The Institute for Advanced Study’s plan to build new faculty housing will face a legal challenge from the Princeton Battlefield Society despite the Princeton Planning Board’s recent 6-0 vote to approve the plan.
The planning board’s vote of approval allows IAS to use a special type of zoning for its housing development, meaning that the development will avoid a stream corridor governed by the Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission. The Delaware and Raritan Commission rejected a prior IAS project proposal in January, and avoiding the stream corridor was important for the progress of IAS's plan.
Representatives of the Princeton Battlefield Society spoke in opposition to the IAS plan at the planning board meeting that preceded the vote and have opposed the faculty housing project, saying it will destroy the part of the battlefield where George Washington staged his winning counterattack during the fighting of Jan. 3, 1777, and will have a deleterious environmental impact on the surrounding region through the destruction of wetlands and trees.
Christine Ferrara, a senior public affairs officer at IAS, said IAS has taken the necessary precautions to ensure that its faculty housing plan will cause minimal historical and environmental damage.
“We’ve proceeded in a very sensitive and thoughtful way with our plans,” Ferrara said. “We feel very good about the course we’ve taken.”
Princeton Battlefield Society President Jerry Hurwitz noted that despite the planning board’s decision, the Princeton Battlefield Society can still oppose the plan by way of a lawsuit. He said that once the planning board has issued a written ruling on the matter, the Princeton Battlefield Society will begin the process of appealing the ruling in court.
The planning board’s approval, and the lawsuit that may follow it, continue a legal battle that stretches back more than a decade. There is already a state appeals court case that is currently pending involving the 2012 Princeton Planning Board approval that IAS received for a prior version of the development plan. That case is now on hold pending legal action on the current proposal that the board has now approved.
Ferrara said IAS is committed to seeing the plan through despite the delays, adding that it would maintain its ongoing concern for the battlefield. Noting its long history with the battlefield stretching back to its creation, she said that, at the end of the day, IAS is invested in ensuring the battlefield is protected.
“We helped create the battlefield ... so we’ve demonstrated a commitment to that,” Ferrara said.
Hurwitz, on the other hand, told a different story, claiming that the Institute doesn’t care about the battlefield. Though IAS did sell land that was used to create Princeton Battlefield State Park, Hurwitz said it did so only after the Princeton Battlefield Society put pressure on it to do so.
“They like to say they do things, but they’ve done nothing,” Hurwitz said. “They have zero appreciation for the battlefield.”
Hurwitz said the Princeton Battlefield Society is similarly committed to fighting to block IAS's plans. He noted historical, environmental and jurisdictional issues with the plan and its approval at the hands of the planning board as concerns that the Princeton Battlefield Society would look to raise in court.
He added that he thought the continued legal battle could take years and that legal fees were sure to add up for both sides, noting that these costs won’t deter the Princeton Battlefield Society from pursuing whatever legal action that could keep IAS’s plans from going forward.
“The number of issues we have is legion,” Hurwitz said regarding the IAS plan. “Frankly, Princeton deserves better than this.”
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