Politics & Government

New AvalonBay Proposal May Not Permit New Testimony On Traffic Impacts, Environmental Concerns

The issue of traffic and concerns over possible contamination brought strong reactions from some members of the public and from PCSN, a grassroots organization that objected to AvalonBay's proposal last year.

 

AvalonBay may bring a revised development proposal before Princeton's Planning Board, but someone who has seen the consent agreement says there are restrictions on what issues may be raised the second time around. 

Alexi Assmus, a member of Princeton Citizens for Sustainable Neighborhoods, said AvalonBay will not be required to submit testimony or additional documentation related to traffic impacts, utilities or environmental issues at the former hospital site on Witherspoon Street. 

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“We can’t talk about the environment, we can’t talk about the traffic, they say they’re following municipal land use law, but the timeline has been substantially cut and certain topics are off the table," Assmus said. 

The issue of traffic and concerns over possible contamination brought strong reactions from some members of the public and from PCSN, a grassroots organization that objected to AvalonBay's proposal last year.

Find out what's happening in Princetonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

AvalonBay proposal to raze the hospital building and construct 280 apartments (56 affordable units) was rejected by the planning board in December. The board cited the developer's failure to meet Princeton's design standards and said AvalonBay did not adequately connect the project to the surrounding neighborhood. 

AvalonBay promptly filed suit against the town and the planning board. But Princeton and AvalonBay officials have been quietly meeting, hoping to find compromise out of court. The Planning Board on Thursday authorized its attorney to draft a consent agreement.

Council Member Bernie Miller, who sat in on meetings with AvalonBay and also sits on the planning board, said Sunday he has not seen a draft of the consent agreement, nor does he know anything about limitations on testimony regarding traffic, environmental issues or utilities. 

"As far as I know they're not included in any document I have seen," Miller said. "The consent agreement is intended to be concerned with a process, rather than put specific restraints on the process."

He said AvalonBay is trying to find a project that's both economically feasible and also works for the community. 

"If we're successful at what we’re trying to do in finding a compromise, we stand a good chance of getting something better than we rejected," Miller said. 

AvalonBay Senior Vice President Ronald Ladell could not be reached on Sunday.

Over the course of four small group meetings, AvalonBay has presented some preliminary plans to solicit feedback, Mayor Liz Lempert said last week. Specifically, a new plan would likely add a road with sidewalks through the site, add more buildings, lower building heights along the street, put higher buildings towards the center, redesign the building facades to break up the massing, move open space to the outside of the site and include green building standards.

Those items would address many of the issues presented by the project's objectors, who argued that AvalonBay's design plan that they claimed was essentially a gated community and a giant structure in the middle of a residential neighborhood. 

Assmus believes that Princeton's denial would ultimately hold up in court, yet she is also hopeful about the latest non-court news on the project.

“It’s hard to judge, but it sounds like a vast improvements. It sound like the development is open, it sounds like they’re going to do green building standards, not LEED necessarily but a lot of what LEED requires- it sounds good," she said. “On other hand, the process isn’t good. The neighborhood groups and architects need to be involved in coming up with the concept plans.”

She said the consent agreement spells out that AvalonBay will present fully engineered drawings by mid-May. Assmus would prefer the developer bring forth concept plans to get everyone's input so changes can be easily made before the developer goes to considerable expense. 

"It’s critical that there be input at earliest stages, by residents, by professional architects, by PCSN, before the final engineered drawings are done for there to be positive public consensus when the fully engineered plans are vetted at planning board meetings," she said. 

According to a report from NJ.com, a new process would give AvalonBay until May 15 to submit a new application, Princeton's engineer would have 15 days to determine if the application was complete, staff would have 15 days to review it and the planning board would have 75 days for review. 

Lempert said on Sunday that the planning board would have to rule on AvalonBay's new application by Aug. 15, 2013. 

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