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Preservationists balk at proposal to build on battlefield in Princeton

PRINCETON TOWNSHIP — A plan to build 15 new houses on a disputed plot of land next to Princeton Battlefield State Park could be approved as early as Dec. 1, when the Princeton Regional Planning Board will decide whether to allow the project to go ahead despite the opposition of local preservationists.

The site plan submitted by the Institute for Advanced Study, which owns the land, includes the development of 7.3 acres east of Mercer Road near the intersection of Maxwell Lane and Stone House Drive, and calls for building eight townhouses and seven single-family homes, which will serve as affordable housing for faculty members of the institute and their families.

According to the site plan, the development will be built beyond a 200-foot buffer zone made up of trees and hedgerows that will separate the houses from Princeton Battlefield State Park and shield the new neighborhood from view on the historic site. Still, some local conservationists are worried that, even at that distance, the construction would be encroaching on historic ground....

Read entire article at NJ.com