With the end of an archeological survey on the site where it plans to build housing for its faculty, the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), looked ready to announce preparations for the construction last week.

A press briefing was called for members of the media on June 17. But at the last minute, the briefing was cancelled and a statement issued instead.

According to the statement, the Institute has reached an agreement with the Princeton Battlefield Area Preservation Society (PBS) under which work at the 7-acre site close to the Princeton Battlefield State Park will be limited to construction of a security fence.

An Institute spokesperson said that the press briefing is to be rescheduled for a later date in July, pending the outcome of a suit brought by the Battlefield Society.

In the meantime, both IAS and PBS have agreed to keep mum.

“The parties agree that there will be no public statements about the agreement and the schedule of construction activities until that time,” said the IAS spokesperson.

The court ruling is expected next month. Until then, work on the housing project is on hold.

The housing project has faced several legal battles over the years.

PBS has long opposed the Institute’s plans for seven single-family homes and two four-unit
townhouses. They have raised environmental concerns and argued that building on the site would destroy a part of the battlefield where British and American forces fought in January 1777 during the Revolutionary War.

The Princeton Planning Board, however, unanimously approved the project last November.

Then, in January, the Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission, which oversees and manages the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park and protects the streams that feed into the canal, heard arguments from PBS that construction at the site would negatively impact wetlands.

After reviewing the Institute’s plans and hearing from both sides, the DRCC voted on the issue. The six commissioners present voted 3-2 in favor of the IAS. There was one abstention. According to the DRCC’s rules, four votes are necessary for approval. So, the IAS plans failed to gain approval.

But in February, the DRCC commissioner Mark Texel, who had abstained in January, brought a motion to reconsider the previous month’s vote. This second vote approved the Institute’s plans by a majority of 5 to 2 votes.

Having received the DRCC’s approval, the Institute looked ready to move ahead with its plans following the completion of an archaeological study.

Calling the second vote “an illegal do-over,” however, PBS attorney Bruce Afran challenged the reversal of the DRCC decision on behalf of the Battlefield Society, arguing the illegality of revoting after the agency had denied the application.

In March, Mr. Afran also filed an appeal of the Princeton Planning Board’s approval in Mercer County Superior Court.

At the time of his appeal of the DRCC ruling, Mr. Afran said that “If overturned, it would leave the Institute with few options.”

Archeological Report

When the Institute received approval from the Princeton Planning Board, it agreed to carry out an archaeological survey at the site in advance of construction. That survey, the third at the site, has just been completed.

Last week, the Institute released a report on the survey’s findings.

Conducted by the archeological firm, the Ottery Group, in stages over the past year, the survey is documented in an interim report available on the IAS website (www.ias.edu).

The report includes details of the survey’s methodology and technologies, including magnetometry, electromagnetic induction, ground-penetrating radar, 122 shovel test pits, three test excavations and two complete metal detection surveys. It describes the site, known as Maxwell’s Field, as “a significant archeological site and historic landscape associated with the Battle of Princeton.”

Of the 663 artifacts collected, ten related to the Battle of Princeton: five musket balls and five pieces of grapeshot. These artifacts, together with those recovered from previous surveys of the site will be analyzed and then transferred to the State of New Jersey.

The Institute’s archaeological protocol provides that an archaeologist will be on site to monitor construction activity that might encounter additional artifacts.

A link to the report is available on the Institute’s website: https://www.ias.edu/ias-statement-faculty-housing.