The Township Committee has introduced two ordinances that, if ultimately approved, would 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 Township Committee will hold a public hearing on the ordinances on Wednesday, November 10.
In August, the Planning Board adopted the Master Plan amendment, which designated the zone as an educational and cultural arts area. The ordinances enact that amendment.
“It’s really two ordinances — one for the educational and cultural arts zone and one for the cemetery,” said Les Varga, the township’s director of Planning and Zoning, last month. The first ordinance preserves the grassy area in front of the stone buildings, known as the “great lawn” to many. The ordinance provides a generous setback from the right-of-way on Mapleton Road to the buildings. “That’s the front yard setback, so that area is preserved,” explained Varga. “That doesn’t mean that someone can’t come in the future and ask for a variance to build. But at least that’s what the objective is: to preserve that front area.”
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 separate ordinance creates a zone for cemetery uses that allow things like headstones, mausoleums, and burial places for human remains. Officials created a separate zone because a state cemetery board governs the use of cemeteries, and one of the major requirements is that a plan for the cemetery’s ultimate use and build out of the cemetery area be approved by the Township Committee.
The seminary will continue to be owned by the Eastern Province of the Congregation of St. Vincent de Paul — known as the Vincentians.
The seminary is currently zoned in the OB-1 zone, which permits office and business uses on the site, which would not preserve the site, as officials hope to do, because it permits office and business uses to come into the property, whether to use the buildings or use other pieces of the property, or actually tear the buildings down.
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.
The prospect of restoring educational uses at this particular site has already been contemplated. It attracted attention this summer when the Princeton International Academy Charter School tried to obtain a variance to operate at the seminary.
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 officials said.
In addition to the charter school, the 44-acre site has reportedly attracted interest from a variety of area institutions, including the notable Princeton-based American Boychoir, which is exploring the possibility of relocating to the site.
