For the second time in less than a month, the Princeton Planning Board has approved a subdivision application and also granted a variance to create two undersized building lots.
The Planning Board approved an application to subdivide a .44-acre lot at 469 Ewing St. into two .22-acre lots at its July 11 meeting. A variance was needed because the minimum lot size is .25 acres.
The Planning Board approved the application, despite opposition from several neighbors – many of whom also objected to a similar subdivision application at 479 Jefferson Road that created two undersized building lots of .22 acres each. It was approved June 25.
Approval of the two-lot subdivision at 469 Ewing St., sought by owners Morakinyo and Marlen Ayodele, cleared the way for the development of one single-family house and one accessory dwelling unit on each new lot. A total of four homes will be built, and will share a common driveway.
The single-family houses will be approximately 1,600 square feet each, and will have three bedrooms. The accessory dwelling units, which will be sited behind the single-family houses, will be approximately 788 square feet. There will be two bedrooms.
Project engineer James Chmielak said the proposed development provides an opportunity to increase the types of housing that are available and to provide for “missing middle” housing.
“We feel as though it is a respectful infill development that will increase the housing supply and diversity (of design),” he said.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, neighbor Sam Bunting said he “enthusiastically” supported the application – and especially the accessory dwelling units. The proposed development is attractive and provides small homes, which many people would like, he said.
Bunting said that when he and his wife sought to move to Princeton a dozen years ago, there were few homes in their price range. There would be no chance for them to buy a home now, because the price of entry is about $1 million, he said.
“Our neighborhood (on Dempsey Avenue) has now become a $1 million property neighborhood. Even the cheap properties are going for $1 million,” he said.
Nick DiDomizio, who lives in a four-unit apartment building on Nassau Street, also supported the application. There is a housing crisis and it is only going to get worse. An accessory dwelling unit would be suitable for someone on a “restrained” budget, he said.
But there was more opposition than support for the application.
Neighbor Paul Walberg said “many of us” are opposed to the plan for a single-family house and an accessory dwelling unit each on the two undersized lots. There is support for one single-family house and an accessory dwelling unit on the lot as it exists – without a subdivision, he said.
“We are worried that essentially what you are doing is squeezing four homes onto a lot that originally had one house,” Walberg said.
“We don’t need to squeeze as many people as we possibly can into Princeton and into our neighborhood so you can have a city.”
Approving the application would encourage other property owners and developers to file similar applications, Walberg said. The more units that can be built on one lot, then the more money that a developer can make.
Several residents objected to building four houses because there would not be enough parking on the property. The plan calls for two parking spaces for the single-family homes and one parking space for the accessory dwelling units.
Neighbor Jane McCarty said it is unrealistic to think that each accessory dwelling unit would only have one vehicle. The additional vehicles would be parked on Ewing Street. The street is too narrow to accommodate on-street parking, she said.
Neighbors also questioned the pricing of the single-family homes and the accessory dwelling units. They wanted to know about the asking price for the accessory dwelling units.
Princeton Council President Mia Sacks, who also sits on the Planning Board, pointed out that accessory dwelling units have been allowed in Princeton for decades. In the former Princeton Borough, they were known as secondary dwellings and in the former Princeton Township, they were known as flats.
An accessory dwelling unit ordinance that was adopted by the Princeton Council several years ago was intended to consolidate standards for them, between the former Princeton Borough ordinance and the former Princeton Township ordinance, Sacks said, noting the town has not become overrun with accessory dwelling units.
Planning Board member Pallavi Nuka thanked the Ayodeles for being responsive to comments made by the board at earlier meetings and coming back with a very fine design for the site. The public hearing on the application was started in April.
“Looking at how many of the smaller and older one-story houses are being replaced and looking at what is replacing them as there is turnover, I think this is an excellent model for an alternative vision for how that neighborhood can be developed,” Nuka said.
