The Plainsboro Township Committee has adopted two ordinances to rezone the St. Joseph’s Seminary property to allow for educational and cultural arts uses on site as well as for a cemetery zone.
The committee held a public hearing on the ordinances before adopting them on November 10. The ordinances were introduced in October, sent to the Planning Board for review, as part of the legal process, and sent back to the Township Committee.
In August the Planning Board adopted a Master Plan amendment that designated the zone as an educational and cultural arts area. The ordinances adopted by the Township Committee enact that amendment.
The first ordinance preserves the grassy area in front of the stone buildings, known as the “great lawn” and provides a generous setback from the right-of-way on Mapleton Road to the buildings. The goal of the setback is to preserve the front area of the property.
The buildings on site will be zoned for educational and arts type uses, including for schools, performance areas, practice areas, dormitories, eating space, and other uses associated with a school. In the area behind the buildings, there is a smaller setback that would allow for possible building expansions for dormitory space or other space.
A second ordinance creates a zone for cemetery uses that allow things like headstones, mausoleums, and burial places for human remains.
The seminary will continue to be owned by the Eastern Province of the Congregation of St. Vincent de Paul — known as the Vincentians. The idea is to preserve the buildings and the grounds, and officials said the best way to do so was to bring back the use of the property as it was once envisioned, which was for educational purposes.
St. Joseph’s was built in 1914, when it served as a high school and college seminary for the Vincentians.
The seminary attracted attention this summer when the Princeton International Academy Charter School tried to obtain a variance to operate at the seminary — a necessary step in the state approval process that was halted when a discrepancy in notice requirements was found by the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district and recognized by the Zoning Board. The discrepancy prevented the charter school from opening in September.
However, officials say that the Master Plan amendment and ordinances apparently have nothing to do with PIACS. Rather, it is indicative of the seminary’s goals and plans for the site, as well as officials’ desire to preserve the site and its historical architecture, officials said.
The 44-acre site has reportedly attracted interest from a variety of area institutions, including the Princeton-based American Boychoir, which is exploring the possibility of relocating to the site.
