‘Concept plan’ for new housing in the proposed ‘AH-7’ zone at 375 Terhune Road, Princeton (click to expand)

Princeton Council will consider a plan to rezone a plot of land at 375 Terhune Road at their meeting on Monday, November 2. The new zoning would permit construction of up to 30 new homes, and end a legal battle that had threatened the town’s affordable housing settlement.

In December 2019, the town of Princeton produced a draft plan to settle state requirements for affordable housing. The plan named a number of sites for new affordable housing, and throughout 2020, Council has worked to make zoning changes to enable this housing to be built. One of the key sites for new affordable housing is at Thanet Road, where Council proposes to allow around 300 new homes to be built. As reported in ‘Walkable Princeton’ earlier this year, this aspect of the town’s affordable housing plan has been the subject of a court challenge from ‘375 Terhune Road, LLC”, a corporation owned by well-known local builder, Roman Barsky. Council now proposes to settle the litigation from 375 Terhune Road LLC, and create a new affordable housing zone at 375 Terhune Road, called the ‘AH-7’ zone.  

At present, one single house stands on the 2.36 acre parcel at 375 Terhune Road. The proposed AH-7 zone would allow that house to be replaced with 24 townhouse units and 6 multi-family apartment units. 20% of the new homes (six units) would be designated as below-market-rate affordable homes, which would help the town meet state-mandated requirements to provide affordable housing. A ‘concept plan’ included in the packet for the Council meeting (shown above) illustrates how the new housing would be arranged. Two apartment buildings would stand closest to Terhune Road. Each of these would have three apartments, and rise to “2.5 stories”. The twenty-four townhouses would be arranged “front-to-front” in two clusters, with each home facing onto an interior courtyard, which would be “predominantly green (planted /vegetated)”

Rendering of proposed apartment developments at 375 Terhune Road, from the 11.2.2020 Council packet. (click to expand)

The new residences would be screened from existing homes on Grover Ave by a landscaped buffer. The apartment buildings would be visible from Terhune Road, and have design features similar to existing homes in the area (see rendering above). Nine parking spaces would be provided for the apartment buildings, and each townhouse would have a double-garage. Access would be via a new road, running on a municipal right-of-way along the south-west side of the site, perpendicular to Terhune Road, and parallel to Grover Ave. A 10-ft sidepath would run alongside this new road, connecting to the Princeton Shopping Center at the rear of the site. This new path would provide a direct connection to the Shopping Center for residents of Terhune Road and, in the future, for people living in the new housing that is proposed for Thanet Road. 

Further details, including floorpans, are available in the packet for the 11.2.2020 Council meeting, available at the Princeton municipal website at this link.