February 27, 2013

At a meeting of Princeton Council on Monday, February 25, several opponents of developer AvalonBay’s housing plan for the former Princeton Hospital site voiced their opinions of an appeal filed February 20 by the developer in Superior Court. The appeal seeks to overturn the “illegal denial” of their plan issued by the Princeton Planning Board last December, and names the Board, the mayor, and Council as defendants.

Kate Warren, a member of the group Princeton Citizens for Sustainable Neighborhoods (PCSN), called the appeal “one more bullying tactic” by AvalonBay. PCSN has been a constant presence at meetings about the plan over the past year, challenging its density, design, and possible environmental problems with testimony from experts and attorneys. “We are asking you to put your full support behind the Planning Board’s decision,” Ms. Warren told Council.

PCSN member Alexi Assmus pointed out what she said were inaccuracies in the filing, specifically regarding affordable housing. In a statement, PCSN said, “We strongly urge Princeton Council and the Planning Board to fight the AvalonBay lawsuit against the town. We are considering all of our legal options.”

AvalonBay’s appeal asserts that the Planning Board was biased in its decision to reject the proposal for 280 rental units at the old hospital site on Witherspoon Street. “When the Planning Board voted to deny AvalonBay’s site plan application, it was clear that AvalonBay was an unwelcome corporate outsider,” the appeal reads. The developer was fully willing to comply with site plan and zoning ordinance requirements, it continues. “Unfortunately, AvalonBay’s compliance with the law was insufficient to obtain site plan approval from the Planning Board.”

The suit also contends that the Board’s decision violated the Mount Laurel Doctrine on affordable housing, and was not supported by evidence presented in several public hearings. The developer asks the court to reverse the decision and approve the project. They urge the Court to make a decision by May 1, at which time AvalonBay says it will have to back out of its contract with Princeton HealthCare System because of time and money constraints. The contract has a June 30, 2013 deadline, which the lawsuit says cannot be extended. The company also wants the court to award legal fees and other costs, which they expect to reach more than $2 million by the June date.

The hospital issued a statement last Thursday saying, “We are not a party to the lawsuit filed by AvalonBay and therefore are not in a position to comment on it.” AvalonBay also declined comment on the appeal.

Planning Board attorney Gerald Muller said Monday that he was surprised by the manner in which the suit was filed. “It’s an order to show cause, which we don’t think is appropriate here,” he said. Once the court sets up a briefing schedule, Mr. Muller added, the Board’s decision will be proven to be legal. “We think we have valid legal ground. And in our opinion, a number of standards in the ordinance have been violated.”

Mayor Liz Lempert said Monday a decision has not yet been reached on whether the task force which has been meeting regularly to discuss possible rezoning of the hospital site will be continued.

November 6, 2012

Hoping to have their say, residents opposed to AvalonBay Communities’ plans for development of the former University Medical Center of Princeton site turned out in force at the Thursday, October 25, special meeting of the Regional Planning Board. But there was no time for public comment at the hearing of site plan applications, as the Board took on the complicated issue of jurisdiction.

The standing-room-only meeting began with a response by Board attorney Gerald Muller to a nine-page letter from the attorney for the group Princeton Citizens for Sustainable Neighborhoods. The letter says that AvalonBay needs to have one of two site plan applications it submitted approved by the Township Zoning Board of Adjustment rather than the Planning Board, because it involves a section that is zoned commercial.

“It is my opinion that the [Planning] Board does have jurisdiction,” Mr. Muller said in response to the letter. “I don’t believe a use variance is necessary.” Rob Simon, the attorney for the citizens’ group, argued otherwise. Asked by Planning Board member Bernie Miller whether he has dealt with this type of issue before, Mr. Muller said, “This is very unusual.”

AvalonBay, which is under contract to build a 360,000-square-foot complex of 280 rental units where the old hospital building stands, had requested two site plan applications: A minor application for the parking garage, a portion of which lies in the Township, and a major application for construction of its new buildings, which would be in the Borough. Representatives for AvalonBay were asked to combine the applications into one, but they declined.

The deadline for the Township application was about to expire on October 26, while the Borough portion expires December 15. Mr. Muller expressed concern that the Township application could be legally eligible for automatic approval if the Board didn’t act on it by the end of the meeting. The Board then voted to consider both applications rather than just the one for the Township portion.

