Olden Street Homes Await Their Fate: University Requests Postponement

Matthew Hersh

A Princeton University proposal to tear down three multi-family homes on Olden Street between Nassau and William streets will be heard before the Princeton Borough Zoning Board of Adjustment, but not as soon a some might have expected.

In a letter from University attorney James Britt to the Borough zoning office, the Trustees of the University have asked that the hearing for the controversial application be postponed from next Thursday, January 27, and rescheduled for March 24. The postponement, the letter read, will "provide an opportunity for the University to consider a number of comments and input received from various concerned citizens."

Those "concerned citizens," neighbors of the proposed demolition, have objected to the University's plans to combine the three lots on Olden Street into one comprehensive lot to accommodate a three-story 27,000 square-foot academic building for the University's engineering school. The application was on the zoning board agenda last month, but was postponed to this month because that meeting ran late.

Borough Zoning Officer Frank Slimak, in anticipation of the Board's expected granting of the postponement, sent an intraoffice memo to the members of the zoning board asking their attendance on the newly-scheduled March 24 meeting. Mr. Slimak said he was encouraged by the prospect of the postponement because it will give the University adequate time to notify residents within 200 feet of the site. Mr. Britt's letter indicated that the University would, in fact, give "re-notice to all required parties for the March meeting at the appropriate time."

Mr. Slimak said that he "concurred" with the University's decision to review its plans and that he would also ask the zoning board to grant a time extension so the board has more time to consider the application.