PRINCETON: Ruling on affordable housing requirement expected this month

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Princeton is expecting a Mercer County Superior Court judge to issue a decision this month on what the municipality’s affordable housing requirement will be, Mayor Liz Lempert said Monday.
Judge Mary C. Jacobson’s ruling was thought to be coming out in August. But that never materialized, after a lengthy trial in the case. Mayor Lempert said the judge has “a lot of material to sort through.”
“I’m just assuming that she’s not ready to issue a decision yet, so she hasn’t,” Mayor Lempert told reporters at her press conference.
The ruling will set down what Princeton’s affordable housing requirement will be, for a span from 1999 to 2025, in a community that is poised for growth. She said the town is looking forward to having a decision by the judge, so the municipality can plan properly for the coming years.
The local school district is expecting the town’s population, and its overall student enrollment, to grow, such that district officials see the need to open a new school for students in grades five to six, part of what is expected to be included in the upcoming facilities bond referendum. But that’s not all.
Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane said last week that, “down the road, we will likely need another elementary school … .”
For her part, Mayor Lempert said affordable housing is an “important part” of the town’s housing stock. The municipality is partnering with Princeton Community Housing on a plan to add 40 more apartments to Princeton Community Village, on Bunn Drive.
“I feel that affordable housing has always been important to Princeton,” she said.