Officials from Princeton University outlined their future vision for hundreds of acres of property the school owns in West Windsor Township before the planning board on Oct. 5.
Today, Carnegie Lake serves as the natural border separating the West Windsor and Princeton, but for Princeton university the body of water could eventually become the geographic center of campus.
That was one of several long term planning visions discussed at the meeting. The university is more than two years into the development of its 2026 campus plan. “We are very much midstream. Our goal is to complete the planning process about a year from now,” said Bob Durkee, the university vice president and secretary. “What we’ll have at that point is a framework for decision making.”
While the central campus was the focus of the university’s previous 10-year plan, the 2026 campus plan that is being formulated will have a geographic outlook extending across the lake into West Windsor.
The university’s planning consultant, Cyndi Rottenburg-Walker, noted that the university’s West Windsor land holdings are similar in size to its Princeton property. Some 508 acres within the township belong to the university, most of which is undeveloped. The university owns the stretch of land between Alexander Road and Lower Harrison Street that lies west of U.S. 1.
Both Rottenburg-Walker and Durkee said that Lake Carnegie is currently on the edge of the university campus, but over a 30-year time horizon it could become the center. The university highlighted the roughly 400 acres of land on both sides of Washington Road. Rottenburg-Walker identified facility needs for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Environmental Studies, and “innovation” collaboration spaces. In addition, the campus plan projects for a 10 percent increase in undergraduates, or 500 students, as well as growth in the graduate population.
#b#Howard Hughes update#/b#
Princeton university was not the only big West Windsor property owner present at the Oct. 5 planning board meeting. Howard Hughes vice president Adam Meister was in attendance, and after the meeting he conferred with Planning Board Chairman Marvin Gardner.
The company was tentatively scheduled to present a concept plan for its property on Nov. 16, but representatives requested additional time. A special Planning Board meeting is now tentatively scheduled for Nov. 30, in the week after Thanksgiving. If Howard Hughes cannot make that date, then residents will probably have to wait until next year to take a peek at the company’s plans.
In August, the Howard Hughes officials met with the district’s Administration and Facilities Committee to discuss the impact of potential development. The company owns the former American Cyanamid site, bounded by Route 1, Clarksville and Quakerbridge roads, a vacant 652-acre parcel with the potential for significant regional impact.
Company representatives requested the meeting and Howard Hughes officials in attendance included Meister, planner Jim Constantine from Looney Ricks Kiss and Keenan Hughes from the Hoboken-based agency Phillips Preiss Shapiro, a planning and real estate consulting company.
Michele Kaish, who chairs the A&F committee, said the contingent “was not forthcoming on details. The point was to make a connection.”
Hughes representatives did indicate they wanted to develop mixed-use options at the site, including a housing component that contains apartments, townhouses and single-family homes.
“Our schools are generally at capacity,” Kaish said. “There’s some wiggle room, but once you talk about adding 1,000 to more than 2,000 kids, that’s not enough.”
It is difficult to nail down how many school children the site will produce without specifics, and company representatives have stated in the past that full build-out of the site would take more than 20 years. The property is currently zoned for research, office, and light manufacturing.
