Good evening and welcome. This is a regular meeting of the Princeton Planning Board on Thursday, November 6, 2025. Pursuant to section 13 of the Open Public Meetings Act, adequate notice of the time and place of this meeting has been given by prominently posting the resolution of regularly scheduled
meetings of the Planning Board of Princeton for February 2025 through January 2026. A copy was filed with the clerk of Princeton on January 8th, 2025. Legal notice on the adoption of said resolution was published in the January
17, 2025 edition of the Princeton packet. Notice of this meeting also has been posted to the municipal website, princetonj.gov/calendar. Notice that all regular and special meetings of the Princeton Planning Board will be held electronically via Zoom was
transmitted to the Princeton packet and the Times and was filed with the clerk of Princeton on Tuesday, January 17, 2023. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. Um, since we don't have a public hearing tonight, um, I will not
read the paragraphs that relate to public hearings and public comment. Um, Mr. Mr. Leco, would you call the role, please? >> Certainly, Madam Chair. Mr. Bodingham, >> here. >> Miss Capazolei >> here. >> Mr. Cohen >> here.
>> Mayor Freda >> here. >> Mr. McGawan >> here. >> Miss Na >> here. >> Mr. O'Donnell >> here. >> Miss Pearlmunder >> here. >> Mr. Taylor, Miss Wilson Anderson
>> here. >> And Chair Wilson >> here. You have a quorum. >> Thank you. Um announcements, anything, Justin? >> Uh just uh staffing one. Um uh the planning department has the historic
preservation officer position open uh on our website um until this Sunday night. So if you know anybody that is interested in becoming Princeton's historic preservation preservation officer, u please send them to our website by Sunday night. Um I you know, probably by midnight, one of those
things. So um I believe kind of along those lines um the land use engineer position in our engineering department uh is also open until filled as well if you know any good engineers uh in your life. >> Okay, >> Madam Chair, I
>> do but they're all gainfully employed a couple by Princeton. Um any announcements from Jerry? Yeah, just I wanted to um uh indicate to the board that as I'm sure actually the
board knows, Judge Lowry um issued an opinion in order dismissing the uh the suit brought by Princeton Coalition for what? Responsible development is yeah responsible development challenging the redevelopment plan for that the portion of the seminary site where there will be
the uh that multi-use uh uh and in inclusionary development um and the papers were had a lot of information on it all of which is accurate we still have the suit against us on the master
plan that was not affected by this um and I'm just just holding back. We'll see what happens with it. My guess it is it's not going to go anywhere and eventually be dropped. >> Is that also before Judge Lugie? >> Lowi. Yeah.
>> Oh, sorry. Sorry, I mispronounced his name. >> Loi. Yeah. >> Loi. Okay. All right. Good. Uh, yep. Thank you for that. That was um that was some good news. >> Yep. Yep. >> Um,
great. Any other announcements from board members or staff? Okay, seeing none, uh we have four sets of minutes. The first is from the regular meeting of June 25th, 2024. Um so I was telling
um Justin before we started, I noticed a minor um typo type of mistake in the in these uh minutes. And Justin, do you want to correct them for the record? >> Certainly. Yes. On page three, in the
second paragraph from the bottom, it says, "Mr. McCoy answered that they w not connected." Um, it should be that they were not connected. So, we will make that change. >> Okay. Um, any other edits or questions
about the June 25th, 2024 minutes? If not, would someone like to move them? >> Um, okay. Go ahead. Moved by Councilman Cohen, seconded by Julie Capazolei. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I.
>> Any opposed? >> I have to abstain. >> Um, next minutes we have are from the regular meeting of March 6, 2025. Um, are there any
um questions or uh suggested edits to these minutes? If not, would someone like to move them? Moved by Councilman Cohen, seconded by Owen O'Donnell. Um, all in favor, please
say I. >> I. >> I. >> I have to. >> Oh, >> you're abstaining. Yeah, I wasn't there. >> Yeah, I wasn't there either. So, I mean, according to um the gospel according to Carrie Phillip,
if you're not there, you don't even need to worry about abstaining because it's noted that you can't vote because you weren't there. >> Exactly. Y >> I mean, it's a maybe a distinction without a difference. >> Yep. >> Um great. Thank you. Uh the third minutes
uh set of minutes here is from June 5th, 2025. Another regular meeting. Any questions, comments, suggested edits? >> I'll move to approve. >> Thank you, Miss Capazolei. Is there a second? >> I'll second.
