Excavation work began earlier this month on a privately owned portion of the Princeton Battlefield to make way for housing
TRENTON -- Excavation work began earlier this month on a privately owned portion of the Princeton Battlefield to make way for housing, but three state senators on Monday joined in the call for the work to be halted until questions could be answered about wetlands on the site.
Sens. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), Christopher "Kip" Bateman (R-Somerset) and Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex) wrote a letter to state's top environmental official, Bob Martin, following the Senate's Environment and Energy Committee meeting where opponents to the project testified.
"We believe a stay should be issued, pending a meeting with the Department of Environmental Protection, on all activity at the site to prevent irreparable harm to the historic site where the Battle of Princeton occurred as well as damage to the existing wetlands," they wrote.
Litigation has dragged on for years over the Institute for Advanced Study's plans to build eight townhouses and seven single-family homes on a seven-acre tract of Maxwell's Field.
Historians believe the site is part of the battlefield where Gen. George Washington launched a decisive charge against British forces during the Battle of Princeton in January 1777.
"What the institute seeks to destroy is, without question, one of the most important historical sites in the United States," Bruce Afran, the attorney for the Princeton Battlefield Society, told the committee. "There is no dispute that half of the Battle of Princeton took place literally on this parcel that is today being smothered with 110 truckloads of sand and is having a conduit for drainage and sewage being built where men fought and died."
One of the central issues is whether the faculty housing would encroach on wetlands.
Amy Greene, a professional wetland scientist who surveyed the land for the institute in 1990 and again in 2011 for the Princeton Battlefield Society, said new wetlands have since been identified -- evidence that Afran claims has been ignored by DEP.
"We can honestly say that the issues raised today, in our minds, raise significant issues about the project going forward without the wetlands issues being clarified and examined by a court," said Smith, who is chairman of the committee. "And that clarification is needed before irreparable harm is done to the battlefield."
Jim Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Trust, a nonprofit organization devoted to the preservation of America's battlegrounds, said the 22-acre Maxwell's Field would be among the most important ground the group could ever save.
He said institute officials declined a request to meet with the group and have turned down two offers to buy the property -- an initial $3.3 million, which was the appraised value, and another for $4.5 million.
"We believe that this is part of our American heritage," Lighthizer said. "It just doesn't belong to the institute. It belongs to the American people and we're willing to pay a fair price for it. We're willing to pay a premium because of its history."
The senators' letter was sent to Martin and also given to Afran for him to include in his request for a temporary injunction. An earlier injunction was overturned in October.
Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.