Gusciora held a press conference Wednesday, calling for a halt to a 15-unit housing development on Maxwell's Field.
PRINCETON - Recent efforts by the Institute for Advanced Studies to begin construction on a on Maxwell's Field have attracted the attention of assemblyman Reed Gusciora, who called digging at the site, "diabolical," Wednesday.
Gusciora is the latest person to speak out against the building at Maxwell's Field, a site that many deem historic.
Last year, the Princeton Planning Board signed off on the institute's proposal to build a 15-unit faculty housing development at the site, which sits between Einstein Drive and the Princeton Battlefield State Park.
For The Princeton Battlefield Society, whose members claim that the field was the scene of a climactic moment in the Battle of Princeton, the proposal came as a blow. They have been locked in a legal back and forth with the institute for over a year to have a hold put on any development at the site. In March they filed an appeal to end the planning, but that is still being considered, even though digging at the site has begun.
The institute argues that they are able to begin preparing for construction as there are no holds on the project and they have all of their necessary permits to start work.
But for some, that comes as an offense.
It was the digging especially, that caught the attention of Gusciora, who said he has long opposed the project. He became more vocal about those views recently, after the institute brought bulldozers and dump trucks to begin hauling dirt at Maxwell's Field.
Last week Gusciora wrote a letter, publicly calling for a halt to any further construction. On Wednesday he followed up the letter with a press conference, condemning the digging.
Standing in front of the site and multiple excavators Wednesday, Gusciora gestured to the heaps of turned over dirt behind a fence that separated him from the site.
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"There's no sensitivity on behalf of the institute," Gusciora said, adding that the institute is not looking for historical artifacts in the dirt. "They seem to be just destroying the land."
Gusciora is just one of a growing number of people outside of Princeton who are opposed to the digging for historic reason.
But for Gusciora, the development itself poses another problem. The faculty housing would be tax-exempt but children whose parents live there, would be able to sent them to Princeton Public Schools.
"Taxpayers will have to pick up their tab," he said.
His press conference comes at an appropriate time. On Wednesday the Senate Environment Committee announced that they will hold a public hearing Monday to listen to testimony opposing the construction at the field.
"I am asking the community to help us secure another victory in Princeton," Senator and committee member Kip Bateman wrote in an email regarding the hearing Wednesday.
It's a meeting Gusciora hopes people will attend.
"The institute should do the right thing... We would like them not to bulldoze over history."
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.