Copyright Joliet, IL Patch
Chris Colley of Topology presented a list of 15 objectives on what Princeton could envision for the historic 23-acre site. PRINCETON, NJ — Promoting arts, culture, and music, and supporting open space were among the ideas the public suggested they would like to see at the newly acquired 23-acre former Westminster Choir College campus. Chris Colley of Topology NJ LLC presented a planning update on the historic property to the Council at its Monday night meeting. The municipality had hired Topology in February to provide planning services for $115,000. Colley collected input from the public, municipal staff, and school leadership throughout the summer to help put together objectives for the property that the municipality acquired from Rider University in April. A total of 672 responses were tallied, with the following themes suggested for the property: Promote arts, culture, and music - 386 responses Support recreation, open space, and community uses - 231 responses Support creation of housing opportunities - 122 responses Support Princeton Public Schools - 114 responses Retain historic fabric of WCC - 57 responses "Those were really the key themes we saw in those responses," said Colley. From the responses, Colley said Topology created a list of 15 objectives. Some of the key objectives included: Retain key sites such as the historic quad, the playhouse, Cullen Center Retain core lawn area Be respectful of finances Allocate a portion tthe o school district Include open space or passive recreation Respect buffers with neighbors, respect trees on site "Those are the parameters in which we would like to sort of craft our scenarios around," said Culley. Culley also added that Topology foes plan on having more engagement from the public as the project moves forward. Mayor Mark Freda said that he felt that a couple of the objectives might conflict with each other. "Preserving the historic quad versus being financially feasible. The one building there Taylor Hall it has a very significant price tag to bring that back to usable shape. So at some point, this body is going to have to talk about which of the objectives are the objectives that are really going to be the final objectives," said Freda. Council President Mia Sacks said the Westminster Choir College Foundation and the historic preservation advocates in the community have both strongly expressed their desire to preserve the historic quad. "To your point, the price tag is potentially staggering," said Sacks. "There is a lot of work to be done to stabilize those buildings and just to make them safe." Councilman Brian McDonald said he agreed with Freda that "it's going to be very challenging to optimize for all 15 of those objectives, and I think we're going to have some good conversations about them. And I also was very pleased to see additional community engagement as part of the process." Councilman Leighton Newlin said he didn't have a problem right now with the goals being too lofty. "Fifteen is a large number, but we can always whittle it down. .. I appreciate it that you didn’t leave it at a minimalistic viewpoint because there is still a lot of input. There is a lot of land there. There are a lot of options. There are a lot of possibilities." Anabelle Radcliffe-Trenner with the Historic Building Architects, also made a presentation about the methods her firm uses to look under the "skin" of the building to truly see what needs to be repaired. "Visual observation is, of course, what most people do when they assess a building, but what we want to do is not just visually look at it, but we want to find the cause. Because unless we find the cause of the problem, you don’t really have a good solution for its repair," said Radcliffe-Trenner. She said her firm uses drones, infrared, and ground-penetrating radar to get a full picture of the restoration. "Understanding how the building is put together is really fundamental to the causes of problems and then how you repair them," said Radcliffe-Trenner.
