As West Windsor Council prepares to consider the redevelopment of downtown Princeton Junction, some are warning that redevelopment might not be the panacea that township officials believe it could be.##M:[more]##
One such expert is William Potter — a Princeton Lawyer, lecturer of politics at Princeton University, and adjunct professor of environmental law at Rutgers Law School.
Potter, who was the attorney representing a citizens group that opposed a redevelopment area designation in Princeton Borough, wrote a recent column in the Trenton Times warning of some of the problems that can come with a redevelopment plan. (Potter’s column is reprinted on page 14).
West Windsor officials counter that while Potter raises concerns that are valid, he is unfamiliar with their township’s political climate — one that overwhelmingly supports redevelopment.
At its meeting on Monday, November 21, Township Council will begin discussions on whether to designate a 350-acre area surrounding the Princeton Junction train station as being in need of redevelopment.
Earlier this month, the township Planning Board unanimously approved a report by John Madden, township planner, setting the boundaries for the redevelopment area.
The state Local Redevelopment and Housing Law sets up certain criteria to allow municipalities to designate redevelopment areas that can include public and private parcels. Redevelopment area designation provides officials with tools to spur redevelopment, including the use of tax exemptions, favorable bond financing, and the creation of revenue allocation districts.
The redevelopment area identified by Madden includes lands bounded by Little Bear Brook to the north, the township boundary with Plainsboro and the Millstone River to the east, the train tracks and commercial zones to the south, and Alexander Road to the west.
If the redevelopment area is approved by council, the report would then be forwarded to the state Department of Community Affairs and the Office of Smart Growth. The state then has 30 days to either reject the report, approve it, or recommend changes. If there is no response, it would automatically be approved. If the report is okayed, council will likely direct the Planning Board to draft a detailed redevelopment plan.
The creation of the plan would also include the proposal to create a transit village at the train station. Earlier this year, New Jersey Transit released a vision study proposing a transit village on the west side of the train station that mixes commercial, retail, and residential uses.
Potter opens his article by stating that West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh “is quoted in the press as wondering what kind of restaurant to have in the 350-acre redevelopment area… Culinary concerns aside, local residents should worry more about this massive project than the ethnicity of a new restauarant.”
Hsueh counters that Potter has it all wrong — he was actually trying to make a point similar to Potter’s. Hsueh’s comment was made at the Planning Board meeting earlier this month at which redevelopment was discussed.
“It was an analogy. I said that the (redevelopment) process is like going out to dinner. First you have to decide whether you want to go out to eat before you decide whether you want to have French, Italian, or Chinese food.”
“I guess he didn’t know how to read what I said,” Hsueh adds. “I was pointing out that we are at the first step. It is too early to talk about the things we want in a redevelopment area before we decide whether we want a redevelopment area.”
Council President Charlie Morgan says that if Potter is going to express his concerns, he should do his homework first. “I absolutely support the right and the value of people voicing concerns. It keeps us on our toes and from slipping in directions that we shouldn’t be going.
“But we must also demand from them that they get their facts right and that they be constructive. They should help move the process instead of taking pot shots. (Potter’s column) is an example of getting the facts wrong. It sidetracks the conversation away from the main subject.”
Hsueh says Potter misinterpreted West Windsor’s motives for redevelopment, just as he misinterpreted his analogy.
Township officials have long expressed a desire for the redevelopment of the area around the train station and downtown Princeton Junction, and has come up with numerous plans for projects — the last as recent as the late 1990s. None were ever pursued.
Early in his administration, Hsueh decided that he was going to see a plan for the Junction into reality. Over the next few years, the township worked with the state to create a vision study for a transit village at the train station, and completed a study to determine whether the area surrounding the train station qualifies as a redevelopment area.
In his re-election campaign this year, the mayor put the issue of redevelopment at the top of his platform and was overwhelmingly re-elected. Hsueh says that while he was out campaigning, there was a tremendous community support for the transit village.
Council members Linda Geevers and Heidi Kleinman, Hsueh’s running mates in the May municipal election, are also in favor of redevelopment. Kleinman, who was attending the annual League of Municipalities Conference, was unavailable for comment.
Geevers says the election, in which she, Hsueh, and Kleinman received almost 90 percent of the vote, was a referendum in favor of redevelopment. “It was very clear from the election results that we were given a mandate for the process — for fixing Route 571, and pursuing the idea of a transit village. The majority of residents want us moving in that direction.”
