Princeton Packet
22 April, 1988

Princeton Regional school bosh( officials are considering whether to allow authoMies to build a firehouse at the township- halls Witherspoon Street parking lot. which the district leases to the municipality.

Board members turned site down in September citing concerns with parking, the safety of school children and the need to retain the property for future use. according to member Corinne Kyle.

“The board voted no because there were no answers to our questions,” she said. Our concern has to be, shall we or shall we not consent to having the firehouse on our site.

“When it was first brought up. we raised a number of questions Ms. Kyle said. Note we are reviewing the Wanes that were submitted previously. A new issue is that the township is considering taking a longer lease for the Valley Road Building. located on the corner of Valley Road and Witherspoon Sheet.

“Parking would he less of a problem if the township continues to lease the Valley Road Building (for municipal offices),” Ms. Kyle said.

The site is presently a 40-car parking lot end is owned by the Princeton Regional Board of Education.

One has to consider the economic feasibility, she added. If the Princeton officials placed a firehouse adjacent to the Valley Road Building and then decided to move elsewhere, there would be . parking spaces. Nobody would want to lease a building with no parking. she added.

The municipal employees, how-ever, would be able to use the Community Park parking lot across the street.

There will be a special public work session on May 17 in the Valley Road Building’s school board office at 8 p.m. The school board’s business and finance committee will sit down with the township’s facilities committee to discuss the ramifications of the fire-house proposal.

There will also be a joint meeting between the.school board, the Princeton Township Committee and the . Princeton Borough Council on May 31 in the township hall at 8 p.m. to discuss the firehouse.

Princeton officials are trying to locate a site to build a replacement for the Chambers Street firehouse.

A new firehouse is needed because the Chambers Street station is on a narrow street in the center of the congested downtown area. Fire-fighters have difficulty getting trucks out during emergencies, according to a report prepared by fire protection  engineer Thomas -W. Shand of Syracuse, N.Y.