Master Plan Inconsistencies
86–96 Spruce Street Rezoning (Ordinance #2026-07) Consistency with Princeton’s 2023 Master Plan and Reexamination Report
Submitted by Neighbors of Spruce Street and Pine Street · March 2026
Contents
Our Support for the Master Plan
The residents of Spruce Street, Pine Street, and the surrounding Tree Streets neighborhood strongly support Princeton’s 2023 Master Plan and Reexamination Report. We endorse its commitment to expanding housing availability, particularly for middle-income households; reducing barriers to accessory dwelling units and missing-middle typologies; and concentrating higher-density growth in walkable, transit-accessible locations near the downtown core and Princeton Shopping Center corridor. We recognize and respect the Municipality’s Fourth Round affordable housing obligations under New Jersey’s Fair Housing Act.
Indeed, the Tree Streets neighborhood is itself a living model of what the Master Plan’s missing-middle vision describes: a dense, walkable, multicultural, multi-income community made up of single-family homes, duplexes, accessory dwelling units, and small apartment buildings of six and ten units — all coexisting at a scale compatible with the surrounding residential fabric. We support the thoughtful continuation of this pattern.
We also note that the AH-12 zoning district created by Ordinance #2026-07 was not part of Princeton’s 2023 Master Plan and Reexamination Report. The Master Plan identified no affordable housing overlay zone intended for Block 30.03, Lots 64 and 100. The city’s densification strategy is concentrated to Nassau, Witherspoon, and North Harrison Streets. The AH-12 district was created in early 2026, outside the Master Plan process, in direct response to a specific proposal by Barsky Enterprises. This is relevant context: our concerns arise not from opposition to affordable housing, but from the fact that this site was never subjected to the planning analysis — stormwater, traffic, neighborhood scale — that the Master Plan process would ordinarily ensure.
Where the Proposed Development Is Consistent with the Master Plan
The proposed 30-unit development at 86–96 Spruce Street is consistent with the Master Plan in the following respects:
- It locates new housing on an already-developed, infill site rather than on open space, farmland, or environmentally sensitive land.
- The townhouses proposed along Hamilton Avenue reflect the Master Plan’s “missing middle” typology — house-scale, multi-unit buildings compatible with the surrounding neighborhood form.
- The reduced parking ratio aligns with the Master Plan’s recommendation to reduce off-street parking requirements as a barrier to housing production.
These are genuine points of alignment. They do not, however, address the more significant inconsistencies described below.
Where the Proposed Development Contradicts the Master Plan
1. Location and Scale of Density
The Master Plan’s foundational growth framework directs high-density development to “the most densely developed areas of the Municipality…in and around the historic downtown and the Princeton Shopping Center,” with progressively lower densities moving away from the center. The Reexamination Report confirms that future density increases should focus “in the already-developed areas surrounding the downtown core and the Princeton Shopping Center.” Spruce Street is a mid-block residential street approximately half a mile from the downtown core, not identified in the Master Plan as a density node.
The numbers tell the story. At 42 total units on 0.66 acres, the proposed development would reach approximately 64 units per acre — a density that exceeds every comparable Princeton residential district by a wide margin:
| District / Development | Density (units/acre) |
|---|---|
| MX (Mixed Use) district — code maximum | 14 |
| R4A (adjacent affordable housing overlay) — code maximum | ~17 |
| The Alice, N. Harrison St. (125 units on 6 acres, near transit hub) | 21 |
| Existing 86–96 Spruce St. (12 units on 0.66 acres) | 18 |
| Proposed AH-12: 86–96 Spruce St. (42 total units on 0.66 acres) | 64 — proposed |
The proposed density is 4.6 times the Mixed Use district’s code ceiling, 3.8 times the maximum permitted in the adjacent R4A affordable housing overlay, and 3.0 times the density of The Alice — itself a purpose-built transit-oriented development adjacent to Princeton’s major shopping and transit hub, which required an 831-page stormwater management plan as a condition of approval.
2. Missing Middle vs. Monolithic Scale
The Master Plan endorses missing middle typologies that are “compatible in scale and form with detached single-family homes.” The dominant proposed building — a 23-unit, three-story structure with a ten-foot side yard setback and five-foot rear setback, spanning the interior of the combined lot — does not meet this standard. It is a large apartment block of the kind the Master Plan locates near transit-rich arterials, not embedded within residential blocks. The five-foot building separation permitted by Ordinance #2026-07 has no equivalent in any comparable Borough residential district, including the adjacent R4A affordable housing overlay, which requires a 15-foot minimum side yard for multiple dwellings. The largest building planned for the site has 4x the footprint of the existing 10-unit apartment building, which is itself the largest apartment building in the wider neighborhood.
3. Net Affordable Housing Contribution
Under Princeton’s mandatory inclusionary set-aside ordinance, any developer pursuing new construction in the context of normal growth is already required to provide 20% of units as affordable housing. Applied to this 30-unit development, that baseline obligation yields six affordable units. Ordinance #2026-07 delivers eight affordable units — a net addition of only two units beyond what standard inclusionary zoning would already require. This modest increment does not justify the extraordinary departure from surrounding bulk standards — including 75% impervious coverage, five-foot rear setbacks, and five-foot building separation — that the bespoke AH-12 district permits.
4. Impervious Coverage and Stormwater
The Master Plan calls for development to occur where natural conditions such as “wetlands, flood hazard areas and surface water are not extant,” and directs Princeton to “manage upland stormwater runoff and other development impacts to natural features.” The Spruce Street site sits directly adjacent to a culverted segment of Harry’s Brook. The AH-12 district permits 75% impervious coverage — more than double the 30% maximum applicable in every other residential district in the Borough, including the adjacent R4 and R4A zones. No stormwater analysis was conducted as part of the Appendix K site suitability assessment filed with the Superior Court in June 2025.
