Where In Princeton Is Near Transit?

Posted on April 19, 2018 by

Transit in central Princeton: Blue circles indicate bus line within a quarter of a mile. (click to expand)

Where in Princeton can you live most easily without a car? Part of the answer lies in transit availability. Princeton has four local transit services: our NJ Transit bus lines (the #605 and #606), Princeton University’s TigerTransit shuttle bus routes, the town’s FreeB jitney, and, of course, the Princeton Branch ‘Dinky’ rail connection to West Windsor. We used a tool designed by Oliver Beattie (find it here) to map where in Princeton is within 0.25 miles (about a 5-minute walk) of a transit line. As you can see from the picture above, much of downtown Princeton is close to one or more transit lines.  Continue reading →

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Princeton Council Secretly Planning For 3,000+ New Homes

Posted on April 12, 2018 by

Townhouses at the Avalon Princeton development. 20% of total units are designated as ‘affordable’ under NJ law. (click to expand)

Mercer County Judge Mary Jacobson ruled last month that Princeton has added far too few affordable homes. To meet state affordable housing requirements, Princeton Council is now secretly developing plans for around 3,000 new homes, a radical increase in development which is likely to take many people in the town by surprise. How many homes are we talking about? And where should they go? Continue reading →

Posted in Affordability, Density, Local, People, Placemaking, planning, Smart Growth, Zoning | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Town of Princeton Uses Picture of Abandoned Icelandic Village for Affordable Housing Department Webpage

Posted on April 8, 2018 by

Screenshot of Town of Princeton’s webpage for Affordable Housing Department. (click to expand)

The Town of Princeton recently launched a new municipal webpage. Interestingly, the Affordable Housing Department page features a picture of an abandoned village next to a remote, subarctic mountain range. It’s not clear what this has to do with affordable housing in Princeton. Presumably it is a stock photo that was left in as a placeholder by the web designer, but it’s an unfortunate choice after a judge ruled that the town needs to plan for hundreds of new affordable homes. At this time, town officials have released no information about where they plan to place these new homes, even though a decision is needed by June. Continue reading →

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Site Plan For Senior Living Facility Next to Princeton Shopping Center

Posted on March 31, 2018 by

Rendering of assisted living facility proposed for North Harrison St and Terhune Road, Princeton (click to expand)

In the 1990s, a plan was submitted to build a senior living facility on the site next to Princeton Shopping Center, at the intersection of North Harrison St and Terhune Road. The plan drew opposition and nothing ever got built. The site is currently scrubby wasteland. But last year, ‘Sunrise Senior Living’ apparently started holding meetings with local neighbors to discuss a new plan, and subsequently filed detailed plans with the Zoning Office at Princeton City Hall. Electronic versions are not available, but we took some grainy photos, to show what the building might look like. Continue reading →

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Princeton Planning Board Approves 6-Unit Infill Apartment Project on Spring Street

Posted on February 26, 2018 by

Rendering of Nelson Glass building addition with residential units. (click to expand, credit: JZ&D architects)

The Princeton Planning Board recently approved a proposal to add three stories to the ‘Nelson Glass’ building at 45 Spring Street. The project promises to add 6 new apartments in a very walkable location at the heart of downtown Princeton. One of the apartments will be designated as an ‘affordable’ unit under the town’s inclusionary zoning policy, and the project will meet LEED-Silver environmental standards. Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, Density, Downtown Vibrancy, People, planning, Princeton, Real estate, Smart Growth | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Parking-On-Demand Comes To Princeton With Launch Of ‘Possumus’ Program

Posted on February 20, 2018 by

Arash Sadeghi, at the launch of the ‘Possumus’ parking system, Nassau St Princeton, Feb 17, 2018 (click to expand)

Princeton just got a new way to park. You may have read about Arash Sadeghi last year in the Princeton Echo or in the Princeton Packet. The graduate of Oxford and Princeton universities was launching a tech startup to allow people to find parking in town. Using a smartphone app, users could enter details about where they were going, and be guided to an open parking space by their phone. A solar-powered ‘smart meter’ would sense when the user arrived, and begin a parking session. At the end, the user simply drives away. No more hunting for a parking spot. No more searching for quarters. It’s parking, on demand. And now, it has finally launched. Continue reading →

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The Greater Princeton: A Smart Growth Vision for the Princeton Region

Posted on January 24, 2018 by

Blatchford Development in Edmonton, Canada (Could be Princeton or West Windsor)

This post was submitted by a guest blogger.

Princeton and its surrounding communities are at a turning point and need to make critical decisions about how they want to grow. The affordable housing obligations now being determined will very likely require much more development, and there is a pressing housing shortage. Moreover, there is a retail and suburban office space apocalypse upon us. Do they want to continue encouraging business as usual auto-dependent sprawl? Or do they want to make strategically guided equitable smart growth development on public transit and create walkable sustainable lifestyles that people are seeking?

Continue reading →

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