A zoning application set to appear before the Princeton Township Zoning Board of Adjustment requesting variances in a plan to build 98 age-restricted homes on a 14-acre tract east of Bunn Drive by developer Morgan Estates was again postponed last Wednesday night.
A problem arose in respect to the continued representation of the applicant by the firm, Pepper Hamilton, according to Mark Solomon, a land use lawyer working with Morgan Estates. He added that the firm sought to attain replacement counsel and have that in place but an issue was raised in respect to the participation of that counsel, leaving Morgan Estates with no legal representation, and thus, unable to move forward with their application.
In order to appropriately handle the transition, Mr. Solomon said, the only thing left to do was to ask the Board to carry the application to a later date, "so my [former] client has the opportunity to find counsel that can handle this matter." Mr. Solomon, who said the setbacks were "regrettable in a lot of respects," added he was prepared to "face the music.
"You've made your time available and made the agenda available, and I regret that we are unable to make the most of that opportunity." Mr. Solomon also acknowledged the abundance of residents, both for and against the application, who had shown up to the hearing.
While there were senior housing advocates in the audience that night, there was also a strong contingent of Governors Lane residents represented. The Morgan Estates application proposed a development that would abut Bunn, Governors Lane, and the cul-de-sac of Journey's End Lane, with Princeton Community Village (PCV) to the north.
In the time since the application was first submitted, several residents have written their concerns to the Township's Zoning Department that the development would create a disturbance and increase density on what is now a wooded site.
In his January 2 letter, William Stephenson of Governors Lane conceded that while the Township "unquestionably needs more senior housing," the Morgan Estates application is a "scam to develop high density housing" that "in no way affects the need of the community for senior housing."
In her October 24 letter, Loralee Strauss, vice president of the trustees of the Governors Lane Condominium Association, referred to a September 9, 2005 joint memo from Planning Director Lee Solow, Township Zoning Officer Peter Kneski, and Township Engineer Robert Kiser indicating that variances are being sought for the development because the current zoning does not allow either the use or proposed density. The projected buildings are slated to exceed the floor area ratio in both the Township's OR-2 and R-2 zones, the two zones on which the development would lie.
Governors Lane was developed at a density of 3.25 units per acre; PCV at 6.7 units per acre; and Journeys End Lane at a low density of three-quarters a unit per acre. The density of the Morgan Estates application seeks 6.9 units per acre.
But Ms. Strauss worried in her letter that the volume would interfere with a relatively tranquil area: "the quality of life for all residents of Governors Lane will be significantly affected adversely."
Both the Township's Shade Tree Commission and the Princeton Environmental Commission have already signed off on their opposition to the proposed development, with the Environmental Commission worrying in a letter to Township Zoning Chairman Carlos Rodrigues about the site's "fragile, steeply-sloped, rock-strewn, heavily-wooded" aspects that lie along a portion of the Township known as the Princeton Ridge.
The Shade Tree Commission criticized the plan, largely based on the volume of trees that would be removed, which the Commission estimated in the "hundreds."
That said, the Ridge has already been exposed to development with PCV, Campbell Woods, and a number of office complexes and residences occupying the area. In 1998, Township Committee rezoned a vacant portion of the Princeton Shopping Center that abuts Valley Road for age-restricted housing, and in 2003, rezoned properties along Bunn Drive and Mount Lucas Road for age-restricted housing.
In addition, an equally-controversial application for 140 age-restricted housing units on the western side of Bunn, south of Hilltop Park, was approved by the Regional Planning Board.
The Morgan Estates application is slated for a new hearing Wednesday, February 22 at 7:30 p.m. at Township Hall.