Two plans for the municipal complex renovations and emergency services facility space received positive reviews while a third was scuttled at the Council meeting on December 8.
Option A, which would add a building behind the post office and across across form the library for emergency vehicles, was dismissed following neighborhood opposition.
Every Council member save George Borek indicated a preference for option C, which includes plans for a new EMS building next to the existing firehouse on Clarksville Road, and the relocation of the health department to the former police wing in the main municipal building. Council members Linda Geevers and Kristina Samonte said a new building provides flexibility in case of future expansion.
Option B involves retrofitting the municipal building with facility additions to accommodate EMS staff and vehicles.
Borek, a longtime Jersey City firefighter, said the additions under option B make more sense than a new stand=alone building, which may eventually be underutilized in light of the general trend in declining volunteers.
“My concern is 15 to 20 years down the road, because emergency services just can’t get enough volunteers and the township has to assume that responsibility, we’ll have the firehouse that they are currently in and then we’ll have the other [proposed] building. If you have it attached to the [municipal complex], they can utilize it for something else. From my perspective, plan B makes the most logical sense.”
Director of community development Pat Ward also voiced support for option B.
“For cost benefit we were looking at option B because you wouldn’t have to have all the permitting and approvals needed for option C. I thought B is a good compromise,” Ward said. “In cost benefit, option B is doing more for the existing municipal building, which is in need of maintenance and improvements.”
Jim Yates, who heads the township’s fire and emergency services division, said options B and C both meet EMS needs, but he believed C was the superior option.
“We felt option C gives us a little more flexibility, it could be expanded upon if needed. The restrictions on option B are we would have to share that space with the municipal environment, and that’s fine until we start training, running vehicles out back. While I appreciate the desire to keep us all here, and that would be an advantage for all of us to be here, I think option C gives us an advantage from an operational standpoint.”
Council president Bryan Maher also supported option C, calling for the resolution of EMS work space first, followed by a second phase to address the long term needs of the municipal building, the arts council, and the post office. Maher asked for additional information on the look, feel, scope, and cost estimate of a new building, emphasizing the importance appearance, saying it should look as good as the brick facade of the adjacent Princeton Junction firehouse. That would justify a higher expense, Maher said, and the total expense should be borne by current and future taxpayers through cash reserves and bonding.
“If we go over $1.6 million, and we probably do, maybe we spend the $1.6 million in cash that we allocated, and bond the $800,000, or whatever that number is needed,” Maher said.
After the meeting, Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said it would be more cost effective to do the municipal complex renovations and the EMS project concurrently, but Council will make the final determination. Maintenance expenditures to patch the municipal building’s various structural and insulation issues have been costly.
“We did provide for the information Council asked for, but again some of the additional information means we need to hire contractors. Right now, if Council decides where to go, we have to propose a budget to hire architects to do the design work and renovation,” Hsueh said.
#b#Howard Hughes update.#/b# The Howard Hughes Corporation’s attorney, Mark Solomon of Pepper Hamilton LLP, based at 301 Carnegie Center, reiterated before Council the company’s desire to connect the concept plan request to redevelopment designation. Acknowledging the exchange of letters, Solomon noted communication via letter “is less than ideal in certain circumstances” and that Howard Hughes is seeking to establish more dialogue with Council.
The township sent a letter to Solomon earlier in the day informing Howard Hughes that a redevelopment investigation is premature and would only follow after the Planning Board reviews a concept plan by Howard Hughes.
Said Maher: “We want to do a concept plan first, and after that, if we feel compelled we may then revisit the area in need of redevelopment. Just because an area might qualify doesn’t mean we have to go that route. I literally haven’t had one person say redevelopment is something any member of this town wants to pursue. If you want to develop it as mixed use, show us your hand. What does mixed use mean? And until you show us your hand I don’t think any of us are compelled to do anything.”
Geevers said this represented Council’s consensus view.
Township attorney Michael Herbert added that Mayor Hsueh also supports the process of first presenting a concept plan.
#b#Pedestrian Safety.#/b# Council approved a resolution urging Mercer County to install pedestrian safety improvements at the Hawk Drive intersection at Clarksville Road, which is a county road. The resolution formally requests the installation of improved lighting, a pedestrian crossing, pedestrian-activated warning lights, appropriate signing, and more frequent activation of speed display signs.
Jerry Foster and Alison Miller, president and first vice president of West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance, were present to urge Council to pass the resolution.
“I think it’s time for traffic engineers to realize that traffic is foot traffic as well as car traffic. Rather than trying to direct people in convoluted pathways to get them to cross at what the traffic engineers consider safe crossings, they should make the safe crossings where people cross,” Miller says.
#b#Four ordinances introduced.#/b# Amendments to the nuisance and noise ordinances were introduced after being discussed at the November 24 Council meeting.
The other two ordinances pertained to the township’s open space acquisition of the 11.47 acre Akselrad parcel located on Normandy Drive for a total of $626,500. Maher said the township currently owns two parcels of preserved open space on each side of the property.
Public hearings for all four ordinances will be held at the Council meeting on Monday, December 22.
Other news: Regarding the Historical Society of West Windsor’s federal nonprofit 501(c)3 status, which Geevers says has been an issue the past several years, the township will now seek an operating agreement through a memorandum of understanding, or MOU.
Council also approved the purchase of one 2015 John Deere 544K Loader from Jesco Inc. and Tink 720 claw for $194,222.05. Council also accepted a $7,500 grant for the 2014 Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Year End Holiday Crackdown.
