To the Editor:
To preface this letter, I am not anti-housing, anti-development, or anti-capitalism.
New Jersey Local Redevelopment and Housing Law (N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-1 et seq.) grants municipalities exceptional powers to address areas that private developers would otherwise avoid developing. Section 40A:12A-2 – “Findings, determinations, declarations” explicitly states the conditions it aims to address “are not likely to be corrected or ameliorated by private effort” alone. Since when did Princeton have any undesirable real estate?
The application of N.J.S.A. 40A:12A-5 – “Determination of Need for Redevelopment” has been a longstanding point of contention in New Jersey, see Kevin Malanga v. Township Of West Orange Docket No. A-4036-18T3 (2020) and Kevin Malanga v. Township Of West Orange Supreme Court Docket No. 086087 (2023), two cases where a local activist successfully challenged Area in Need of Redevelopment (ANR) designations, one for a shopping center and office park and the second for a public library. The public library case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously in favor of the plaintiff. These cases make you also wonder about the North Harrison Redevelopment Area — the wooded area that used to be behind McCaffrey’s and the southern parking lot of the shopping center.
A key issue of an invalid ANR designation is that the designation enables a municipality to grant tax exemptions under N.J.S.A. 40A:20-1 – “Long-term Tax Exemption Law” through a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement with a private developer, creating elements of misuse of power and crony capitalism. “No Kings” right?
In discussing development matters, resorting to pejoratives like “NIMBY” is evidence of a lack of substantive argument.
Are we paying attention to things like hospital capacity which is shared with surrounding towns that are also growing? I just learned that my friend’s father spent three days in the hallway at Princeton Medical Center earlier this year because they were over capacity.
Has everyone seen the Land Use Plan in the Princeton Master Plan and Reexamination Report on p. 42 (PDF p. 50)? Yes, there is a note saying that the map is generalized and simplified, but the intent is clear. What does everyone think of up to 8 units per acre in the Riverside and Littlebrook neighborhoods, and up to 20 units per acre in the central parts of town? I can’t imagine these will be single-family homes, more likely condominiums. If you think bidding for a house against developers is bad now, just wait until they can play with the aggregate profit margin of multiple units per acre. Also, from a simple function of single-family home supply and demand, reducing the number of units will pour kerosene on single-family home affordability.