Volume LXXV, Number 39
www.towntopics.com
Prospect Ave. Plans Still on Hold; To Be Continued on Oct. 21
New Health Center is Welcome Addition to W-J Neighborhood . . . . 5 English-Speaking Union Focuses on All Things British . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Thoughts on Lester Young And Baseball . . . . . . . 14 Led by Smith’s Passing, Rushing, PU Football Routs Stetson 63-0 . . . . . . . 24 Senior Magnani Coming Up Big as Stuart Field Hockey Starts 7-0-2 . . 31
PSRC Event to Feature Bernice A. King . . . . . . 8 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .20, 21 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 19 Classified Ads . . . . . . 35 New to Us. . . . . . . . . . 22 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 33 Performing Arts . . . . . 15 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 8 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 35 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
The clash between Princeton University and local community members over the University’s application for a zoning variance on Prospect Avenue continued at last week’s virtual meeting of the Princeton Planning Board (PPB), with dozens of speakers voicing their ideas, opposition, and proposals for compromise. After four hours of discussion, the PPB announced that the discussion would continue at its October 21 meeting, which could possibly culminate in deliberations and a final vote by PPB members. The September 23 meeting, carried over from July 8, was the third long PPB session concerning Princeton University’s proposal to demolish three Queen Anne Victorian houses on the north side of Prospect and move the former Court Clubhouse building at 91 Prospect Avenue from across the street into their place in order to provide space to construct the entrance to its planned 660,000-squarefoot Environmental Studies and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (ES+SEAS) complex. Several different speakers proposed compromises that involved adapting and expanding the former Court Clubhouse without moving it, but the University continued to emphasize the necessity of following its original plans for moving the 91 Prospect building across the street in order to construct a gateway Theorist Pavilion for the new complex. Towards the end of the evening, however, Princeton University Architect Ron McCoy did offer what many saw as a small but perhaps significant compromise, stating that the 91 Prospect building could be placed on the north side of the street in such a way that one of the three Victorian buildings could remain without being demolished. Historic Preservation Consultant Clifford Zink, a leader of the opposition who has presented several compromise proposals, expressed some optimism in the fact that the University was willing to reconsider one aspect of its plan, but Zink found that compromise unsatisfactory. “It’s completely inadequate,” he said, in a September 28 phone conversation. “It’s significant as it’s the first hint of compromise for the University, but it’s clearly not enough. It doesn’t keep Court Clubhouse in the historic district and it doesn’t save Continued on Page 10
75¢ at newsstands
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Pipeline Project Canceled by PennEast After more than 10 years of planning and facing opposition from environmentalists across the region, PennEast has opted to pull the plug on its proposed 116mile natural gas pipeline. The companies that had been advancing the project, which would have spanned areas of Pennsylvania and New Jersey including Mercer and Hunterdon counties, issued a statement on Monday announcing that the project had been canceled. “PennEast has not received certain permits, including a water quality certification and other wetlands permits under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act for the
New Jersey portion of the project,” reads the statement. “Therefore, the PennEast partners, following extensive evaluation and discussion, recently determined further development of the project no longer is supported.” This was welcome news to local environmentalists, including Jim Waltman, executive director of The Watershed Institute in Pennington. “This is a huge victory,” he said in a press release. “Today, water, the environment, and people spoke louder than fossil fuels. We congratulate and thank the many local, state, and federal officials of both parties and thousands of residents
for their determined opposition to this unnecessary and destructive proposal.” The pipeline would have required condemnation of 42 parcels owned or controlled by the state of New Jersey. Earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that PennEast Pipeline Company could sue New Jersey to take the land. “The proposed pipeline would have ripped through dozens of our state’s most pristine streams and bulldozed through more than 4,300 acres of farmland and open space that has been ostensibly preserved in perpetuity,” said Waltman. Maya van Rossum, the Delaware riverkeeper, leader of the Delaware Continued on Page 11
New BOE Candidate Jeffrey Liao Presents Priorities For the Schools
“SUKKAH VILLAGE 2021”: This sukkah by Studio Hillier was created and built by Julian Edgren with help from Dustin Bailey, both designers in the firm, with support from Studio Hillier Operations Manager Oliver Pelosi. Eight architecture firms, two student design teams, and their nonprofit partners participated in this past week’s exhibition of 11 sukkahs, traditional Judaic shelters, around downtown Princeton. Visit sukkahvillage.com for more information. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)
In this week’s Board of Education (BOE) candidate profile, Jeffrey Liao describes his education, background, and his priorities for the future of the Princeton Public Schools (PPS). Liao will be challenging incumbents Betsy Baglio and Brian McDonald and another new candidate, Mara Franceschi, in the November 2 election for three available positions, with three-year terms, on the PPS Board. Franceschi and McDonald were profiled in Town Topics earlier this month, and Baglio will be featured in next week’s issue. “I was born in NYC and grew up in East Brunswick, New Jersey,” wrote Liao. “I am a second-generation Asian American. I graduated from East Brunswick High School, majored in chemistry at Johns Hopkins University, then obtained my J.D. from Harvard Law School. Since then, I have worked as an intellectual property attorney in New York, Los Angeles, and now in Princeton as the sole U.S. patent counsel for a multinational pharmaceutical company. I am a member of the bar of New Jersey, New York, California, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. “I moved to Princeton in the summer of 2020 for my current job. The main reason I chose to live in Princeton is because of the stellar reputation of Princeton Public Schools for providing excellent public education. “I am 42 years old. My wife Kelly and I have two children, a seventhgrader in Princeton Middle School and a Continued on Page 12