The West Windsor Townsh ip Council postponed introducing an ordinance creating zoning that would permit mixed-use development on the planned site for Project Freedom.
Citing concerns about effects the rezoning could have on the neighborhood surrounding the site — tucked between Old Bear Brook and Bear Brook roads — the council rescheduled the ordinance introduction for Monday, November 9. The township’s engineering and planning professionals are expected to be in attendance to answer questions that night. The postponement also gives the township time to notify the neighbors and the developer of the site.
The ordinance was sent to the council by the Planning Board, which spent three years studying the zoning on the 46-acre undeveloped tract. The rezoning, adopted in September by the board, designates the parcel as a Planned Mixed Use Neighborhood.
Maneely Princeton LLC, owner of the site, sought the rezoning. Concept plans include a mix of modest-sized stores, personal and professional services, corporate suites, market-rate residential units, and Project Freedom.
Project Freedom is a nonprofit organization that develops barrier-free housing to enable disabled individuals to live independently. Maneely has proposed 10 acres for Project Freedom, and 15 acres for preservation, including the detention areas.
Plans originally called for 51 townhouses, 46 apartments, and 60 Project Freedom affordable housing units. The non-residential component was proposed to include 202 hotel suites with a 7,800 square-foot business center and a 3,200 square-foot fitness center, as well as 11,000 square feet of office space and 40,000 square feet of retail space. However, as part of the township’s latest round of affordable housing obligations, 15 additional affordable units were added to Project Freedom before the township sent its plan to the state in 2008.
The ordinance calls for a traffic-calming roundabout at the corner triangle of the property where Old Bear Brook and Bear Brook meet. The height of the buildings on site was also raised from 35 to 38 feet before approval.
“There’s a little neighborhood there that needs to be protected,” said Councilman Charles Morgan. “We don’t want buildings right next to those homes that are completely out of scale. The original feel was that the buildings close to the road and adjacent to these homes should not be more than two stories. We’ve got an ordinance that emerged with 38 feet, which is three stories.”
Morgan added, “there’s a whole separate issue with respect to the roundabout that I don’t fully understand.” In addition, he said, “if we’re going to change the ordinance in any type of substantive way, the developer needs to be given the opportunity to be there and be heard. To me, a developer is as much of a constituent as anybody else.”
The ordinance would also affect at least one neighbor in particular, who could potentially see a three-story building within 50 feet of her home, Morgan said. Council members were also concerned that many old trees on the tract would have to be cut down for the project.
