To the Editor:

The Princeton Council and Engineering Department, while they are concerned about safety on Nassau Street, seem totally oblivious to safety, traffic congestion, and pure ugliness for the Mt. Lucas Road, Terhune, Laurel and Valley Roads neighborhood, in their poorly chosen site for the town refueling station — in a residential, already traffic-challenged, safety-concerned area. They ignored the town’s own Site Plan Review Advisory Board’s (SPRAB) recommendation to place it elsewhere.

The town’s objections to other sites were lame. I went with a neighbor to look at both the Witherspoon Fire Station and Valley Road School site and the John Street Public Works parking lot. Both have the space to install the re-fueling facility, allowing trucks and buses to drive in and exit head-first. SPRAB saw the potential for those sites, and possibly one at the Harrison Street Fire Station.

So we have the members of SPRAB — experienced planners — recommending other sites. We have the former mayor at the April 11 meeting saying that this decision was the worst governing the town has experienced! We have numerous neighbors objecting to the site and canopy and traffic problems, which will tie up the area and need uncertain State approval.

Many kids walk and bike to Community Park School, and to the pool, tennis courts, and playing fields. Do we need to subject them to these safety concerns? And the neighborhood to all the rest?

Please admit, as the mayor did, that this was a poorly executed idea and the fueling station needs to be relocated.

Huck Fairman
Mt. Lucas Road