The West Windsor Planning Board will meet consecutive Wednesdays, December 7 and 14, to consider a subdivision on a 104-acre farm on Village Road East and then the proposal to create a 650-car commuter parking lot at the site of the former town compost facility on Alexander Road.
On December 7 the Hall family is applying to separate out a 3.33 acre plot from its existing 104-acre farm (zoned in the rural residential/conservation zone). This includes a side yard variance to permit an existing 16-foot yard where the township ordinance requires 30 feet.
Township Land Use Division Manager Sam Surtees explained that the family “wants to subdivide so that the farmhouse will be on a separate 3.33 acre lot. My understanding is that they want a separate parcel of land and taxed lot for estate-planning purposes.” He expects the family to be present at the meeting next Wednesday.
Also on December 7 Boston Properties will apply for an amended site plan and design waiver approvals so that 61 parking spaces can be added to an existing lot at 508 Carnegie Center.
On December 14 the plan to bring 650 new parking spaces to Alexander Road will go before the board. On September 19 Mayor Hsueh announced plans for the lot, designated for West Windsor residents only, to occupy the old Alexander Road compost site. The West Windsor Parking Authority is the potential tenant, currently negotiating a lease with the township. The authority is also the applicant before the planning board.
Surtees outlined the proposal as it stands. “Basically it is what the Parking Authority is calling its ‘new south lot,’ which would include a vehicular and pedestrian connection with their existing lot off of Vaughn Drive. There would also be a pedestrian connection from this new lot over to the train station platform, so people would have an illuminated walkway from the parking lots over to the southbound side platform of the station,” he said.
Surtees said as the prospective tenant the parking authority has had to secure a number of state and county regulatory permits and approvals, which he said were obtained and are “accurately reflected” on the site plan. The most notable piece was what Mayor Hsueh noted early on: DEP compliance.
“One of the permits they got from the DEP was a wetlands analysis to determine what the wetlands are and what the buffer zone was from the wetlands. Their development is based upon where the wetlands’ buffers are,” Surtees said.
He added that other necessary steps might include Mercer County Sewer Conservation District approval, as the project covers more than one acre of land, and D&R Canal Commission approval.
Township staff reports on the proposal, including a report from Business Administrator Robert Hary, are due in to Surtees on December 7 and more information on the application will be available at that time.
