Topics in Brief
A Community Bulletin

Next Thursday, the Regional Planning Board of Princeton will begin its deliberations for a 49-unit senior housing plan on a 28-acre site between Route 206 and Mt. Lucas Road in Princeton Township. Submitted by applicant Princeton Senior Townhomes, the plan was endorsed by the board's advisory wing last month amid concerns regarding tree loss and the rocky terrain that makes up that part of the Township, known as the Princeton Ridge. Last Thursday, the Township's Shade Tree Commission discussed the loss of trees due to construction, with Township arborist Greg O'Neil saying that while the goal would be to replant the area, there would be a net tree loss. The developer has agreed to work with the Township in replanting trees on the development site, as well as in other parts of the Township. The Planning Board hearing will take place April 19, at 7:30 p.m., at Township Hall. (MH)

As part of an effort to revitalize Princeton Borough's Harrison Street Park, the Borough has received bids from three firms to execute the park's redesign. The firms, the Warren-based Paulus, Sokolowski & Sartor, the Millburn-based Edgewater Design LLC, and the Manhattan-based Coen + Partners (with Van Note-Harvey Associates), enter the picture following last fall's $5,000 naturalist's report. That study, conducted by Borough resident Stephen Hiltner, and included a tree analysis by arborist Robert Wells, identified some significant drainage problems, as well as a proposal to plant a new generation of trees to succeed the existing aging tree canopy cover. A neighborhood group, Friends of Harrison Street Park, is expected to take part in the firm selection process. (MH)

Princeton Day School graduates Christopher Benchley, of Princeton Borough, and Caitlin McPhaden, of Yardley, Pa., two of six teens charged with criminal trespass in a December 18 incident at PDS, appeared in Superior Court in Trenton last month and entered into a court-approved pre-trial intervention program, under which they will have to pay restitution to the school for damages, serve 75 hours of community service, and report regularly to their case supervisor. Both were arrested by Princeton Township Police in January and charged with unlicensed entry, a fourth-degree offense with a maximum penalty of 18 months' imprisonment. Pre-indictment hearings are pending for the other four teens. (LA)

The Princeton Community Democratic Organization this Sunday will host a talk led by Ingrid Reed, a Rutgers University policy analyst and the New Jersey Project director of Rutgers' Eagleton Institute of Politics. The talk will take place at 7:30 pm at the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center, which is located behind Princeton Borough Hall. Topics Ms. Reed is expected to touch on include campaign finance reform, the new Clean Elections program, pay-to-play reform, voting integrity, and the status of ethics reform in the New Jersey state legislature. For more information visit www.princetondems.org.

Princeton University has offered admission to 1,791 students, or 9.5 percent of those who applied for this year's upcoming freshman class, after receiving a record 18,942 applications. Acceptance letters were mailed March 29 to 1,194 students who applied through the regular decision process. Also, for the first time, the school's admissions office informed applicants of their decisions through an online notification system. An additional 597 students who applied during Princeton's final year of its early decision process were admitted in December. Of those accepted, PU expects 1,245 students to actually enroll in the incoming freshman class.

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