The letter from the citizens’ group also asserts that there are environmental issues that AvalonBay has not sufficiently addressed. The Planning Board meeting came a day after a meeting of the Princeton Environmental Commission, which voted to recommend that the Planning Board consider hiring an environmental engineer to determine whether sufficient testing has been carried out at the former hospital site. More soil and groundwater testing, either before or during construction was also recommended.

Planning Board member Marvin Reed commented during the Thursday meeting that AvalonBay’s application is “deficient.” He recalled chairing a special task force in 2005 on whether the hospital should expand at its Witherspoon Street location or move to a new site [the hospital moved to new headquarters in Plainsboro last May]. Mr. Reed said there were numerous meetings involving hospital administration and members of the community, and that the hospital agreed that at least two parks would be established at the site, similar to Hinds Plaza outside Princeton Public Library. While AvalonBay’s plans do include one public and one private courtyard, they do not reflect those original plans, Mr. Reed said.

“I submit to you that somewhere along the line, the good will of the medical center seems to have disappeared,” he concluded, to applause from the audience. “The proposal we’ve seen today is a very scaled-back version, particularly in the way to bring people together. That’s what we should try to achieve.”

Mr. Reed then handed copies of documents for the proposed park to AvalonBay Senior Vice President Ron Ladell, Mr. Simon, and Mark Solomon, who is attorney for the medical center.

Mr. Ladell, attorney Ann Studholme, and Jeremy Lang of Maser Consulting, which carried out studies for the development firm, testified at the meeting about the minor site plan. Also speaking were members of the Princeton Environmental Commission and the Site Plan Review Advisory Board, each of which recommended certain limitations to AvalonBay’s plan.

Testimony on the minor site plan was not complete by the end of the meeting, and Mr. Ladell ultimately agreed to extend the deadline to November 15, which is the date of the next Planning Board meeting.


September 19, 2012

The Princeton citizens who have expressed repeated concerns about the rental community planned for the former site of the University Medical Center at Princeton have been less vocal in recent months. But that doesn’t mean they have slowed down their efforts.

A core group of between 10 and 15 has been gathering information in an effort to show what they see as major problems with the concept that AvalonBay Communities, the company under contract to build a 280-unit apartment complex, has for the site. Princeton Citizens for Sustainable Neighborhoods, shepherded by Daniel Harris, Kate Warren and Alexi Assmus, has hired two attorneys and an urban planner to represent them when AvalonBay’s proposal comes before the Regional Planning Board.

The group will hold an informational meeting, open to the public, at Ms. Warren’s home at 17 Jefferson Road on Sunday, September 30 at 3 p.m. Then on Sunday, October 7 at 3 p.m., environmental lawyer Alan Kleinbaum, one of the attorneys they have retained, will address
the proposed redevelopment at another open meeting. “Sustainable Redevelopment in Princeton: The Legal Perspective” will be held at the Princeton Fire Engine Company #1 facility on Chestnut Street.

“There is significant concern about the development and a desire to have a better development,” says Ms. Assmus. “There seems to be a misconception out there that this is a done deal, that nothing can be done to change it. But that’s not the case.”

The group maintains that AvalonBay’s site plan, which was revised last June, is incomplete. Missing are details about hydrant water flows, fire prevention, traffic study data, and contamination of the site, they say. State documents regarding the decommissioning of the old hospital are also incomplete, they maintain.

In addition to Mr. Kleinbaum, the group has hired a municipal land use attorney. The group is raising funds to pay the lawyers and the urban planner they have also retained. “The big push now is to raise money to have these experts,” Ms. Assmus said. A teleconference was held by the group on September 12. A post on the group’s Facebook page September 6 said that $10,000 had been raised so far, but “at least $20,000 more” is needed.

Since AvalonBay was announced as the buyer for the former hospital site in November 2011 and first presented its plans, some neighborhood and outer area residents have expressed repeated concerns about scale, design, access, sustainability, and safety. An ad hoc committee addressed the design, making such changes as archways opening up the courtyard, a lower building height, and a reduced mass for the building. But many residents have said they were not enough.

“We would like AvalonBay to get their architects [Perkins Eastman] to do a truly custom design, working with the neighborhood and Borough code and the master plan,” said Ms. Assmus. “This really could work.”

Ron Ladell, senior vice president, development, of AvalonBay, declined to comment for this article.