Princeton U. announces the road to be traveled
New road to be built along Route 1 in S.B. for 90-acre science campus
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer
The South Brunswick Planning Board approved an application from the trustees of Princeton University on Jan. 16 to build a new road for their proposed 90- acre science research campus, to be built along Route 1 near Independence Way.

The road will connect to Independence Way and will be called Nursery Road. It will run all the way through Plainsboro. There will be sidewalks and trees on both sides of the road.

"The road will end up being South Brunswick's road; it will be a municipal road," said David Knights, a spokesman for Princeton Forrestal.

Knights said that construction for improvements at the Independence Way jughandle have started and should be completed in the spring. Two of the seven detention basins are already installed.

"They are absolutely state of the art," Knights said.

However, a controversy arose in the discussions about the detention basins that will be installed, mainly due to detention basin No. 5 impacting a heavily used walking path adjacent to Mapleton Preserve, as well as tree rows in the area. Robert von Zumbusch of the Mapleton Preserve Commission and Ann Zeman of the Kingston Village Advisory Commission requested that the basin be moved.

"We want to preserve that pathway that exists," von Zumbusch said. "If the size is reduced, it makes it a lot easier to do."

"It's an important path for us," Zeman added. "Every bird walk, every plant walk goes through there."

Still, Princeton Forrestal did not believe it could move the basin.

"All of the basins have received DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] approval," Knights said.

This DEP approval is stopping Princeton from even considering moving the location of the basins, although the size may become smaller.

"If we had to, we'd build the basins on this plan to protect the plan we had with the DEP," said Chris Baker, a lawyer representing Princeton Forrestal.

Mayor Frank Gambatese understands the situation they are in.

"The DEP has changed in the past four to five years," he said. "They've changed to the point where it's difficult to get a permit."

Princeton Forrestal has final say on the lands, since it owns all of them, including the walking path. Knights said that within a very short period of time, the board would be producing an application for the 90-acre park.

There was also a request made by the Kingston Area Subcommittee to put trees in the middle of the road. Knights said he doubts Princeton Forrestal will be able to fulfill their requests. Gambatese is happy that it will not be fulfilled.

"I find it to be dangerous," he said, talking about a similar island with plants and trees on Raymond Road. "I almost hit those things."

However, Zeman said that Raymond Road is narrower than the proposed Nursery Road and so it should be easier to put trees in the middle of the wider road.

Knights also said Princeton Forrestal would not be able to put in a wooden guardrail, although he wished it could be done.

"We wanted it badly, but we came up short," Knights said. "

They will be using an alternative that Knights said is significantly better than steel.

Von Zumbusch added that the feel of the road was not ideal.

"It's to your advantage that this road have a different character than Princeton Forrestal and College Road," von Zumbusch said. "I think we can do something better here."

Knights disagreed.

"The developer is putting Princeton Forrestal in the name of this project for a reason," Knights said. "We have a model that has worked well and we want to continue it."

Overall, Princeton Forrestal wished that the concerns had been raised earlier.

"This is 2008," Baker said. "This process started in 2000. This is a long time after the fact. We have already given our land away.

"We have a very positive relationship with them," Knights said of the preservation committees.

Councilman Charles Carley did express concern for the path, though, and hoped that something could be worked out.

"Everyone agrees that maintaining the path is important," Carley said.

Knights said a contract was signed with a developer in the past two weeks to build the Science Park at Princeton Forrestal, but their name cannot be divulged yet.

"They're experienced and have really exciting ideas," Knights said of the developer. "We're very excited about this project, they have a very strong positive background."

The proposed science park will have about seven buildings and possibly a few hotels.