Princeton Community Housing to add 25 more affordable housing units to Bunn Drive development
Princeton Community Housing, a local nonprofit that develops and manages affordable housing, is planning to build a new apartment complex with 25 units at Princeton Community Village, its affordable housing development on Bunn Drive in the northeast portion of the town.
The nonprofit went before the town’s site plan review advisory board last week to present plans for the new housing complex. The project is part of the town’s affordable housing plan related to the legal settlement with Fair Share Housing.
Princeton Community Housing is seeking site plan approvals from the local planning board to build a three-story apartment building.
Construction could begin as early as this summer and is expected to take about a year to complete.
Princeton Community Village, which opened in 1975, has a total of 239 residential units. The new building would bring the total to 264 units with 453 parking spaces, a net increase of 38 parking spaces. The nonprofit is asking for 35 additional parking spaces to be banked if more parking is needed in the future.
The new complex will be located adjacent to Holly House, a six-story apartment building with 71 one-bedroom units, and the Princeton Community Village Clubhouse, which is used for meetings and other community activities.
Ed Truscelli, executive director of Princeton Community Housing, told the board during the public Zoom meeting last week that the floor area ratio for the apartments meets or exceeds the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHFMA) and Council on Affordable Housing standard regarding the size of units and bedrooms. The complex will be 100 percent affordable housing units, and will be a mix of low and very low-income units.
Five apartments will be one-bedroom units, 14 apartments will be two-bedroom units, and six will be three-bedroom units.
Truscelli said a resident advisory panel at the village was consulted when the plan was developed, and the group provided feedback on the overall plan and neighborhood enhancements. “It’s a tight-knit community, and a great place to live,” he said, adding that Princeton Community Village offers after-school programs, and is exploring offering a daycare program next fall in partnership with other community organizations.
One SPRAB member asked whether the site needs so much parking. Truscelli said many residents need to drive to their jobs and can’t rely on mass transit, and that parking is very important to them.
Two electric vehicle charging stations are required as part of the plan. Some SPRAB members suggested that more than two be added to the site.
“It’s one of most appropriate places for electric vehicle parking,” Councilman David Cohen said. “You can buy cheap used electric vehicles. There may be some real demand.” Cohen said officials thought the demand was 10 years down the road but is now more likely to be two or three years.
A review of used electric vehicle prices from used car websites like Carvana shows that prices for a pre-owned electric vehicle range from $7,990 to about $50,000. The median price for a used electric vehicle was $35,990 on Carvana last week. A Nissan Leaf with close to 70,000 miles sells for about $8,000 to $9,000. Replacing the battery at about 100,000 miles costs $5,499, in addition to about three hours of labor costs.
Truscelli said there has been no demand for charging stations, and no one has an electric vehicle at the development. A SPRAB member suggested that residents would get electric vehicles if there are charging stations on site.
The application for the project will now move to the planning board.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
This development borders Herrontown Woods. The Friends of Herrontown Woods (FOHW.org) were not contacted, and only learned of this development in the past week. While more affordable housing is to be lauded, there are obvious concerns about whether sediment-laden runoff will be adequately contained during construction, whether stormwater runoff from our increasingly intense and frequent storms will affect preserved lands bordering PCV, whether PCV will improve the currently obscured trailhead into Herrontown Woods as part of this development, and whether the proposed lighting for the building and parking areas will be adequately muted in order to minimize light pollution.
The Friends of Herrontown Woods has worked hard to rehabilitate this long neglected nature preserve, and would have appreciated being reached out to for comment. We hope there will still be an opportunity to have our concerns addressed and that we can help to make this development the best that it can be, for PCV and for next door neighbors.
My congratulations to Mr. Hiltner. It is endless, thankless, perhaps, it frightens me to say it, hopeless task he is undertaking, namely to 1) awaken people to the undeniable fact that the earth is our only home, that we treat as if it were a latrine, that there is a staggering amount of suffering caused by us to other creatures, and we are an arrogant bunch taught little about the rights of other living creatures; 2) those rights are not rights in the sense of the second amendment or the right to insist that lunatics make good leaders. Those “rights” are fundamentals to a building—the building called Life. If we do not take care of the basic structure, the building will fall, irrespective of the amount of gold gilding.
Thanks again
Liam
Members of the Friends of Herrontown Woods and DR Greenway had a productive zoom meeting with Princeton Community Village leadership yesterday. We raised concerns about runoff, light pollution, maintenance of raingardens, and improving the trailhead at PCV that leads into Herrontown Woods. It looks like the design is well suited for making PCV residents more aware of the hiking opportunities they have next door, and to filtering and slowing down runoff from storms. The lighting is said to be “dark sky compliant.” A very similar raingarden system was installed years back at Westminster Choir College, which I ended up adopting after the custodial landscape crews proved unable to maintain these relatively complex plantings. Though design matters, it’s the maintenance that determines whether raingardens and stormwater detention systems function well. Hopefully, knowledgeable people will come forward to care for the gardens, so that they can serve as an “intro” to the flora of Herrontown Woods. It was a positive meeting, and the new construction could catalyze more interaction as neighbors than we’ve had in the past.
FYI – Though the article mentions only very low and low income households, I checked with PCH and was advised that the apartments would also be for moderate income households.