A Citizen's Guide to Action
As per the Guidebook for all members of Boards, Committees and Commissions:
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"Members have an obligation to listen to the comments or complaints of the public. A welcoming atmosphere should be prevalent, and steps should be taken to ensure that members of the public are free to express their views without fear of ridicule or belittlement by anyone with an opposing viewpoint. Members should conduct themselves in a manner that demonstrates fairness and professionalism. Members should be considerate of all interests and value differences of opinion. Additionally, members should remain open-minded, objective, and make no judgment until all of the available evidence pertaining to an issue has been submitted."
The law gives the public, through their public officials, authority over the future of Areas in Need of Redevelopment (ANRs).
A luxury high-rise was not inevitable
The Council could have taken numerous steps towards a collaborative solution that addressed the affordable housing shortage without constructing hundreds of luxury high rise units in the heart of the Princeton Historic District – and without rewarding a property developer.
The Council could have adopted a redevelopment plan of the town’s choosing. It could have established a redevelopment authority including all interests to create and carry out a redevelopment plan. That authority would have been empowered to issue Redevelopment Area Bonds to assist in financing redevelopment of the site.
Neighbors sought collaboration and 100% affordability
In 2023, the Princeton Coalition for Responsible Development (PCRD) presented to the Council an alternative plan that would have produced 100 percent affordable housing, 50 units in all – more than the current Stockton Street project provides – but with a density and design fully in keeping with the surrounding neighborhood. This was offered as a starting point for a collaborative discussion
These units would not have reverted to market price after thirty years, unlike the developer-friendly portions of state mandated affordable housing regulations we’re now being saddled with. These units would have given residents a path to home ownership in the middle of a prime part of the Princeton Historic District. Instead of devastating a historic neighborhood with a high-density luxury complex, it would have preserved the existing human scale while doing more for low- and moderate-income households than the Stockton complex ever will.
Predictably the Council members rejected the proposal out of hand, finding flimsy excuses about how it would prove too costly for Princeton taxpayers. All the while council members touted the benefits of private high-density development, in terms remarkably similar to those later used by the developer to whom they would eventually award a $40 million tax break.
Public-private initiatives, foundation, and other philanthropic support, even the commonly used instrument of a municipal bond issue evidently never crossed the council members’ minds. Creative energy and initiative to advance equity along with historical preservation is not this Council’s strong suit.
What you can do
Legal action, including litigation, by the PCRD and Defend Historic Princeton, is challenging and seeking to overturn the deeply flawed official maneuvers that have brought us to where we are. The town’s Planning Board has yet to approve a developer’s site plan. There is still time for Princetonians to speak up against this ill-conceived and destructive project.
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Write to or speak with council members who supported this project by approving a bad-faith Area in Need of Redevelopment designation and the awarding of a $40 million tax break to a millionaire developer:
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Mia Sacks, Council President msacks@princetonnj.gov
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Leticia Fraga, Lfraga@princetonnj.gov
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David Cohen, dcohen@princetonnj.gov
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Michelle Pirone Lambros, mpironelambros@princetonnj.gov
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Leighton Newlin lnewlin@princetonnj.gov
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Brian McDonald bmcdonald@princetonnj.gov
Contact members of the Planning Board, which conducts hearing and reviews applications for site plans. Email Planning@princetonnj.gov and place the recipient’s name in the subject line.
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Louise Currey Wilson, Chair
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Owen O'Donnell, Vice-Chair
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Julie Capozzoli
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Nat Bottigheimer
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Fredi Pearlmutter
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Alvin McGowen
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Pallavi Nuka
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John Taylor
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Claudia Wilson Anderson
Contact the Shade Tree Commission and express your concern that the developer has permission to remove all old-growth trees from the property.
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Sharon Ainsworth, Chair
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Lily Krauss, Vice Chair
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Victoria Airgood
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Radhika Pola
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Janet Stern
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Raymond Devoe
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Sandra Chen
Contact members of the Historic Preservation Commission.
Contact members of the Flood and Storm Water Commission.
Write to the administration and trustees of the Princeton Theological Seminary, whose decisions to off-load this property to a private developer will have irreparable consequences for the neighborhood they have referred to as “a treasure” that must be preserved.