She adds that officials will work with residents in developing a plan. “We’re only at the very beginning stages right now. To this point, we have had a very public process, and we will continue with a very public process through the whole issue. Everyone will be heard and then decisions will be made.”
Morgan says that Potter “is making generalizations about a very complex process that is just beginning.”
“You can’t argue with facts,” Morgan says. “It’s a fact that the Princeton Junction train station is one of most heavily used stations anywhere in country. It’s a fact that we have a downtown that is a disaster — it’s not a downtown. We have acres of paved land out there that are ugly. It’s a fact that we are hurting for taxes and we need ratables.”
The first question the township needs to address, says Morgan, is whether the township should take action, or do nothing. “The overwhelming view of the folks, including me, is that we should do something. To take shots at a process that is just at its beginning with hot-button subjects like eminent domain is almost offensive. It’s a right we would possess whether there is a redevelopment process or not.”
“There are certainly challenges and potential pitfalls to the project. There are things we can do right and wrong,” says Councilwoman Kristen Appelget. “But standing in place isn’t an option. People can wave lots of flags and say that there could be huge problems, but they’re just trying to stand in the way.”
“We are not doing this quickly. We’re taking the time to do it and do it right. We’re not looking to do this in a haphazard, rushed fashion. Certainly sure there will be naysayers. There’s always excuses for not moving forward,” she adds. “I think what you’re starting to see is that there are fears in the community. There are some people who have an opinion different than what mayor and planning board are talking about and are preying on those fears. I invite everyone to educate themselves about the process.”
“What’s the alternative, what we have now?” asks Council Vice President Franc Gambatese. “You have a township that’s been in debate about this for decades. We finally have people who want to make a plan and put it in play, and residents who are screaming for it.”
The time has come for action, adds Gambatese. “We need to have a planned town center. West Windsor has been a collection of hamlets for hundreds of years. The community has changed, especially in the last 15 years. It has doubled in size. I’m all for discussions and planning, but not for endless debate. I’ve been watching this process for the last two years and all I’ve heard so far is talk. We have to put the ball in play.”
“For him (Potter) to generalize and throw out gratuitous statements is just irresponsible,” Gambatese adds. “There’s a big difference between planning and doing. We have plans (for Junction redevelopment) that have just died on the drawing board. They’re sitting in town hall collecting dust.”
“We don’t have scandals in West Windsor politically,” says Gambatese. “We don’t have people trying to line our pockets. “What you have is a group of people who want to create something that works for this community.
In his column, Potter asserts that towns are not using the redevelopment law as it was originally intended. “The core problem with redevelopment, an assumed solution to almost every urban problem, is that local officials misuse a law originally intended for fighting the ‘cancer of urban blight’ even where there is no hint of blight.”
“Just because a site looks ripe for fancy new buildings — including a new downtown as Mayor Hsueh foresees — does not make it a redevelopment area under state law unless it is also blighted,” Potter says. “The 1992 Local Redevelopment and Housing Law caused the confusion when it scrapped the familiar term ‘blighted area’ and substituted the euphemism ‘redevelopment area.’ The name change was intended to help mayors fight blight without suffering the stigma of admitting to blight; it was not supposed to confer blank checks for seizing non-blighted homes or businesses simply to improve local land use and tax revenues.”
In addition to misapplication of state law, Potter also warns that redevelopment area designation can open the window to government land takings, hiring a “redevelopment master” without a bidding process, awarding other professional contracts without a bidding process, cutting deals with developers that deny tax revenues to schools, and allowing the town to borrow money (not subject to a referendum) to help pay for the redevelopment.
The fears that Potter raises are unfounded in West Windsor’s case, says Hsueh. He promises that he has no intention of hiring a master redeveloper, awarding projects without a bidding process, or of condemning land unless there is a public health or safety concern.
“I agree that there are too many bad examples of redevelopment (in other towns) in the past,” Hsueh says. “I hope to set a new direction in how redevelopment is defined. I want to apply all of the principles of smart growth and upgrade the quality of life in West Windsor.”
He also says he plans to involve school officials in the process because the project will have an impact on the future of the district. “If we make all of this an open process, I don’t think there will be a serious problem,” Hsueh says. “We will be meeting with citizens and property owners on a regular basis.
“I don’t think he (Potter) quite understands the government in West Windsor,” says the mayor. “I recognize all of the concerns he has, but that’s not what we want to do in West Windsor. I have already established a track record. I am open minded. I wish he would be willing to sit down and talk with me, because I think he would come away with a different opinion.”
