Demolition is still on hold at the old Princeton hospital, after a judge ordered Princeton officials and the developer to try to work out their differences with a mediator. (click to expand.)

Thanks to Philip Curran at the Princeton Packet for getting the story. Princeton and AvalonBay were back in court today to sort out their disagreements regarding the developers agreement for redevelopment of the old Princeton hospital. Judge Jacobson has required the two sides to seek a mediator, but she indicated that if they aren’t able to sort it out, she would likely find in favor of the developer (see link at top).

The result suggests that Princeton’s Council members overplayed their hand when- at the urging of some local residents- they imposed more stringent requirements on AvalonBay over environmental testing at the site. Although the two sides can hopefully find a compromise that goes some way to satisfying local residents’ concerns about testing, it seems that in this case at least, Princeton does not have as much power as Council thought when it comes to adding extra regulations onto redevelopment projects.

Updated: read another report of today’s court proceedings by Nicole Mulvaney of the Times of Trenton here.