Princeton Council voted Monday evening to introduce an ordinance approving the conveying of easements for land adjacent to the post office on Palmer Square. The action was among the topics taken up during the meeting of the governing body in Witherspoon Hall.

The approval, which will be given a public hearing and final vote at the Council’s next meeting October 12, allows the United States Post Office to go through with sale of the property. LCOR Ventures of California is the company contracted to buy the building, to be possibly turned into a retail establishment or restaurant.

Originally, the post office offered to pay $10,000 for the easements, but the figure was upped to $85,000 following discussions with representatives of Council. Councilwoman Heather Howard credited her colleague Jenny Crumiller with doing the work to create the favorable outcome. Ms. Crumiller was particularly critical in recent meetings about “giving away” the easements for $10,000 and the move of the post office, which will relocate to 259 Nassau Street in November as part of a system-wide downsizing.

“We’ve made lemons out of lemonade,” Ms. Howard said. “Now we’re putting the property on our tax rolls.”

An attorney for Pepper Hamilton, who represents Palmer Square Management, questioned whether the town had followed proper procedure with the transaction, saying the parcel is part of the Green Acres program. But officials said they were not aware that it is listed on the recreation and open space inventory. Since they were voting to continue an existing easement rather than create a new one, they did not need to look into county or state regulations.

Welcoming America

Council voted to introduce resolutions enabling Princeton to join the national Welcoming America network, which fosters opportunity for immigrants, and to support the expansion of access to driver’s licenses to undocumented New Jersey residents. Joining Welcoming America will allow Princeton to access the best practices of other communities throughout the country, officials said.

New Jersey’s Senate and Assembly have yet to vote on legislation that has been introduced to support that initiative. Ten New Jersey cities and counties have passed similar resolutions in support of these bills, along with 14 mayors and 29 community organizations and labor unions that have formally supported it, according to John Heilner, who chairs the Princeton Human Services Commission’s Immigration Committee.

“Twelve states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico already grant this privilege — indeed a necessity for work and family life,” he said. “Many top law enforcement officers around the country support these licenses.”

Several members of Princeton’s Latino community were on hand to show their support for the measure, and one spoke in favor, using Human Services director Elisa Neira as interpreter. Councilwoman Jo Butler was among those on the governing body to express support. “It’s only an honorable and just thing to do and I endorse it wholeheartedly,” she said.

Senior Resource Center

Last renovated in 2002, Princeton Senior Resource Center is bursting at the seams and hoping to expand and rehabilitate its headquarters behind Monument Hall. Susan Hoskins, executive director, told Council that Princeton has an exceptionally high number of older adults, and the senior population is expected to grow between 29 and 30 percent in the next several years.

While 213 people participated in programs at PSRC in 2002, 1,350 signed up in 2014. There were 43 social groups at the center in 2002, compared with 175 this year. “We have outgrown the building,” Ms. Hoskins said. “We already use additional spaces for overflow classes and groups.”

PSRC will embark on a capital campaign that will hopefully raise $1.5 million to augment $250,000 from the town, already in the capital budget, and another $250,000 in matching funds from Mercer County. Construction would begin only after funding is secured, Ms. Hoskins said.

Spring Street Garage

Assistant municipal engineer Deana Stockton told Council that improvements to the Spring Street Garage have taken longer than expected and are still not finished, but the new payment system is up and running. The garage remained open during installment of the new system, which took longer than originally planned. Parking during the installment period was free.

There have been issues with the Smart Card apparatus, which means a four to six week delay in getting that up and running. There have been additional problems with the use of American Express cards, but other credit cards work.