Subcommittee Recommends Keeping, Using Both Municipal Halls Post-Consolidation

Princeton should keep both its existing Borough Hall and Township Building in the consolidated municipality, according to a recommendation by the Transition Task Force Facilities Subcommittee.

Specifically, here's where each department would be located after consolidation, according to a July 10 memo by subcommittee chairman Bernie Miller to the Transition Task Force 

Borough Hall

• Affordable Housing
• Human Services
• Health Department
• Fire Inspection
• Public Works Department and Sewer Operating Committee management personnel
• Downtown administrative offices
• Corner House (due to extensive renovations, would not move until end of 2013)
• Space to be offered to TV 30/PCTV on a rental basis
• Community and municipal meeting room
• Unassigned space that could be modified for future municipal or community use

Township Municipal Complex

• Police Department and Police Dispatch
• Municipal Court, Violations Bureau and supporting functions
• Mayor, Administrator and Municipal Clerks Office
• Engineering Department, Zoning, Historic Preservation
• Planning Department, Building and Construction Departments
• Township Committee/Court meeting room and Community Room to be maintained for municipal and community use.

The TTF approved the recommendation last week and it will now go before the governing bodies for final approval.

In addition, the subcommittee suggests that the terms “Borough Hall” and Township Municipal Complex  “would perpetuate a division that is intended to be erased by the merger of the two municipalities.”

Instead there is a suggestion to instead call One Monument Drive either the Monument Building or People's Hall and to call 400 Witherspoon Street either the Witherspoon Building or Stockton Building, according to Miller's memo. 

The subcommittee worked with KSS Architects, which presented three different options considered for analysis. The following items were taken into account: cost, time needed for renovations, which departments work closely together, the walkability to each building and the prominence of each location in the community.

Option 1: Mayor, administrator and clerk’s office, plus merged finance, tax collection and assessor’s office stay the Township Municipal Complex (this option would require minor renovation).

Option 2: Mayor, administrator and clerk’s office in the current location in the upper level of the Borough Hall. Finance, tax collection and tax assessor would move to space now occupied by the Borough Police and dispatch (greater town prominence, but extensive renovations to remove jail cells and turn them into office space).

Option 3:  Mayor, administrator and clerk’s office would have offices on Witherspoon Street, but also have reserved space at Borough Hall for a “downtown” administrative office (minimal renovations and would allow for workspace at both buildings).

 

The subcommittee recommended Option 3. 

“Based on the quantitative and qualitative information reviewed during Phase 1, the Subcommittee believes that the above recommendations represent a low cost solution to accommodating the merged municipal departments and functions in the two existing municipal buildings,” read Miller's memo. He also noted that staff and department heads were included in the discussions and were receptive to the recommendations. 

It’s not yet clear how much it will cost to move the merged departments.

One potential issue is parking.

At the Witherspoon Street location, for example, when court is in session and the pool complex is open, parking could be a problem. At the Monument location, having events at the Princeton Senior Resource Center and Corner House on the same night may cause a parking shortage. The subcommittee said there are options to explore, including using the former Princeton Hospital Parking lot for staff parking on a temporary basis.

The subcommittee recommended and the TTF agreed, that the next steps of implementation and cost estimates should be handed over to the administrators and professional staff and the administrators would assume responsibility for reporting to the TTF on the work.