The West Windsor Township Council voted Monday, October 23, to support Sarnoff when it asks the New Jersey Department of Transportation to move the traffic light at Fisher Place further north on Route 1 to allow for easier access to its property.
As a result, Fisher Place will be closed off, and made a cul-de-sac with no access to Route 1. The change will be made to provide easier access to a planned 3 million square foot mixed-use development on the Sarnoff property. Moving the light is part of a plan for new construction on the property that was originally drafted in 2002. Council’s “yes” vote on the resolution enables Sarnoff to apply for a permit from the DOT to move forward with plans for the new construction, which will include office buildings, a hotel and conference center.
The council voted 4-1 in favor of the plan. Franc Gambatese cast the lone vote against it, but says his vote was based only on the fact that he would have liked more time to hear from residents of the area on the issue. “I totally support it, another 20 days wouldn’t have hurt us to hear out the residents,” says Gambatese. “I want to know why the residents have concerns about the plan. It seems like all it’s going to do is slow traffic down in their neighborhood. Maybe they want to keep access to Route 1. I’ll go knocking on doors there to find out.”
Township engineer James Parvesse said the plan was created with the neighborhood’s residents in mind. “This was proposed to accommodate the residents of Penns Neck. It was seen as a way not to increase traffic on their streets,” he said.“Sarnoff only has general development plan approval. They still need to approve a specific site plan,” said Parvesse, “This vote was to tell them they can continue to pursue the signal relocation with the DOT, to show them that they have the township’s approval.”
Walter Schmidlin of the Sarnoff Corporation says his company must now gain approval from NJDOT to move the traffic light, in addition to gaining planning board approval on its draft plan for the development.
The council will then vote again on the planning board’s recommendation. Scmidlin estimates that construction won’t begin for at least another year.
The development is scheduled to be constructed in phases, and moving the traffic signal would be a part of the first phase. If built as planned, Sarnoff will be expanded to 3,000,000 square feet, 19 buildings, and 8,783 parking spaces.
