More talking. That was the solution prescribed by the West Windsor Planning Board on January 6 in response to another concept plan presented by Scokim Enterprises for a village shopping center in the triangular corner of Princeton-Hightstown and Southfield roads and McGetrick Lane.
Members of the Planning Board had varying concerns about the plan, but a drastic difference of opinion between the board’s professionals and board members caused them to hold off on approving a re-zoning of the entire 24-acre zone encompassing the proposed village shopping center, on 4.4 acres, preventing the property owners from moving forward with an application.
In order to build its proposed West Windsor Village Center, Scokim would need a variety of variances, and the developer would rather have the property rezoned. But the Planning Board instead asked its own professionals to contact WWM to see what its plans for the adjoining property would entail before making a decision.
The current zoning, which primarily encourages commercial office space, only allows up to 10 percent of the development on the site to be retail, and while it permits banks, it does not permit them to have a drive-thru, which Scokim is proposing. Scokim is also looking to construct the buildings closer to the road, but the zoning requires a limit of 50 feet.
Last time the board reviewed a concept plan for the site in 2007, it contemplated possible rezoning, Planning Board members also weighed in on the proposal, saying they didn’t want to see any more banks be placed in the area, with so many already located along Route 571. They also said they would like to see more diversity in the area, including high-end restaurants, mixed uses, and pedestrian-friendly routes.
They also wanted the developer to reach out to the residents of the nearby Heatherfield development and, most importantly, WWM Properties to come up with a comprehensive plan for the entire 24-acre area. In addition to Scokim’s site, there are 21 undeveloped acres owned by WWM Properties. WWM already has approved plans to build a shopping center on the other corner of the intersection, but construction has been delayed by contamination remediation.
Scokim representatives said they had worked with township professionals and used their direction in coming forth with the most recent concept, which they touted as meeting all the principles of smart growth planning.
Plans include a two-phase development of the Scokim property. The first phase would be constructed and “in the future, when the property next door is constructed or approved,” Scokim would move along with something that mixes with the use next door, said Michael Hartsough, the attorney representing Scokim.
Hartsough said Scokim representatives had tried to reach out to WWM Properties, which has not been interested in working with them to come up with a coordinated plan for the entire zone. “I suspect the economy has contributed to the lack of interest in developing their portion of the property,” he said.
Allison L. Etchells, a real estate broker and consultant for Scokim, described the details of the plan. In 2000, Scokim began acquiring the five properties that form its property, and it took until 2006 to assemble all five lots, he said. There are currently four single-family detached homes and three attached garages on site, as well as an old veterinary clinic and an old farm storage building.
The developer plans to remove all of the buildings from the site in order to build the village shopping center. “It is just not an economic viability to look into that,” he said, referring to redeveloping the homes.
On the other side of the property is the property owned by Dr. Timothy Tuttle, who operates his dentistry business out of the location, and who has received approval for his own expansion.
Etchells said Scokim was told by township professionals to design a concept that would allow Tuttle’s patients to leave the property through McGetrick Lane in order to safely make a left turn toward Princeton. “Our plan is predicated on using one half of McGetrick Lane, where there is a desire to close McGetrick.”
The entire property has 456.97 feet of frontage along Route 571 and 309.17 feet along Southfield Road. In phase one, the developer wants to construct a two-story nonresidential building, known as Building A. Building A would have 10,680 square feet of retail/office/restaurant space on the first floor and 10,680 square feet of office space on the second floor. This building would be oriented toward Southfield Road.
Building B, a one-story structure, would feature 6,035 square feet of retail, office, and restaurant space. Building C would be a one-story bank structure with 3,472 square feet of space and a remote drive-thru. Building D would be a one-story building with 4,580 square feet of retail/office/restaurant space.
There would be a right-in, right-out only entrance-exit onto Route 571 between the C and D buildings, Etchells said, and drivers approaching from the other direction would have to turn on Southfield Road to access the site.
The second phase of development, which would occur whenever the land across McGetrick Lane is developed, would be an expansion of Building A. The two-story expansion would add 5,327 square feet of office space on the second floor and 5,327 square feet of retail/office/restaurant space attached at the second floor by an enclosed breezeway. It would “take place in conjunction with the planning and development of the adjacent WWM site and would provide a comprehensive roadway plan,” he said.
The plan would also feature an interconnected open space area, pathway and sidewalk systems, and a regional stormwater management system.
“Even with the right-of-way of McGetrick Lane being a part of this, you’d have to look far and wide for another complimentary property with frontage on Route 571, Southfield Road, and McGetrick Lane,” that would allow for the type of development Scokim is proposing, Etchells said.
“It would be a cohesive beginning of the whole neighborhood coming together,” added Hartsough.
The board’s professionals seemed to be on board with the project. Township Planner John Madden said he felt Scokim had demonstrated it could incorporate whatever happens with regard to the WWM site.
“The board would recognize as I believe that the P-1 zone does not operate as intended,” and that all properties in that area need to be evaluated. Madden also said he could see Scokim proceeding with its property as a focal point for the zone, and that when development happens on the WWM site, the properties can be integrated with regard to circulation.
The biggest question, however, was the high floor-area ratio Scokim is seeking for its development — 25 percent coverage — and whether it has demonstrated to the board that it is necessary. The minimum lot area in a planned village center elsewhere in town is 20 acres. “They have substantial frontage on two major roads, which is to their benefit,” Madden said.
While the board’s engineer and traffic consultant also agreed that there were no major problems with the concept plan, township landscape architect Dan Dobromilsky voiced the exact opposite. He first criticized Scokim’s suggestion that the plan meets smart growth principles. For example, a smart growth principle includes offering housing, but there is no housing at all called for in the plan. Smart growth principles also call for a variety of uses, and Scokim offers hardly anything more than office and retail, which is already permitted under current zoning, he said.
He said the plan offered a stronger connection to the existing community and that it “makes the WWM property less predictable.”
Most importantly, he said, the floor-area ratio that has been established for the zone has been used as a reference for other zoning and developments in town, specifically with regard to traffic projections and other factors. “If you suddenly increase the FAR here, and on the WWM property, it changes everything.”
Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner echoed the sentiment, saying that “what you envision creates something extremely too dense,” and that he found a number of things to be “disturbing to me. I can’t fathom my approving something of this nature as proposed here tonight,” he said.
Other board members were amenable to the developer’s proposals, but said what worried them was the uncertainty surrounding the WWM property. Board member Robert Loverro said he felt the plan was “so comprehensive, we’re not understanding how it fits” into the bigger zone. He and board member Larry McGill said they both liked the idea for a community bank — unlike the other banks along Route 571 — but they did not think it needed a drive-thru.
Etchells said Scokim professionals have been working for years under the direction of the township to come up with the plan. “If we’ve been led to develop something you no longer want, I don’t know where to go from there,” he said. “I think we have followed all the criteria and goals you’ve suggested in the Master Plan and what your professionals have said. It’s been 10 years, and I would like to proceed with a fruitful conversation.”
Board members said they wanted to have their professionals reach out to work with WWM before moving forward.
