Having outgrown its space in West Windsor, the Eden Institute will be moving to Plainsboro after a two-story expansion and construction of a new building on the current site of the Harmony School is complete. The Harmony School, in the meantime, will be constructing its own building across Merwick Road.
The Plainsboro Planning Board gave subdivision and preliminary and final site plan approval to the Eden Institute, which presented its concepts during the board’s meeting on January 20. The Harmony School received approval for its site in December.
The move to the 2.7-acre Plainsboro site comes as a result of the growth Eden has experienced since it was established in 1975, said Carol Markowitz, the school’s chief operating officer, who has been with Eden for over 30 years. The Institute provides a lifespan of services designed to enable children and adults with autism to lead fulfilling and productive lives.
Since 1983, when the Institute moved to its current West Windsor location off Route 1, the organization has grown not only in size, but in the range of services it offers, and “the building is really no longer sufficient,” Markowitz told the board. The organization currently supports 55 students and 77 staff members.
The plan incorporates the Harmony building with a 25,”000 square-foot expansion. Because Eden is “very cognizant of knowing our children and families very well,” it does not plan to add a significant number of students once it moves, Markowitz said. After students turn 21, they become eligible for adult services, and currently there are 95 adults that utilize Eden’s facilities.
The proposal calls for a maximum of 80 students and 95 staff members, she said. The new facility will house the school, its offices, Wawa House Services — the infant and toddler program — and will provide the necessary space for the assessment and diagnosis of young children, and services including schooling, job training, and community employment and volunteering for its students. Students are trained to work in their communities, and some even work in the Plainsboro Library, said Markowitz.
With regard to the site plan, there are 41 parking spaces total on the site, which is located on a 2.7-acre plot straddled by Merwick Road and Village Boulevard, behind the police barracks and bordered by College Road West. There are 41 parking spaces located on site, and most of the staff arrive at 8 a.m. and will first fill up the spaces adjacent to the proposed bus drop-off area. Up to 78 staff members will be accommodated here.
The Institute currently utilizes six vans, which it uses to transport students, including on shopping trips and to job placements. Eden officials have worked out an understanding with the Forrestal Village that would allow the Institute to park the vans under the deck and out of sight overnight. The board included a conditional requirement in its approval that Eden make a formal agreement for the parking deck arrangement and another arrangement in which Forrestal Village would take care of solid waste on site. This is why the plan does not include an area for dumpsters.
Students at Eden are transported by their school districts every day in small vans and mini-buses. The first group arrives on site around 9 a.m. The buses pull up in front of the building, at which time staff members are already awaiting their arrival, Markowitz explained. Staff members go onto the buses to get the students and help carry their belongings. The students at Eden “really require a lot of supervision for safety.”
Buses leave the site at 2:30 p.m., following the same procedure, but the bulk leave at 5 p.m., since the school offers an after-school program, mostly for its students who fall between the ages of eight to 21. Vans to the site come onto the site in a staggered manner, and there are usually no more than eight or nine vans at a time on site.
“It’s quite a quick and efficient process in getting the students in and out,” Markowitz said, explaining that the site would not draw new traffic, since parents are not usually coming to and from the site.
Before the expansion is constructed, the soil will be remediated for dieldrin, an insecticide used during the 1950s to early 1970s, in accordance with the state Department of Environmental Protection’s standards.
The site will also feature a 3-foot high split rail fence, but the fence will not be used as a safety mechanism. “The idea of the fence is more to provide a visual barrier,” Markowitz explained. She said that because the students need to be highly supervised as at all times, when they go outside for activities, there are many staff members outside to watch them. She pointed out that the current facility is located off high-speed and traffic-laden Route 1, so staff members are already accustomed to being careful. “Supervision is key to us in terms of the safety of our kids,” she said.
The existing Harmony building on site stands at 12,”000 feet, Eden officials explained. The addition will consist of the gymnasium, separated from the existing Harmony facility by an interior lobby porch area. And the new two-story classroom wing, which will be a separate building, will be built along the College Road West potion of the site.
The new addition will feature cement board siding to blend in with the design of the existing building. The buildings form an enclosed courtyard area, which will feature playground equipment for the elementary school children. The Institute will use the open area south of the existing the building for walking trails, basketball courts, and outdoor activities, officials said.
Planning Board consultant Michael Mueller commended the work done on the site plan, including Eden’s intent to use the open space on site for recreation. “The applicants, for the first time, are really making some nice use of that area,” he said.
The Harmony School at Princeton Forrestal, which provides childcare services from 6 weeks to 10 years old, is moving to a vacant piece of land across Merwick Way, where it intends to build a facility smaller than its existing 12,”311 square foot facility. “They don’t need a second story,” said Les Varga, the township’s Director of Planning and Zoning. “What they really need is classroom space, and they can accomplish that at a more intentionally-used facility on a smaller footprints.’
Before construction at the Harmony School can begin, the soil at the site there also has to be remediated, township officials said. The application required a series of bulk variances. These bulk variances were unusual because state law sets certain setback requirements specific to child-care uses that required bulk variances from the board.
Christopher Tarr, the attorney representing both Eden and Harmony, told the board that officials were hoping the Harmony School could complete construction in time for them to move into the new facility in late August, so it could open in time for September.
Master Plan Approved. In other business during the board’s January 20 meeting, the board adopted its re-examination report and a newly reformatted and updated Master Plan.
Township Planner and Zoning Officer Ron Yake told the board that Plainsboro had applied for initial plan endorsement with the state Office of Smart Growth back in 2005 and received approval on January 18. 2006. One of the requirements was that the board update its Master Plan periodically.
While there have been 26 re-examination reports since the early 1990s, the Master Plan itself had not been updated with accurate maps and photos since then, said Planning Board consultant Michael Mueller.
Mueller said the update reflected all of the amendments that had been made to the Master Plan in that time period, and incorporates all of the revisions and studies into one document. It also now recognizes the redevelopment area at the former FMC site, the Housing and Fair Share Element, stormwater plans, and the Village Center. The board unanimously voted to approve what is referred to as the re-examination report, although the new Master Plan document completely replaces the former plan.
