The Regional Planning Board, having largely determined any future development of the site currently occupied by the University Medical Center at Princeton (UMCP), is ready to tackle the next major step in dealing with the hospital's relocation to Plainsboro: the nine-acre campus off Bayard Lane that comprises the Merwick Rehabilitation Center.
The Planning Board will begin discussions concerning future development of the Merwick site tomorrow, February 2, at 7:30 p.m. at Township Hall.
The Merwick property, which sits just northwest of the YM/YWCA, is in the process of being sold by Princeton HealthCare System (PHCS), UMCP's and Merwick's parent company, to Princeton University. The hospital announced the sale of three major plots in November: Merwick and a two-acre Franklin Avenue surface parking lot to Princeton University, and the UMCP Witherspoon campus to the Philadelphia-based developer, Lubert-Adler.
PHCS is, in turn, in the midst of purchasing an 160-acre tract in Plainsboro off Route 1 currently occupied by the FMC Corp. with the intention of building a $350 million, state-of-the-art campus slated for a 2010 opening.
Unlike the Witherspoon campus, the Merwick site is less prominent, and is divided from the nearest adjacent neighborhood, John-Witherspoon, by wooded areas.
In June 2005, a Master Plan Subcommittee hearing brought together the three entities involved, the University, PHCS, and the Y, with the hope of establishing a dialogue that could decide the future of the area that also includes the University's 154-unit Stanworth Apartments that lie just to the north of Merwick.
The Y and Merwick are subject to the Borough's R-1 zoning code, which allows for residential and low density-development, with Stanworth falling in the R-4, zoned similar to that of the more dense, adjacent John-Witherspoon neighborhood.
At that meeting, Robert Durkee, vice president and secretary at Princeton University, said no immediate plans were in place for the 154-unit Stanworth Apartments, but left the discussion open when he said that the complex was not built to its full zoning potential.
Mr. Durkee also said that if the University were to acquire Merwick, as it since has, it would be "very interested" in creating access from Paul Robeson Place, easing traffic flow along Bayard Lane.
Related to that suggestion, other possible points of discussion tomorrow could include a street that runs parallel to, and to the west of, John Street for access to any future development.