>> Thanks, Mr. McGawan. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Okay. And lastly, minutes from September 25th, 2025. Another regular meeting. Any
comments, questions, edits? >> I I have a question. >> Okay. >> Does this date suggest that we're just about caught up with our minutes? >> We've We're moving around a little. We got three people working on it. Um I
we're about not counting tonight's meeting, uh we are eight sets behind um after these ones are adopted. So at the rate we're going um we should be caught up pretty soon. >> Great. Thanks. >> That's really really good.
And would you like to also make a motion, Mr. Cohen? >> I would love to. To approve the minutes >> and a second. >> A second. Thank you, Owen. Uh, all in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I.
>> Any opposed? Okay. Thank you. Um, next up, we have three resolutions. The first is uh well, they're all for um from Princeton Public Schools. The first is uh Princeton Middle School. This was a conditional
use authorization 217 Walnut Lane, block um 7302, lot 12. This is file P2525 683. Any questions about this um this resolution?
And if not, would someone like to move it? >> I'll move it. Thank you, Alvin McGawan. And a second from Julie Capazolei. Thank you. Um, will you call the role, please, Justin? >> Certainly. And I have it that um, Mayor
Freda and Miss Na were not uh, at the meeting for this one or for the next one, so I won't call your names. Um, Mr. Boddingheimer, >> yes. >> Miss Capazolei, >> yes. >> Council McAuen, >> yes.
>> Mr. McGawan, >> yes. Mr. O'Donnell, >> yes. >> Miss Pearlmutter, >> yes. >> Miss Wilson Anderson, >> yes. >> And Chair Wilson. >> I abstain. Um, as I was not able to cast
my vote that night. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Um, the next step. Thank Thank you. That's That's it right for that one. >> That's correct. Yep. Yep. >> Next is Thank you for Little Brook Elementary School. This is a conditional
use authorization. 39 Magnolia Lane, block 5803, lot one, file P2525-684 co. Any questions or concerns or edits? And if not, would
someone like to move this resolution? Moved by Mr. O'Donnell, seconded by Mr. Cohen. Um, call the role, please, Justin. >> Mr. Vodkimer. >> Yes. >> Miss Capazolei. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cohen.
>> Yes. >> Mr. McGawan. >> Yes. >> Miss Na. Oh, excuse me. Um, Mr. O'Donnell. >> Yes. >> Miss Pearlmutter. >> Yes. >> Miss Wilson Anderson.
>> Yes. >> And Chair Wilson. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. And lastly, we have um a resolution regarding Community Park Elementary School. This is conditional use authorization. The address is 372
Witherspoon Street, block 6902, lot 3 and it's filed P2525-685. Questions, issues? And madam chair, I have it that Miss Capazolei, Mayor Freda, uh, and Miss Pearl Mutter were not at that meeting, so I won't call those names.
>> Okay, >> I'll move it. >> Thank you, Councilman Cohen. Seconded by Mr. O'Donnell. Call the role, please. Justin. >> Mr. Vikimer. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cohen. >> Yes. >> Mr. McGawan. >> Yes.
Miss Na, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Donnell, >> yes. >> Miss Wilson Anderson, >> yes. >> Chair Wilson, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Great. And next we have um an ordinance
referral for master plan consistency review. This is ordinance 2025 2025-18. It is an ordinance by the municipality of Princeton revising the definition of minor site plan, modifying certain
provisions pertaining to administrative approvals and zoning permits, updating the checklist for minor site plan applications, and amending the code of the Bureau of Princeton, New Jersey, 1974, and the code of the Township of Princeton, New Jersey, 1968.
Um, and the public hearing on this ordinance will happen before council on November 24th. Um, Justin, you want to talk a little bit about this?
>> Certainly. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um this ordinance is really a housekeeping one uh that bubbled up from staff uh and just some some things that we had seen um uh within our land use ordinance. um the one that mostly affects uh the
planning board out of these four things that I have in my report from October 31st um it's really the first one or two um and that is changing the definition of a minor site plan uh so that if it requires
uh if if an application requires a conditional use approval uh subdivision approval stormwater relief or variance relief um then it just that application can't be filed as a minor site plan. It automatically is a major. Um the kind of
practical effect of this is um that site plan would no longer go to the site plan committee for classification when no matter what uh it would have to go to the planning board uh because it has one of those four things. So um as
you know right now uh if an application is filed as a minor site plan and it does not have any of those four things most uh often variances um then the site plan committee can classify it and recommend approval to the chair and that's essentially the the uh the way
it's processed. Um, other times we've had ones that required a variance or required a conditional use approval and we have to set up the meeting with the minor site plan committee uh and say yes uh we still think this is minor. Um but it you know it's got to go to the board
either way. Um and especially there have been times where board uh committee members have said and we don't want this to appear to be an endorsement either. So, um, we don't think it raises to the level of major, but that doesn't mean we're going to vote for the variance or the conditional use, um, necessarily.
