After more than two months of working on the housing element and fair share plan to address its third-round Council on Affordable Housing obligations, the Planning Board has adopted a plan that would produce up to 130 new affordable housing units to meet West Windsor’s requirements — leaving out the redevelopment area, which the board has said will take care of its own requirements.##M:[more]##
The plan, adopted by the board during its meeting on November 12, is expected to head to council for approval, as required by COAH regulations, by Monday, December 8. The township needs to adopt a plan by December 31 that deals with its obligations under the new third-round regulations created by COAH, or risk being sued by developers, as well as falling out from under COAH’s jurisdiction and having its affordable housing trust fund money taken away.
The sites include a 380-unit development planned on the Princeton Theological Seminary site off Wheeler Way; 35 affordable units from a development in the area of Princeton-Hightstown and Old Trenton roads; four or five credits from a group home the Eden Institute proposes to develop on Wood Hollow Drive; and 15 additional affordable units at the Project Freedom site on the Maneely tract off Old Bear Brook Road. Project Freedom is a non-profit organization that develops barrier-free housing to enable disabled individuals to live independently.
While there is virtually no cushion under this plan, officials say that if there are deficiencies, they will be given the opportunity to correct and resubmit the plan.
The township’s cumulative fair share obligation for the first through third rounds, using COAH projections, is 1,”413 — 899 for the first and second rounds; 491 in the third round; and 23 third round rehabilitation share credits. Officials calculated that with units already accounted for in prior plans, together with rental bonus credits carried over from the second round, 1,”298 of those units have already been satisfied, leaving 115 remaining.
Before adoption during its meeting, board members discussed some changes to the plan, and its two accompanying ordinances — the Maneely site and Old Trenton Road sites needed to be rezoned for the Master Plan. The changes mostly were in reference to the Maneely site.
Maneely officials originally brought a concept plan before the board in June, and planning officials had asked them to meet with residents of the area who still had concerns about the impacts of the site to their neighborhoods.
The site, located on Alexander and Bear Brook roads encompasses 50 acres, 37 of which are developable. The site is adjacent to the Estates at Princeton Junction, and across from Windsor Haven. The original concept plans proposed that 15 acres of the site be preserved.
Plans also called for 51 townhouses, 46 apartments, and 60 Project Freedom affordable housing units on the site. The non-residential component of the site was proposed to include 202 executive suites with a 7,”800 square-foot business center and a 3,”200 square-foot fitness center, as well as 11,”000 square feet of office space and 40,”000 square feet of retail space. The plans also showed a main street area, with on-street parking, bikeways, and large sidewalk area with street trees to encourage alternate travel modes. The plan also included a roundabout at the intersection of Bear Brook and Old Bear Brook roads that would serve as the main entrance to the site.
But as a result of meetings that were held between the Maneely owners, township staff, and residents along Old Bear Brook Road, a new concept plan was sketched. That plan shows the executive suites to the east, Project Freedom to the southeast, and the townhouse development to the west. In addition, the roundabout was eliminated, and a dead-end was proposed at the end of Old Bear Brook Road where it meets Alexander Road. The retail component was shifted to the far west of the site, adjoining the open space that makes up part of the Estates at Princeton Junction, which border the property.
Between that area and the new location for the townhouses, the plan proposes the executive suites. The townhouses are proposed right off Old Bear Brook Road, directly across the street from the existing single family homes, and the Project Freedom is in nearly the same area of the site where it was originally proposed. The only difference is that the number of units has been increased to 75 units, instead of the 60 units under the original plan, said Sam Surtees, the division of land use manager.
Residents had requested that any development for retail and executive suites also maintain a 75-foot setback from the road and that a buffer be provided along Old Bear Brook Road where the townhouses are proposed, perhaps in the form of a 50-foot landscaping easement.
Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner, however, said the changes to the ordinance included the addition of language that requires buildings other than townhouses or corporate suites to be oriented toward Bear Brooke Road. Only townhouses and duplex units are permitted on Old Bear Brook Road. The 25-foot setback remains, but a landscaped buffer must be provided.
In addition, “the ordinance dealing with Maneely provided for the three-story and 40-foot high buildings and made a recommendation to be consistent with a number of other similar type ordinances around the township to 35 feet or two-and-a-half stories high,” Gardner said.
Originally, the plan also provided developers of the site to have a detached office and retail component. “My thought was that since there was a building there that did have retail on the bottom, and in the dwelling units above the retail store, I had no problem giving some credence to that concept, but I did not believe the detached office and retail made sense,” Gardner added. “Basically, we eliminated the detached part.”
Gardner said board members also did not want the executive suites to be situated on Old Bear Brook Road, as uggested by theoriginal plan. “What we did was eliminate the right to build three-story homes on Old Bear Brook Road, which would eliminate the possibility of corporate suites fronting on the road directly across from homes that are situated there.”
A provision was also added that does not permit four-story buildings to be built within 250 feet of Old Bear Brook Road, which would require any corporate suites to be considerably set back from the road.
Gardner said that through the meetings between township staff, Maneely officials, and the residents, most of their concerns were addressed. The plans must now be adopted by council and approved by COAH. A developer of any of the sites still must present site plans to the board that are consistent with the plan in order to build in these areas and must receive approval.
Other Sites. The seminary site, which encompasses 68.5 acres, will be developing a total of 652 units, including 272 graduate units, and 380 nongraduate units. Of the 380 units, 304 would be market-rate and 76 would be affordable, a 20 percent set aside.
The third site is the 74.7-acre site on Princeton-Hightstown and Old Trenton roads, where 43.3 acres are developable and 31.4 are environmentally constrained. Officials proposed 140 total units — down from the originally proposed 400 — with 105 being market-rate and 35 being affordable, or, in this case, a 25 percent set aside.
In order to add this site to the plan, an ordinance was created for rezoning the site. The basic requirements include a residential density of eight dwelling units per acre; a maximum of 25,”000 square feet of neighborhood convenience retail, office, and commercial floor area; a minimum public neighborhood green of 10,”000 square feet; and plans for the affordable units to be located in apartments above retail or office uses.
The DiMeglio site, a 14.29-acre tract on Clarksville Road, will produce 114 total units, 91 of which are market-rate and 23 of which are affordable. The township’s obligation will also be met with the help of the Eden Institute, which will be acquiring a single-family home on Wood Hollow Drive to house five adults with autism.
