George Sands, the developer of the Princeton Arms Shopping Center, has already agreed to several demands by the township planning officials to upgrade the existing building in association with a proposed expansion of the center.##M:[more]## At the August 17 board meeting he found out they wanted more.
Sands appeared before the board with an application for an addition that would increase the center, located on Old Trenton Road at Dorchester Drive, in size from 30,”000 square feet to 67,”000 square feet. The addition was part of the center’s original approval in the 1980s, but was never constructed.
Board Chairman Marvin Gardner says that in reviewing the application on August 17, the board is looking for the developer to make modifications to his plan that would better integrate the old portion of the center with the addition. The applicant will again appear before the board on Wednesday, October 19.
According to Gardner, the board wants Sands to agree to installing a new parking lot, in addition to traffic circulation, and lighting changes.
“If there’s going to be an annexation to the existing shopping center that more than doubles everything, then it should be consistent. He should want to rejuvenate and revitalize his center,” says Gardner. “There needs to be a uniformity in terms of look. The developer is seeking to save money.”
As currently submitted, the application calls for repairs to the existing parking lot. The board wants the entire lot replaced. “He only wants to do pothole repairs,” says Gardner. “That’s crazy.”
If Sands agrees to the board’s demands, it would be the latest of several concessions already made on the project.
The application was originally to be hard earlier this summer, but Sands delayed the application to respond to concerns about the proposal expressed by Gardner publicly.
Following a meeting in July with officials, including Gardner, Sands agreed to renovate the current facade and roofline of the existing portion of the center to be consistent with the proposed addition, and replace the existing columns in front of the building to be consistent with the addition.
The developer also made traffic safety modifications on the site adjacent to the center, which is also owned by Sands. The property, a 25-acre tract on the southern corner of Old Trenton and Dorchester Drive, is currently zoned for research and office use and is expected to be the subject of a development application in the near future. At Gardner’s request, the developer cleared a series of shrubs and weeds near the roadline of the property that was obscuring the view of motorists making a left turn from Dorchester Drive onto Old Trenton Road.
During the August 17 meeting, Sands’ attorney Mark Solomon expressed that there were financial concerns to be considered. “There is not a unlimited budget to achieve these items. The attempt was not to turn this into a major place of visitation and activity.”
“The planning board is not here to consider your client’s financial position,” Gardner says he told Solomon. “We have a statutory mandate to see that township ordinances are complied with. We have to serve our residents’ best interests and not your clients.”
Before the next meeting, the developer will meet with township professions to come up with a revised plan, which will then be reviewed by the board. “I am hopeful that there will be consistency and uniformity in the appearance of the entire center,” Gardner says.