So, um, that's the biggest change here. Um, and then we have to just update the minor site checklist requirements to get rid of the section that says, uh, variance appeal form if you need it. Um, and then the other two items are, uh, adding an expiration date to
administrative waiverss of 12 months after they are issued. um to obtain building permits. Right now it's kind of our ordinance is kind of silent. We don't want someone to have an administrative waiver for you know 5 years before they act on it. Um this is
what many other towns do. And then similarly um adding an expiration of 12 months um for zoning permits in the former township. We currently have that in the former burrow. So that's more of a harmonization uh item. So kind of a
grab bag of housekeeping measures. Um and uh one thing I did note just as this relates to master plan consistency uh we do have a land use goal to streamline uh uh our review and uh permitting and
approval procedures within the land use section uh section of the master plan. Um so I think this um in my opinion is consistent with the master plan in that way. Um, and you know, uh, I if as always with consistency, if you have any
comments to council, um, you could certainly, uh, send, uh, I'll write a memo with those comments, uh, prior to this being heard on November 24th. >> Okay. Um, thank you for that. Um,
uh, yeah, I'm glad you, well, the the streamlining is an important piece of what, uh, will be happening tonight and I'm personally really glad to see that. Did you lose the lights, Justin? I guess. So, um,
any anybody want to ha add anything? I, you know, Mr. Cohen or Mayor Freda from from from your perspective. I I I'm not um trying to drag out the conversation. I just
didn't know. I'm glad to see this kind of thing, you know, coming to us because it it is um it's a step toward, you know, making the process more sensible. I'll just mention that while we were
working on this ordinance, we also had some conversation about whether there should be some ceiling just for size of an application. You know, how much alteration work is being done that would automatically disqualify
it from being uh a minor. And we ended up deciding not to wrap that into this. Uh it comes up very rarely and um staff has a lot of
latitude for identifying issues with larger projects to you know to sort of say we think this should go to the the full board. Um so we decided not to include that in the in the package but I wanted to make people aware that it was
considered. >> Thank you. And if I could add to that, that's a a very good point, a very good reminder that um as the board knows, we are working on the uh code harmonization and modernization uh rewrite um coming out of the recommendations of the master
plan. Uh so this is not to say once we make these housekeeping items, everything is perfect and is going to stay that way forever. Um this is just a very immediate thing that u we want to fix before we embark on that larger uh
change that includes uh uh our processes as well. >> Yeah. Good. >> Okay. Any other questions from from board members or thoughts? And if not, would someone like to make a
motion about the consistency of this ordinance uh with the master plan? >> I'll move that the ordinance is consistent with the master plan. >> And who would like to second?
>> I'll second. >> Thank you, Miss Capazolei. Um, and I don't have any uh any comments or other suggestions to put into a communication to council. I I don't
think Well, I mean, we haven't talked about anything that we thought needed tweaking at all. So, I I guess the the um uh communication with council about this would be a oneliner. Although what we've usually done for something like this is
we indicated that and the board recommends adoption, but we don't really we don't have to do that. >> Right. Okay. Well, I do think that we I do >> I'm sorry to have this conversation after a motion and second, but is the
motion to um to find consistent and recommend approval? >> I will I will change the motion to indicate that. I still >> thank you both. Um, great. Thanks for
that, Jerry. Um, Justin, would you call the role, please? >> Certainly. Mr. Bodenheimimer, >> yes. >> Miss Capazoli, >> yes. >> Council Mcen, >> yes. >> Mayor Freda, >> yes. >> Mr. McGawan,
>> yes. >> Miss Na, >> yes. >> Mr. O'Donnell, >> yes. >> Miss Pearl, >> yes. and Chair Wilson. >> Yes. >> Motion carries.
>> Okay. Well, I'm not sure whether we set a record, but um it's uh probably one of our five shortest meetings making, you know, yet another reason for this to be a great week. >> And it we are going to cancel next week
too. Uh we don't have any >> Okay. I should have mentioned announcements, but uh we'll finalize that tomorrow and just send it out to everyone. >> Okay, good. Great. Thank you for that. >> Y >> uh Mr. Cohen, >> I move to adjourn.
>> Second. All in favor? >> I >> I >> Bye. >> Thanks everyone. So, I guess we won't uh convene again until after Thanksgiving. Have a wonderful holiday. >> Yes, you too. You too. >> Thank you.
>> Good night. >> Good night. >> Good night. >> Peace.