Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said he believes Hillier Architecture made a “political mistake” when it did not include options in its redevelopment concept plans for less than 1,”000 housing units.##M:[more]##
“Hillier has been doing a good job bringing in hundreds of opinions to come up with one concept plan,” said Hsueh. “I think they just made a political mistake and now people consider the 1,”000 units a done deal, and it’s not.”
In the wake of an election that showed West Windsor residents oppose 1,”000 housing units as part of the township’s redevelopment, Hsueh says the most important result of the process is agreement amongst residents. “At the end, if we have community consensus, that’s what we want. I made myself clear on that, I’ve never changed my position.”
Hsueh said he expects the plan that Hillier will present to the township on June 4 will include more options. “The plan at the June 4 meeting is going to be include a lot more information and data. We will see numbers that will be more appropriate, and that will meet our needs.”
Hsueh said the amenities the project includes will be directly related to the amount of housing that is built in the redevelopment. Less housing built will mean less revenue generated, will mean less amenities for residents, according to the Mayor.
Hsueh defined what he believes are residents’ top ten desires for the project.
“People identified ten public amenities,” said Hsueh. “The Vaughn Drive connector, a firehouse and EMT substation for better coverage of emergency needs, additional parking reserved for West Windsor residents, a community center and amphitheater, a place for the farmer’s market, additional open space and a town green, the bowl for an attractive and effective connection between the east and west side of the tracks, a pedestrian bridge at the south end of the station, either moving or camouflaging the electric substation, and having the brown fields cleaned up for free.”
Hsueh said he compiled the list based on what residents said during the redevelopment workshops. “We need to identify which are wants and which are musts,” he said.
He also defined the township’s ten objectives for the project. “It must be tax positive,” said Hsueh. “It should provide additional parking, it should give the town an economically viable and sustainable town center, it needs to improve traffic circulation, and preserve established neighborhoods like Berrien City, Penns Neck, Sherbrooke, and Windsor Haven.”
“We need to be conscious of environmental conservation, and we want to make sure it has a bicycle and pedestrian friendly design. We must address the brown field cleanup, and turn contaminated sites into productive property. It is important that we take a phased-in approach to developments to minimize the negative impact of construction. We must also address our affordable housing requirements.”
Hsueh said the next few months of the project will include numerous impact studies. “The numbers will be more precise. We’re going to be able to do more analysis on things like the traffic impact, and economic impact.”
