Jones Lang LaSalle

Junction site gets redevelopment OK
Skeptical neighbors will remain vigilant
Thursday, February 16, 2006
By CHRIS STURGIS
Special to The Times

WEST WINDSOR -- The state has designated 350 acres around the Princeton Junction Train Station for redevelopment, but the neighborhood coalition that has been skeptical of the redevelopment proposal is vowing to remain vigilant.

Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh announced the redevelopment designation at a news conference yesterday morning, along with the receipt of $55,000 in grants from the state's Smart Future program for planning and research.

"This is only the beginning," said Hsueh. "I anticipate that the planning effort will take about two years to complete. We need to ensure that all stakeholders, including property owners and residents, have ample participation in the process."

He pledged to make certain the redevelopment efforts benefit all the residents and that the redeveloped area remains an asset to the township in the future.

Hsueh said the Smart Future funds include $35,000 for the redevelopment plan and $20,000 for research and outreach in the creation of the plan.

The public has responded favorably to Hsueh's efforts to give West Windsor, a once-agricultural town that is now a fast-growing suburb, some semblance of a downtown, a Main Street in the vicinity of the busy train station.

He has called for traffic improvements on Route 571, also known as Princeton-Hightstown Road, the main thoroughfare through Princeton Junction, to make travel safer for pedestrians and bicyclists and also to add sidewalks.

The Princeton Junction redevelopment idea previously hit a snag when the Princeton Junction Neighborhood Coalition invited Princeton attorney Bill Potter to speak to their group about redevelopment.

Potter said governments that create redevelopment areas receive unchecked power. They can borrow money through bonds without a public referendum, choose a master developer without seeking competitive proposals and take land by eminent domain simply because they view it as "underutilized."

"We didn't sour on the project, we soured on the process," one of the neighborhood group's leaders, Meg Chicco, said yesterday.

She said the group remains interested in the mayor's ideas for giving the township a stronger sense of community. He will be speaking at the group's March 2 meeting in the Senior Citizen Center.

Chicco said she is interested in hearing what the township council, led by president Charles Morgan, will say at its special meeting at 7 p.m. on Feb. 21, about the redevelopment area.

Chicco said the coalition is not opposed to the project, just concerned that since they live closest to it, they will be affected the most. "We stand to benefit considerably from this if it's done correctly," she said.

Hsueh touted his doctorate in water resources engineering from Rutgers University and career with the state Department of Environmental Protection at the news conference yesterday, emphasizing that his background enables him to ensure the township benefits from governmental funding beyond property taxes.

Though some residents balked at the redevelopment designation and the powers that accompany it, Hsueh said the designation simply had to come first because that's how the procedure is designed.

He will make presentations today to a state task force representing various state agencies involved with transportation and environmental concerns in hopes that they prioritize West Windsor.

"I want people to understand we have to take this one step at a time," he said.