To the Editor,

In my letter in the March 29 Mailbox about Sunrise Senior Living’s prospective plans for an assisted-living/memory-care facility to be built between the Princeton Shopping Center and Terhune Road, my memory was in evident error about several things. Most significantly, my “recollection” of past commitments to keep the property undeveloped was not supported by records of the zoning history, according to a representative of the Sunrise organization who told me it has always been zoned residential. Prior to the approval and construction of the shopping center in the early 1950s, the entire area was undeveloped, and according to an even earlier and more suspect memory of mine, was devoted primarily to tree farming. Such ancient-history qualifications aside, I must accept the research-based input to the effect that from the time the area has been zoned, the plot between the center and Terhune has been considered residential. The most recent rezoning that I remember permitted multiple-unit housing at a density of 24 units per acre … unless I’m wrong again.

My memory also faltered as to the size and shape of the lot. Based on information from Sunrise, the depth of the lot between Terhune and the center is approximately 195 feet, not 150 as I remembered, and its frontage along Terhune is approximately 737 feet rather than 900 or more. The area of the near-rectangular portion of the lot on which the proposed buildings are to be located is approximately 3.3 acres. There is an “ell” extension of the lot at the end away from Harrison Street, about 1 acre in area, that runs down toward the town park and that is apparently unused in the developer’s present plans.

Having been corrected on some of the assumptions cited in my earlier letter, I remain skeptical as to the suitability of the lot for its proposed use. The tentative layout of the buildings provided by Sunrise shows the assisted-living building having a setback from the shopping center property line of what appears to be about 30 feet. My own interest in moving to such a location is vanishingly small, given my unavoidable conviction that I’d rather not live with the shopping center property line thirty feet from my back window. Other elderly people looking for a place to downsize to may admittedly not be as sensitive as I think I would be to such a conjunction. To paraphrase as accurately as I can, Sunrise believes its primary interest is in the welfare and satisfaction of its residents, which it says it will do its utmost to ensure even given the proposed facility’s proximity to the Princeton Shopping Center.

John Strother

Grover Avenue