PRINCETON: Town offers low-interest loans to pay for sprinkler heads in Washington Oaks affordable units

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The Princeton Council is due to vote Monday to make low-interest loans available to residents who live in affordable housing at Washington Oaks, a development on Route 206, to help them pay for inspections and replacements of their fire sprinkler heads.
Council President Lance Liverman, speaking at Mayor Liz Lempert’s press conference Monday, explained the loans would come out of a fund that real estate developers pay into. They would have 10-year repayment schedule, he said.
The council vote was due to take place at Monday night’s meeting.
He said the town recently learned that the sprinkler heads need to be tested to make sure the system is still operating. The tests, however, lead to another expense.
“And the problem you have with those heads is that once they’re tested, they’re no longer any good. So you have to throw them out,” Mr. Liverman said of devices that are sealed with wax.
The cost for the test and the replacement can range anywhere from $1,500 to $4,500 per unit depending on how many sprinklers each unit has, the town said.
The town said Monday that the loan program might prove to be unnecessary, depending if the price for the work is at a dollar amount that residents could manage. Town administrator Marc D. Dashield said that to reduce the cost, municipal fire official Bob Gregory is working with the contractor “to see if there’s a better way of doing this.”
“So that has not been settled yet. But the program will be in place, if council approves that, just in case,” said Mr. Dashield, also at the mayor’s press conference.
Washington Oaks has 300 “properties” that include condominiums, town houses and single-family homes, according to the municipal website. Sixty condos — representing 20 percent of the entire inventory — are classified as affordable, or below market rate.
Mr. Liverman said the town realized that not every one eligible would apply for a loan.
“But we want to make it available in case some members can’t do it,” he said of paying for the work.
The loan program would be run by municipal affordable housing coordinator Christy Peacock, according to the town. She was out of the office this week. 