Dozens of residents, mostly from the Village Grande retirement community, attended the September 28 Council meeting to express dismay at the traffic conditions on Old Trenton Road and voice opposition to further development along the road.
According to Toby Shor, president of the Village Grande Homeowners Association, there is considerable congestion at the intersection of Route 571 and Old Trenton Road. The area of the intersection is where West Windsor township ends and East Windsor begins, and with the proposed commercial development on the East Windsor side residents expect additional traffic.
North of the intersection cosmetics company Shiseido recently announced a 45,000-square-foot expansion of its existing facility. South of the intersection adjacent to the Corner-Copia nursery, Aurobindo Pharma USA owns a 90-acre parcel intended for a pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution center.
With traffic already bad and due to worsen, Shor opposed any potential development on vacant West Windsor properties alongside Old Trenton Road.
With the ongoing construction of a mosque, there are two remaining vacant properties that are not preserved open space. Jeffrey Sands of Hilton Realty owns a parcel adjacent to the Princeton Arms strip mall occupied by Hong Kong Palace and Capuano. The property is currently zoned for professional offices, though the township has received no indication that Sands is seeking to develop it in the near future.
Across Old Trenton Road and adjacent to East Windsor Deli is a 60-acre parcel owned by Bryce Thompson of Thompson Realty. The township master plan calls for the property to be developed. It is currently zoned for research and commercial office use.
Council president Bryan Maher responded to resident concern by citing the township’s affordable housing obligations.
“Nobody wants it in their backyard, but it’s got to go somewhere,” Maher said.
Statewide municipalities are engaged in litigation to determine each town’s affordable housing obligation, and Maher added that the ongoing municipal efforts to figure out West Windsor’s affordable housing mandate is a result of inaction on the state level.
“It really comes down to people not doing their job in Trenton,” Maher said. “Legislators are not taking their responsibility.”
Toward the end of the meeting, Shor publicly commented a second time to clarify her opposition to developing the vacant 60-acre lot owned by Thompson Realty, saying she was concerned about increasing traffic.
“It’s not about affordable housing, or what may or may not be built,” Shor said.
Maher again responded by citing affordable housing obligations.
“Whatever the affordable obligation is, it is going to be built in conjunction with market rate involvement,” Maher says. “We’re trying to figure out the best, least impactful sites.”
#b#Community Park traffic safety.#/b# After a fatal traffic accident at the Community Park entrance on Princeton-Hightstown Road this past summer, the township has voiced support for installing a left turn signal for eastbound motorists turning into the park. The road is under Mercer County jurisdiction, and Council approved a resolution urging the county to coordinate with township engineers to make the traffic improvement.
#b#North Post Road project update.#/b# For the second straight Council meeting, Monterey Drive resident Kathy Brennan followed up on the North Post Road widening project and asked whether the engineering consultants were given a recording of public comments on the project. More than two dozen residents attended a public meeting last June on the proposed project, and township staff told attendees the public input recorded during the two-hour meeting would be passed along to the consultants.
Residents’ concerns include increased speed on the widened road and the elimination of on-street parking to accommodate bike lanes.
The township contracted with Hamilton-based Roberts Engineering Group for survey and engineering services.
Brennan was concerned the consultants did not receive the public input from the meeting. She also asked the mayor if he had listened to the recording, to which he said no.
“We were told consultants would be at the June public meeting, they were not, and we were promised the consultants would be given the public comments,” Brennan said after the meeting.
In response to Brennan’s comments, Maher expressed frustration that Council had not yet received CD recordings of the public meeting from the administration.
Township clerk Sharon Young said she had uploaded the recording onto the network drive, which Council members can access. She said she will distribute CDs as well.
A concept plan for the North Post Road widening project outlined a 36-foot-wide street section with two 12-foot-wide travel lands and six-foot-wide bicycle lanes. An alternative design is a 32-foot-wide roadway with 11-foot travel lanes and five-foot bike lanes.
Maher said he would not approve a 36-foot design, but he was open to the 32-foot design.
After the meeting, Hsueh said the engineering consultants have finished a basic survey of North Post Road. The next step is a design and recommendation report, which he hopes will be completed by the end of the year.
“It is not true the mayor and administration do not listen to the public,” Hsueh said. “Step one is for the consultants to do the study to get familiar with North Post Road. After that they will get the two-hour public comment recording. The next step is recommendations and design, and public input will be incorporated into the design.”
Hsueh also responded to two issues raised by Virginia Manzari and Gerald Halloran, who are running for Council.
Manzari said crosswalk borders near the train station were fading and posed a safety issue. Hsueh acknowledged a lot of stripes are fading due to the weather and said there are plans next year to review all the crosswalk stripings in the township and restripe problem crosswalks.
Halloran asked why there is no speed limit sign along Meadow Road. Hsueh said the state department of transportation approved 50 mile per hour speed limits, which he deems too fast. The township has declined to put up 50 mile per hour speed signs and is planning on petitioning the state to approve a lower speed limit. The township has recorded average speeds of 40 miles per hour along the road.
#b#Open space.#/b# Council approved a grant agreement with Mercer County that would reimburse the township $262,500 for the Cella Property open space acquisition. The 35.42-acre property, located on 174 and 180 Clarksville Road near the Meadow Road bridge, was purchased by the township this past summer for $564,600.
Resident Pete Weale questioned the $238,605 price tag for the cricket pitch to be built at Community Park. Hsueh explained much of the cost is attributed to converting the site into a usable field. Sediment from Grovers Mill Pond was deposited on the site after the 2008 clean-up conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers and the township, and state Department of Environmental Protection permitting is required.
Alison Miller, president of Friends of West Windsor Open Space and a Council candidate, commented that open space funds were going to the cricket pitch project. She noted that while most of the money from the open space tax goes toward property acquisition, a proportion also funds development and maintenance of open space properties.
In other news, Council approved the purchase of a police vehicle for $26,989.49, and another police van for $30,287.50.
