The town of Princeton is considering making an offer to purchase the property on Witherspoon Street that belonged to Chauncey Meyer for affordable housing, sources say.
Last year, Meyer died at the age of 91. The Princeton native worked at the public library for more than three decades. Her estate is still being sorted out. The property for sale, which is now office space, is located at 201 and 205 Witherspoon Street. The asking price is $1.6 million.
The Princeton Council will hold a closed session meeting tonight before the regular session. One of the items on the agenda is a potential property acquisition.
A closed session is appropriate for price negotiations for a particular property. But has the Council discussed their plan for buying property for affordable housing in public session. That should be done if the council is intending to spend millions of dollars ($2 million this year so far) on affordable housing. Is it money well-spent and can the money be used better in other ways are two questions that should be discussed in open session.
Our genius elected leaders are considering entering a competitive auction against private bidders on a coveted property on a quest to buy affordable housing at a cost of $400k/unit (based on the public information)? C’mon. What are these bozos smoking! There is nothing like spending other people’s money.
Agreed OPRA & Bigg. If taxpayers must pay the cost or “debt service” for this affordable housing project, Council needs to budget well. When you’re doing something on a budget, you first figure out how much you can reasonably spend….THEN you decide what opportunities are possible. Given that Princeton owns land and has the ability to order pre-fab dwellings, taxpayers in Princeton should be allowed to weigh in on what can be spent per unit on affordable housing. Council needs to present the true costs of managing & maintaining each unit, as well. If there’s a charitable trust, for profit enterprise, or grant funding providing the 2 million, and if the taxpayers don’t end up being the ones responsible for the upkeep of this property… Council can place this feather in their expensively feathered cap, regardless of what the taxpayers think.