West Windsor officials are trying to do too much all at once in the redevelopment plan proposed by RMJM Hillier, and it is getting in the way of more parking for West Windsor residents. So says Council President Charles Morgan, who has proposed instead that officials write the plan in “bite-sized, easy-to-digest chunks,” and that it should begin with parking for residents.##M:[more]##
Morgan is putting forth a resolution for the council’s meeting on Monday, October 27, and has invited officials from Nexus, a Lawrence-based firm that builds parking garages, and the West Windsor Parking Authority to the meeting [after the print edition went to press, Morgan announced Nexus officials would not be attending the meeting]. Morgan says he has talked to Nexus officials, who say that once construction is begun, it will only take a year to build the parking garage.
Morgan first publicly mentioned this idea at the end of council’s special meeting on October 21 on the draft redevelopment plan Hillier created for the entire 350-acre Princeton Junction train station area.
He said he found out that the parking garage in Hamilton was built at no-cost to the Hamilton taxpayers, and that if the West Windsor Parking Authority is given the authority to do it immediately, Nexus says it can have the engineering for a parking deck done within two months, approval from the state two months later, and the entire garage built in a year.
In addition, he is saying that the law allows a redevelopment plan to be created for part of a redevelopment area. “We should do this because it is possible to build a garage at considerable savings and no cost to taxpayers if a redevelopment plan has been adopted,” said Morgan. “We should do this now because it has been nearly three years since council designated the train station area as an area in need of redevelopment, and we have been waiting for parking long enough.”
The resolution states that the draft plan by Hillier “is an ambitious attempt at addressing the multitude of highly complex issues that must be confronted before a final Plan can be adopted with respect to the entirety of those 350 acres.”
It also states that the parking authority will start constructing parking garages at the Princeton Junction train station once it receives direction from the municipality to do so. The resolution directs the township professionals to immediately begin work in preparing a draft redevelopment plan for that part of the redevelopment area for parking garages for West Windsor residents.
Morgan explained that Nexus officials told him that the firm has a 37.5-year ground contract with NJ Transit for the land on which there is a 2,”066 car garage at the Hamilton train station. There is a split in profits between Nexus and NJ Transit, and Nexus had a taxable bond issued. Nexus is solely responsible for all payments under the deal, and NJ Transit did not put up any money, although it did put up underlying ground as its contribution to the partnership. After the 37.5 years, the land goes back to NJ Transit, he explained.
“If people want parking, and it could be done at no cost to the taxpayer, why don’t we start now?” he asked. “NJ Transit only needs permission to work with our parking authority to make that happen.”
And that permission comes in the form of a declaration affirmed by the members of council, as well as the mayor, and then a council resolution, since the mayor cannot vote on a resolution, says Morgan. “I’m just trying to navigate through the various issues to get parking sooner rather than later,” he added. “That means we should ask our planners to do a mini redevelopment plan on just that part of the property on the redevelopment area that has parking garages and deal with the associated circulation issues that is the roads that might go with that. I’m merely saying it’s not getting in the way of a major redevelopment effort. It will get redevelopment done quicker.”
In fact, getting the parking done sooner will help the council close in on a redevelopment plan, Morgan says.
InterCap Holdings CEO Goldin, whose firm owns 25 acres on Washington Road, says that he disagrees with Morgan that West Windsor could build a privately funded parking deck. Goldin says that his plan proposes a parking deck for residents that is fully paid by tax increment financing, and that parking rates will still stay the same.
“That can’t happen here if only West Windsor residents are going to use it. You cannot charge less than $200 a month to break even unless you fill that deck all weekend, every weekend.”
Under his plan, costs for a monthly permit would remain around $45, he Goldin said.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh says he is open-minded to hearing any good ideas, but feels this idea that it will not cost taxpayers money to build the parking garage is “too good to be true if they also allow 1,”000 parking spaces reserved for West Windsor residents.”
In addition, he says, the builder must be willing to build the roadways in and out of the parking garage. He said officials must also remember that because it is a township project, “it has to be an open competitive bidding process. So no matter how good it is, we have to go through regulatory bidding procedures. This is not just based on one contact.”
However, the parking garage would not be exclusive to West Windsor residents, Morgan says. Still, he says, “I understand very well that NJ Transit wants a garage that will serve the region, but by definition, West Windsor residents are part of the region.”
“West Windsor residents will benefit,” Morgan says. “They won’t benefit exclusively, but it’s the best I can do for them. We don’t own the land here. I want parking for West Windsor residents. That’s why I’m doing it. I know that along with that, comes parking for other residents” of the region.
It is unclear whether Morgan has enough support from the other members of the council. Councilwoman Linda Geevers said that additional parking for residents remains a top priority. “I look forward to the discussions with Nexus to see how a garage for West Windsor residents could be built at no cost to the taxpayers,” she said.
However, “this is just an initial conversation so that we can begin to understand the complexities in building a garage,” she added.
