Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh delivered his recommendation of Hillier Architecture for the position of planner in West Windsor’s redevelopment. The recommendation included eight reasons for his choice and was approved by council by a 4-1 vote. Both the recommendation speech and the vote were met by applause from over 70 attendees.
Hsueh, who is a planner in his professional life, said Hillier would be the best option for the township in terms of accessibility, flexibility, cost and scope of services, familiarity with the site, involvement of the public, the traffic component, and past involvement with transit-related planning. His eighth and final reason, he said, was “the chemistry and passion Bob Hillier has for this project.”
Several council members said they would have liked to have had more time to deliberate on the decision. Charles Morgan moved to postpone the decision to a later meeting, but no one seconded the motion. Absent of deliberation, each council member spoke about his or her reasons for their vote, some from prepared statements.
Council Vice President Heidi Kleinman, who cast the lone vote against the mayor’s recommendation, said, “The Duany-Graves team has an impressive set of expertise who are leading the thinking on urban planning issues today. As a practicing architect I have been reading professional journals for 30 years and have been familiar with the work of all of these firms. This phase of our town center is about urban planning. The next phase in this process, the development, is architectural. I have studied the submitted examples of the final work products and my first choice is the Duany-Graves team as the planner for our town.”
Council President Linda Geevers fully supported the mayor’s choice. “Sometimes decisions comes down to intangibles. Who do we feel more comfortable with? I think Bob Hillier has the right chemistry to work side-by-side with the mayor, Council, the public and all others involved. People have confidence in him and know that he will put his heart and soul into this project.”
Hsueh said during his recommendation, “Since a concern was expressed about the need for a stronger component to deal with New Jersey Transit, I am also recommending, and Hillier has agreed in negotiations, to include Tom Calu to work on transit and parking issues.” Calu is a retired New Jersey Transit director, currently an independent consultant who had been affiliated with the Street Works proposal. He impressed the selection committee and the public with his discussion of West Windsor’s parking problem and his knowledge of how to work with NJ Transit, which owns a great deal of the land expected to be involved in the redevelopment.
In what would be her last council meeting, Barbar Pfeifer said her first choice was Street Works. She said she analyzed the financial figures provided by each of the final three candidates, and the White Plains, NY, company looked like the best choice. She said the addition of Tom Calu to the Hillier team made all the difference. “When I ran the numbers again with Tom Calu as part of the Hillier team, that put them on top.”
Neither Franc Gambatese nor Charles Morgan spoke directly about their first choices. “It’s like a choice between vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry. You can’t go wrong. Either way, you’re eating ice cream,” said Gambatese.
Morgan said his first choice has changed several times since each of the firms gave their public presentations. He said speaking with other council members and the selection committee brought facts to his attention that shuffled his list of choices. “You’ve heard several council members gently suggest that we had no opportunity to discuss the choices after the mayor’s negotiations with the firms. There was an agreed-upon negotiation strategy which was, as far as I can tell, not implemented. Each of the companies had gaps in their proposals we wanted them to address, and I don’t know how each of them has addressed those. We need to get this decision right. It would help to have more time, but we’re voting tonight, and I’m voting my conscience.”
Morgan later congratulated the mayor on his hard work, saying, “I don’t know if the township knows how fortunate it is to have this man as a mayor. He works harder than anyone. It’s a full-time job and he gets part-time pay, and he should get more.”
While most of the public comment was in support of the mayor’s choice, Fisher Place resident Pete Weale questioned the timing of the vote, saying it was too rushed. He said if the choice were approved that night, it would eventually be known as “The Taxes Trainsaw Massacre.”
Resident Bob Akens, who has spoken publicly against Hillier, said he felt the reasoning that Hillier’s proposal carried the lowest price tag should not be a consideration. “This is a project which is going to cost millions. We shouldn’t be swayed by a $70,”000 difference in price now, as it could turn out to cost us a lot more later.”
Hsueh emphasized the importance of making the decision that evening. The original RFP/Q stated a decision would be made no later than one month after the final public presentation, a deadline which passed on Friday, October 27. Hsueh said it would send a bad message to the planning firms if the township were to delay the decision any longer.
