West Windsor transit village planned

From the Trenton Times:

Transit village design unveiled

The possible future of the township was revealed last night by Hillier Architecture in a redevelopment design that would envelop the Princeton Junction train station with retail, residential and office buildings while adding open space, a pedestrian/bike tunnel and a “significant public building” to the mix.

“This is not about today, this is about tomorrow,” architect J. Robert Hillier told the nearly 400 people who came to Grover Middle School last night for the last of three public hands-on workshops dealing with the $163 million transit village project.

The much-debated redevelopment idea, evolving over a three-year period, has attracted large numbers — 400 and 300 — to two previous workshops on the area surrounding the train station. Traffic, parking and housing are the focus of most residents’ concerns.

What Hillier called “The Plan” presents a solution for one of the major problems in the train station area — a connection between the east and west sides of the train tracks via a major pedestrian and bicycle tunnel that would cross under the tracks at the station.

Although residents originally selected a concept that would move the station to Route 571, the site of a planned retail and commercial hub, the final design or “Little Move,” as Hillier dubbed it, calls for moving the station only slightly northward, and linking the new station with a town green on the east side, tying into Route 571.

All public spaces would be flanked by residential, retail and commercial uses.

Parking would be contained in both garage and surface areas on both sides of the tracks and Hillier says his concept would generate 33 percent less peak-hour traffic than calculations based on the potential build-out if there is no redevelopment. New Jersey Transit’s projected need for parking by the year 2030 is 5,700 spaces; Hillier’s plan has the potential for 10,400 spaces.

The most controversial element of the plan — Hillier’s insistence on a minimum of 1,000 housing units — remains in place, with 860 apartments and 140 town houses that will be marketed to empty-nesters and young professionals, the groups that traditionally generate the least amount of school-age children. An estimated 300 children are projected.

The residential buildings, predominantly on the western side in four-story units, will also be contained in several two- and three-story buildings on the east side.

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