as proposed by Hillier, has the capability of meeting all of those guiding principles,” set out by the council that he used for the review.
Davies shared the results of his “sketch-level” traffic study and the estimates he developed. He focused on the five key “gateway” intersections, including Alexander-Vaughn; Route 571-Alexander; Route 571-Wallace; Alexander-North Post; and Washington-Vaughn.
Comparing the existing and future no-build peak hour traffic volumes, Davies said that through traffic will increase over the next 20 to 25 years, and that the township must keep in mind major roadway projects, like the Penns Neck improvements, the Alexander-North Post roundabout and bridge, and the Sarnoff Connector. He also said township officials should keep in mind that there are large office properties, including Carnegie Center and Sarnoff, which have plan approvals in place, but have not yet been fully constructed.
A chart depicting the number of cars generated during peak traffic hours in the redevelopment area, in most cases, increased under a future no-build scenario in areas like Route 571 at Amtrak and Alexander at Scott.
He also compared the existing and future levels of intersection delays — determined by how many seconds a typical vehicle will be waiting at the intersections — at the Route 571-Wallace, Route571-Alexander, and Alexander-Vaughn intersections. He rated the intersections’ performances by grading them on a scale of A to F, with F being the worst condition. Under current conditions, most of the intersections received a rating of D during the morning and evening commute times. Route 571-Alexander intersection during the morning commute and the Alexander-Vaughn intersection during the evening commute received a rating of C. Under future no-build, Davies’ chart showed conditions at many of the intersections declining to ratings of E and F. However, with the planned Route 571 improvements implemented, the conditions actually improved to a rating of B, the charts showed.
“This analysis indicates that at each of the three signalized intersections in the study area, traffic volumes will exceed capacity even with no further development action within the redevelopment area and if no further mitigation is applied,” his report stated. “In considering alternatives for the Route 571 improvement, the township clearly articulated its objective to limit roadway widening, even if congestion were to result. The findings of this analysis are consistent with that position.”
Davies said, however, that the council should look at how much congestion it finds tolerable when contemplating what type of infrastructure is needed for the area.
With regard to the actual concept plan, the first thing Davies mentioned was that he was concerned with Station Drive. “Station Drive is a troublesome street to me,” he said. “I’m afraid we’re going to end up with traffic where we didn’t plan for it, and no traffic where we did.”
“The location of Vaughn Drive relative to the site’s activity nodes — the garages and station access — are such that traffic will be less likely to use Vaughn Drive than Station Drive,” his report states.
In his report, Davies also states that Station Drive serves a vital role because it provides alternative access to relieve the Alexander/Vaughn and Vaughn/Washington intersections, and it gives access to the core of the project. “Attention should be given to developing high-capacity intersections on Alexander and Washington, but intercepting points and traffic calming within the core area could be combined to achieve this goal,” he stated. “Perhaps roundabouts at the intercept points and traffic calming within the core area could be combined to achieve this goal.”
Because of all the transit-related activities that take place in the area, including pick-up, taxis, pedestrians, and general traffic, it needs to be planned well. And “I think there’s a whole series of questions that remain to be answered about Washington Road itself,” he added.
Like Madden, he said traffic and transit numbers, including how many drop-offs occur each day, need to be gathered. Also like Madden, Davies said he liked the idea in the plan for West Windsor Walks and that the objective of the project should be to encourage as much pedestrian traffic as possible. But these plans for the west side of the tracks do not completely show how circulation in the area will work, he said.
With regard to the east side, Davies said the area is a nice compact space, but he was afraid it would be too compact, and it was not clear in the concept plan how Wallace Road would be used. The amount of curb space needed for activities like shuttle buses, taxis and pickup and drop-off is not adequate, he said.
With regard to parking, he said he needed more information from Hillier regarding the tabulation of parking needs. In Hillier’s plan, Davies calculated about 6,”600 total parking spaces provided for the redevelopment area, but said he didn’t think that would be sufficient for the needs of the development, and he said that he was worried about the financing of those 6,”000 parking spaces. “I’m very nervous when I see 6,”000 spaces. Multiply 6,”000 by $20,”000, and that’s a very big number,” he said.
He also expressed concern that the township would actually be able to recover the state funding for the Vaughn Drive connector because it’s a very competitive process.
Council members said they were pleased with the amount of work Davies and Madden put into their reports. Councilwoman Linda Geevers said it was the first “technical substantive discussion the council has had since June 4.” She said she agreed with the consultants’ comments that council needed to re-examine Station Drive. Councilwoman Heidi Kleinman said she thought that Vaughn Drive should remain as a connector road, and shouldn’t include retail, and she suggested the council look at whether the West Windsor Walks as proposed by Hillier was located “the exact right spot.”
“This plan only works if the traffic pattern for bikes, pedestrians, and cars works,” she said. “I’m not ready to talk about density.” She said once the issues for a pedestrian and car network are hashed out, “then the discussion of zoning options and density of uses for the site would infill an agreed-upon workable framework.”
Councilmen George Borek and Charles Morgan said they would be reviewing the reports more thoroughly and submitting further comments and questions in time for the steering committee meeting.
The items on which the council built consensus will head to the steering committee, which consists of Borek, Kleinman, and Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh. Earlier in the evening, the council voted to alter the memebership of the steering committee, removing Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner, “to reflect the decision of the Planning Board in its January 16 resolution returning responsibility for preparing the redevelopment plan to the governing body.” The resolution also stated that if more than two members of council are going to attend the steering committee meetings, the clerk’s office must notice those meetings.
The redevelopment attorney and redevelopment entity issues were adjourned, and Anklowitz asked Hsueh to invite Robbinsville Mayor David Fried, or Robbinsville business administrator Mary Caffrey, to appear at a future council meeting to discuss how that town went through the process. West Windsor is planning on using language from resolutions the Robbinsville Township Council, which is undergoing a redevelopment process of its own, to resolve the issues.
In other business, the council appointed Pat Boyle to the open advisory position on the West Windsor Parking Authority.
— Cara Latham
Editor’s Note: In the print edition for April 4, the article states that the meeting with Hillier was set for April 7. Actually, the meeting has been pushed to a later date to be determined.
