NJ Transit to Appear Before Historic Sites Council Next Week Regarding Dinky Station Move

New Jersey Transit is taking steps to prepare for the Dinky’s station’s move south.

The agency has applied to the state Department of Environmental Protection for permission to remove about 460 feet of track. NJ Transit must present its request to the New Jersey Historic Sites Council, because the Dinky station is on the New Jersey and National Register of Historic places (since 1984).

The review is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 16, at 10 a.m. in the public hearing room of the Department of Environmental Protection Building at 401 East State Street in Trenton. Public comment can be made at the meeting.

The New Jersey Historic Sites Council is an advisory body and will make a recommendation to the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The Council can recommend approval, approval with conditions, or denial of the application, but the head of DEP is the one who ultimately issues a decision.

Princeton University plans to move the station about 460 feet south of its existing location, a move some residents oppose because it means the station will be farther away from the center of town. University officials argue the move is necessary for its $300 million arts and transit neighborhood plan, and to create a second access road to a university parking garage. A group of residents has filed a lawsuit trying to stop the station from being moved. A second lawsuit has also been filed challenging the granting of zoning for the arts and transit project.