This omission is especially significant given that prior development at this same site in 2019–2020 was conditioned on the installation of rain gardens specifically to offset the increase in impervious surface associated with that earlier, far more modest construction. The proposed development would eliminate those rain gardens entirely and cover the land they occupied, while multiplying the site’s impervious area many times over. New Jersey’s Stormwater Management Rules (N.J.A.C. 7:8) will require the developer to demonstrate that pre-development recharge rates are maintained — a standard that, given the site’s proximity to a buried watercourse and near-total elimination of pervious surface, will impose significant engineering constraints that have not been publicly evaluated.
5. Fire and Emergency Vehicle Access
The proposed site has a single narrow vehicle access point on Spruce Street. The entire rear boundary of the combined lot (Barbara Boggs Sigmund Park) is designated Green Acres, a state conservation restriction that under ordinary circumstances prohibits the installation of a driveway or access route through it. This means emergency vehicles — including fire apparatus — have no secondary access to the rear of the building.
This is a material safety concern for a three-story, multi-unit residential building. Modern fire codes anticipate secondary access or aerial reach from multiple sides for structures of this height and occupancy. The proposed building is also likely to contain vehicle parking, and residents will have vehicles with both petroleum fuel and lithium-ion batteries — fuel sources that create elevated fire risk compared to traditional residential structures. The combination of a single constrained access point, no rear egress, and elevated fire risk from vehicle storage should be subject to formal review by the Princeton Fire Marshal before site plan approval.
6. Traffic Safety on Master Plan Focus Streets
The Master Plan’s Mobility Element identifies Hamilton Avenue / Wiggins Street as a focus safety corridor requiring safety improvements under the Municipality’s Vision Zero initiative. One side of the AH-12 development is along Hamilton Avenue, close to this dangerous intersection. Moreover, significant vehicle access to the proposed 17-space parking area is routed through Pine Street — a narrow, one-way street that dead-ends at Spruce Street — requiring all vehicles to make a tight turn onto Spruce Street and then navigate to Hamilton Avenue. No Traffic Impact Study was performed as part of the rezoning process, which is inconsistent with the Master Plan’s direction to prioritize Vision Zero safety improvements on these streets before adding development-generated traffic to them.
7. Solid Waste Management
The Master Plan explicitly addresses multi-family waste management, noting that “commercial buildings and multi-family developments containing more than four units must contract for their own solid waste collection.” The proposed development’s architect plan shows only the existing trash bins serving the 12 existing sites, with no additional waste management plan. This could quadruple the required frequency of trash collection onto the site, via an already narrow access driveway.
8. Urban Tree Canopy and Biodiversity
The Master Plan prioritizes “preservation, maintenance, and expansion” of Princeton’s urban tree canopy, and specifically calls for “provision of additional green space in the areas of the Municipality that are more heavily built up.” At 75% impervious coverage, the proposed development eliminates virtually all of the site’s existing pervious surface and mature tree canopy. The ten-foot side and five-foot rear setbacks abutting neighboring properties will cast adjacent rear yards into extended shade, reducing the biodiversity of what is currently a vegetated interior block.
Summary of Master Plan Consistency
| Master Plan Goal | Assessment for 86–96 Spruce St. |
|---|---|
| Dense development near downtown / Shopping Center | Inconsistent — 64 du/acre in mid-block residential neighborhood, 4.6× the MX district cap |
| Missing middle: scale-compatible with single-family context | Partially consistent — townhouses yes; 23-unit block does not qualify |
| Net affordable housing beyond inclusionary baseline | Marginally consistent — only 2 units above mandatory 20% set-aside |
| Stormwater: development away from surface waters | Inconsistent — 75% impervious adjacent to Harry’s Brook; rain gardens from 2019–20 eliminated; no study performed |
| Fire and emergency access | Inconsistent — single access via narrow one-way Pine St.; Green Acres precludes rear access |
| Vision Zero / Hamilton Ave., Spruce St. & Pine St. safety | Inconsistent — all traffic via narrow one-way Pine St. dead-ending at Spruce St.; no TIS performed |
| Solid waste management for 4+ unit buildings | Inconsistent — single enclosure; garbage truck access through sub-standard drive aisle |
| Urban tree canopy and biodiversity | Inconsistent — near-zero green space; loss of existing canopy and rear-yard habitat |
Conclusion
We ask that before any change of zoning for Block 30.03, Lots 64 and 100 is given final effect, the Municipality commission and publicly release:
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A site-specific stormwater analysis under N.J.A.C. 7:8 demonstrating that the proposed 75% impervious coverage can be managed without adverse impact to Harry’s Brook and adjacent properties, including an assessment of any required Flood Hazard Area permits under N.J.A.C. 7:13.
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A Traffic Impact Study assessing the effect of development-generated vehicle trips on Pine Street, Spruce Street, and the Hamilton Avenue corridor identified in the Master Plan as a Vision Zero priority.
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A formal Fire Marshal review of emergency access, egress, and fire suppression capacity for the proposed structure given the single-access-point constraint, the Green Acres restriction on the rear boundary, and the elevated fire risk associated with vehicle parking below residential floors.
These studies are standard requirements for major site plan approval and are routinely required of developers. Completing them before the rezoning is finalized — rather than after — is consistent with the Master Plan’s commitment to evidence-based, community-protective growth.
The residents of Spruce Street, Pine Street, and the surrounding neighborhood remain committed to that same goal.