As township officials begin meeting with New Jersey Transit officials to hash out the remaining traffic circulation issues, the West Windsor Township Council is expected to vote on several redevelopment issues during its meeting on Monday, July 13.
In the meantime, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said that he and township professionals, along with representatives from the West Windsor Parking Authority held their first meeting (not open to the public) with NJT officials in NJT’s Newark office on June 24, which focused on structured parking issues and traffic circulation.
“We need to solve the traffic circulation before we can resolve the structured parking issues,” he said. Councilman-elect Kamal Khanna and Councilwoman Diane Ciccone, meantime, met with Ed McManimon, the mayor’s recommended redevelopment attorney, to review his proposal, as the two had not yet had the same opportunity other council members have had in the past.
With virtually no money budgeted right now for redevelopment matters, and without an updated proposal from the preferred candidate for redevelopment attorney, there is little West Windsor can do to move redevelopment along, Hsueh has been saying in recent weeks.
The council and mayor agreed to put both a capital improvement bond ordinance for $200,000 and a refreshed proposal from redevelopment attorney candidate Ed McManimon on the agenda for the council’s meeting on Monday, July 13. Along with this, proposals from planner John Madden and traffic consultant Gary Davies, for continued redevelopment work, will be reviewed.
Hsueh recommended Ed McManimon as the attorney for the job about 18 months ago. McManimon has also worked as Plainsboro’s redevelopment attorney with regard to the new University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro that is currently being constructed off Route 1.
A plan for the 350-acre Princeton Junction train station redevelopment area was adopted in March. The plan calls for a total base number of 483 housing units consisting of 311 market-priced units and 172 affordable housing units. As for non-residential development, the plan proposes 207,910 square feet of retail with the potential option to increase retail floor area in District 1 — which encompasses the 25 acres off Washington Road owned by InterCap Holdings — by an additional 67,500 square feet along with 7,500 square feet of added office space.
If the option for 75,000 square feet of additional commercial space is implemented, it would add an obligation for nine more affordable housing units. This would bring the total redevelopment area residential unit count to 496, with 311 market units and 185 affordable units.
Aside from adopting the bond ordinance and hiring a redevelopment attorney, Hsueh’s other suggestion was to also gain the commitment from state officials on funding — for Vaughn Drive, for example — and other issues.
In other business, the West Windsor Council approved a supplemental salary of $2,000 extra per month (not to exceed 90 days) to Acting Township Administrator Bob Hary. Hary, who makes a base salary of $104,000 as the township’s current Director of Health and Human Services, took over for former Township Administrator Chris Marion, who resigned effective June 23.
According to the resolution approved by the council, Hary will serve as the acting business administrator while retaining his current responsibilities.
The council also approved an amendment to a contract with Van Note-Harvey Associates, of Princeton, for additional consulting services with regard to engineering for work associated with the Penn Lyle Road reconstruction project.
The council originally awarded the contract in October, 2008, for $79,455 for the project. According to the resolution, however, “the extent of required road widening and sidewalk design will now require stormwater management.” The amendment adds $1,750 to the contract, bringing the revised contract cost to a total of $81,205.
West Windsor previously received $200,000 in municipal aid from the state to be used for phase one of the Penn Lyle Road project. The project includes milling, overlay, and drainage improvements and the widening of Penn Lyle Road between Village Road West and Westwinds Drive. The project also aims to improve bicycle and pedestrian access, with road striped with 12-foot travel lanes and 6-foot wide shoulders in both directions. The project, which is estimated to cost $360,000, does not require right-of-way acquisition, and includes a speed survey, and evaluations of passing zones and potential sidewalk extensions and pedestrian crossings.
The council also approved three grant applications tot he state Department of Transportation to seek funding for road improvement and bicycle and pedestrian improvement projects around town.
The first grant application seeks $225,000 for the first phase of the Village Road West reconstruction project. The proposed reconstruction project would include road reconstruction, pavement milling and overlay, and drainage improvements on Village Road West between North Post Road and Baxter Place.
The second application seeks $70,000 for the Trolley Line Trail extension project. The proposed improvements would create a dedicated bicycle and pedestrian path separated from vehicular traffic along the PSE&G right-of-way located between Penn Lyle Road and Village Road West.
The third grant application seeks $375,000 for improving pedestrian safety and access near the Princeton Junction train station. The proposed construction project would provide an additional pedestrian access and safety measures between the West Windsor Parking Authority parking lot on Wallace Road and the proposed West Windsor Township parking area on Alexander Road on the site of the former compost facility.
The improvements would include a raised accessible walkway, lighting, handicap ramps, and signage. Officials said the walkway consist of a raised board walkway that would be constructed over the wetlands. Councilwoman Heidi Kleinman urged the council and township professionals to include drawings or language describing the need for a walkway over the train tracks — perhaps for a future phase — so that the idea is not excluded from any funding possibilities in the future.
After receiving two state grants for remediation of the compost site, the township moved ahead with preliminary efforts to begin remediation to make way for more parking. Officials are looking at surface parking instead of structured parking for the compost site because as the site currently is, the soil is too soft to support structured parking.
